Running head: CHAPTER 6 UNIT PLAN 1

Boom and Bust: The Dirty Thirties

Wineburg Chapter 6: Dust to Eat, and Dust to Breathe, and Dust to Drink
Mason Daly
Chase Owens
Rebecca Sydow
CHAPTER 6 UNIT PLAN 2

Title of Unit: Boom and Bust--The Dirty Thirties

Rationale:
I. Essential Questions:
1. How can progress create conditions for economic disaster?
2. What are some of the effects of unregulated human interaction with the environment?
3. Whose stories from historical events deserve to be told and why?
II. Key Concepts
1. Impact of New Technology
2. Consumer Spending/ Overproduction/ Buying on Credit
3. Stock Market Crash
4. Life During the Great Depression
5. Dust Bowl

Learning Outcomes/Objectives:
Considering multiple stories of historical events through analysis of journal entries of
Dust Bowl victims in a class discussion
Identifying causes of a historical event in the form of the Stock Market Crash through
analysis of consumer spending, overproduction, and buying on credit in a graphic
organizer.
Recognizing the concept of multiple causation in history in the form of the credit issues
and overproduction that lead to the Great Depression.
Evidence-based thinking and argumentation in the form of an essay on what caused the
Dust Bowl.
Synthesizing multiple accounts in the form of an argumentative essay on what caused the
Dust Bowl.
Identifying multiple stories about the same historical event with careful analysis of both
the textbook reading, primary sources, and secondary sources pertaining to the causes of
the Dust Bowl.
Locating historic sources in an independent research of the effects of the Great
Depression on different ethnicities.
Analyzing and corroborating sources in the form of an argumentative essay on what
caused the Dust Bowl.
Building a narrative of a past event based on sources through jigsaw activity on students
independent research on effects of the Great Depression on various ethnicities.

State and Local Standards:

Standard USHC 6 - The student will demonstrate an understanding of the conflict between
traditionalism and progressivism in the 1920s and the economic collapse and the political
response to the economic crisis in the 1930s.

Enduring Understanding: The role of government in a democracy is to protect the rights and
well-being of the people. Government's role in regulating the economy and promoting economic
growth, however, is controversial. To understand the consequences of economic cycles and to
CHAPTER 6 UNIT PLAN 3

make informed economic choices and political decisions about government policies, the student
will:
USHC-6.3: Explain the causes and consequences of the Great Depression, including the
disparities in income and wealth distribution; the collapse of the farm economy and the
effects of the Dustbowl; limited governmental regulation; taxes, investment; and stock
market speculation; policies of the federal government and the Federal Reserve System;
and the effects of the Depression on people.

Essential Background Content:

1. The economic policies of the 1920s reflected the traditional understanding of the
governments limited role in the economy. This role included support for economic
growth by encouraging Big Business, not the protection of the interests of farmers and
workers. The Great Depression called this role into question. In the 1920s, the basic
underlying problems in the economy were declining demand and overproduction. The
stock market crash was not the cause of the Great Depression but rather an outward sign
of long term problems within the economy. After the crash signaled the start of the
Depression, economic conditions worsened over a period of years spiraling deeper and
deeper. The 1920s seemed prosperous with high employment rates and almost no
inflation. Industrial production and per capita income were both up; however, this was a
false prosperity. The disparity in incomes and the distribution of wealth was very large
and uneven. The gap between the rich and the poor widened during the 1920s; the
wealthiest Americans had a far greater share of the disposable income. The great majority
of Americans lived below the poverty line ($2500 in 1929 dollars). Wages for most
workers fell or stagnated during the 1920s, despite increasing productivity. Companies
did not pass on their prosperity to their employees in the form of higher wages and
workers could not afford to buy the products they manufactured. When consumers
reached their limit of installment payments, they had to stop spending. This drop in
consumer spending led to layoffs and furthered the inability for workers to spend. It is
important for students to understand the cyclical nature of these economic decisions.
During the 1920s, the farm economy collapsed. Farmers who had prospered in the war
years now faced international competition and depressed prices as well as debts and taxes
in the 1920s, as they had in the 1890s. Farmers defaults on bank loans placed pressure
on banks and many banks failed before the crash. These bank failures, in turn, limited the
number of loans available for small businesses which then could not expand and hire.
Under the Republican administrations, the federal government abandoned its previous
policy of progressivism and limited the government regulation of Big Business that had
started with the passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act and the trust-busting of Teddy
Roosevelt. This return to laissez-faire policy resulted in corporations becoming
increasingly powerful. The tariff was raised. Income taxes for the wealthy were slashed;
however, this did not help the economy. The wealthy spent a high proportion of their
income on luxury goods and could not make up for the loss of spending power of the
great majority of the people. Much of their tax savings was put into investments in the
stock market rather than in new factories, since there was limited demand for goods.
Investments in the stock market drove up speculation in businesses that could not sustain
profitability in the face of lagging consumer demand. At the end of the 1920s, businesses
CHAPTER 6 UNIT PLAN 4

cut back production; this resulted in excessive inventories. Companies then also invested
their money in stock market speculation rather than in production. Investors, noting the
large inventories, began to reconsider their investments. Stock market speculation fueled
by a "get rich quick" mentality led to inflated stock values and to a crash. The stock
market was not regulated and investors were allowed to buy on the margin. That is,
inventors were allowed to borrow on the paper value of their stock in order to buy more
stock. When an unusual number of sell orders kicked the bottom out of the market in
October of 1929, brokerage firms called in their margin loans. Investors were forced to
sell at low prices in order to meet their obligations and as a result stock prices plunged.
Although prominent bankers helped to prop up the market for several days, public
confidence was shattered. On "Black Tuesday," [October 29, 1929], the market
experienced the greatest crash in its history, an event that symbolized the end of the false
prosperity of the 1920s. Over the next few years, the economy spiraled deeper into a
depression exacerbated by decisions of individual companies, consumers and investors as
well as by the policies of the Federal Reserve. Early in the 1920s, the Federal Reserve
pursued easy credit policies. By charging low interest rates on its loans to member banks,
the Fed helped to fuel the stock market speculation mania. In the late 1920s, the Federal
Reserve initiated a tight money strategy in an effort to curb stock market speculation. By
charging higher interest rates for their loans, the Fed discouraged lending. After the crash,
they tightened the money supply even more thus making it even harder to limit the effects
of the crash. If the Fed had cut interest rates and expanded the money supply, the
Depression may not have been as intense or as long lasting. Government policies did
little to halt the downward spiral of the economy. In an effort to protect American
industries from foreign competition, Congress passed a very high tariff in 1930. These
taxes on imports further damaged the economy by depressing international trade.
Foreigners were unable to sell their goods in United States markets, and so did not have
dollars with which to buy American products. In reaction to this United States policy,
foreign nations imposed trade barriers of their own, stifling international trade and further
exacerbating the depressed condition of the worlds economies. In previous depressions
the reaction of the government had been merely to wait it out and let the marketplace find
a new equilibrium. The Great Depression had a devastating impact on the lives of many
people. It was the worst economic disaster to ever hit the United States. The
unemployment rate reached twenty-five present. The United States had no system of
unemployment insurance like other western countries. Unable to pay mortgages or rents,
people lost their homes and took to the streets wandering from town to town looking for a
job or selling apples or pencils door to door. Wages and hours of those who were lucky
enough to still have jobs were cut. Those with jobs stopped buying anything but the most
essential goods; thus demand and therefore prices fell even further. "Runs" on the banks
took place when people tried to withdraw their savings because they feared that the bank
would close taking their savings with it. This panicked rush of withdrawals often caused
banks to collapse and many investors lost their savings as a result. Students should be
familiar with the images of the Depression: soup kitchens, bread lines, Hoovervilles, the
Dust Bowl, and Okies fleeing to California. Many were undernourished. Schools closed
because communities could not pay their teachers. Many teachers worked for nothing.
The Great Depression took a terrific toll on families. Marriages were delayed and the
CHAPTER 6 UNIT PLAN 5

birthrate fell. Although divorce rates declined, many men abandoned their families. Other
families pulled together to help each other out. Unemployed men lost status and women
and children were forced into the workforce to find whatever menial job might feed their
families. States and private charities could not alleviate the suffering created by the Great
Depression. Increasingly, people looked to the federal government for solutions.
Unemployed veterans marched on Washington seeking an early payment of their
promised bonus, earning the name the Bonus Army, but were disbanded by the United
States Army under orders of the Hoover administration. During the Depression, the
farming community suffered from an environmental disaster as well as an economic one.
The fragile environment of the plains had been damaged by overgrazing since the 1890s.
During World War I, farmers had plowed ever more of the plains and planted more
wheat, which destroyed the sod that held the soil. When drought and winds came in the
1930s, the topsoil blew away. The Dust Bowl produced additional human tragedy for
farm families. Tenant farmers were evicted from the land and became migrant workers,
roaming the country in search of work. In the election of 1932 the American people
demanded help from their government.
(South Carolina State Department of Education - State Standards - U.S. History -
<http://ed.sc.gov/scdoe/assets/file/agency/ccr/Standards-Learning/documents/USHistory
SupportDocuments.pdf>). This has been edited from the original by omitting
information not pertinent to our lesson and content support.

2. Dust storms known as rollers and black blizzards were relatively frequent in the
dirty 30s. These storms swept through the land and would enter homes, eyes, and
lungs of inhabiting people specifically in the Oklahoma Panhandle. The region has few
tree, little rainfall, and high temperatures. People of all ages suffered from dust
pneumonia. Buildings and crops were covered and destroyed, schools and towns shut
down, and transportation stopped. The cloud was estimated to be 1,800 miles wide, and
weigh 300 million tons. 7 of 10 people continued to live in the region during its worst
period. There were various conclusions as to why with some focusing on the natural
aspect while others focused on farming practices in the region. The Great Plains Drought
Area Committee conducted a preliminary study that included consulting available
records and taking a 2-week trip through the most severely affected areas. The committee
reported that the four year drought was not the cause but over cropping, overgrazing, and
improper farm methods. Policies like homesteading and misused agricultural systems
were at fault in the report as well as far as public policy was concerned. In response the
Federal Government enacted a series of aid measures seeking to restore the area to former
levels of production and prosperity, and conserving and protecting the land. Innovative
farm machinery made breaking the sod and planting crops more efficient, and accelerated
the radical remaking of land from grassland to farm land. World War I and grain
shortages also greatly increased the need for farms and wheat production in the 1910s and
1920s in what is called the Great Plow-Up. Suitcase farmers who would plant crops
and leave relying on luck if the crop would survive were some examples of many
opportunists exploiting the new farming practices in the region.
(Reading Like a Historian - Wineburg, Martin, and Monte-Sano, Chapter 6, 84-89). This
CHAPTER 6 UNIT PLAN 6

has been edited from the original by omitting information not pertinent to our
lesson and content support.

3. A. The Federal Reserve's counter to the stock market crash through a severely
restrictive monetary policy lead to a worst downturn and their insistence on maintaining
this policy through the Great Depression (8)
B. Credit lending policies by the banks added to the central role bank failures
played(10).
C. World War I had destroyed the global dependence on the Gold Standard due to
the US change of role from a global debtor to a global creditor. The increase of US
farming to meet global demands during WWI also lead to a surplus resulting in falling
prices of agricultural products that weakened rural banks (10-11).
D. An autonomous and inexplicable drop in spending and a decline in residential
construction due to demographic changes (11).
(Cargill, T. F., & Mayer, T. (1998, August). The Great Depression and History
Textbooks. The History Teacher, 31(4), 441-458. doi:10.2307/494309). - Synthesis of
authors noted four main causes of the Great Depression.

Calendar - The Sequence

Day Key Concepts, Instructional Readings Assessments

Topics, and Strategies
Categories

1 (Mon) Impact of New -Short, in-class Before class: K-W-L

Technology small group video on new bellringer on
research on pros 1920s video
and cons of new technology,
technology excerpt from
today Wineburg
-Class (4th-6th
discussion on paragraphs on
pros and cons of pg. 88)
1920s
technology

2 (Wed) Consumer -Fish Bowl Before class: Participation in

Spending/ -Lecture on primary and fish bowl
Overproduction/ economic secondary
Buying on intricacies source readings
Credit -Excerpts (pages
1-2) from FDRs
Inaugural
address
-Excerpt from
CHAPTER 6 UNIT PLAN 7

Banking Act of
1933, Section
3a.
-Excerpt from
Cargill & Mayer
(1998)

3 (Fri) Stock Market -Lesson on The Crash of Exit slip: find

Crash historical 29 Time photo photo from
analysis of essay period using
photos--whose their one to one
story is told? device and
analyze photo
like we did as a
class

4 (Mon) Life During the -Jigsaw on Before class: Participation in

Great effects of Great expert group the Jigsaw
Depression Depression on research on how
different Great
ethnicities Depression
affected
different ethnic
groups (African
American, Irish,
Italian, Jewish,
Chinese,
Japanese,
Hispanics,
Native
Americans)

5 (Wed) Dust Bowl Collaborative 6.1: Photograph Tool 6.2 (from

primary source of dust storm Wineburg)
analysis (Using 6.2: Henderson
Wineburgs Letter
sources 6.1-6.9) 6.3: Svobida
Account
6.4: Svobida on
Nature
6.5: Map of
Great Plains
6.6: Acreage of
Harvested Crops
6.7: Committee
CHAPTER 6 UNIT PLAN 8

Report on
Causes
6.8: Historian
Explanation
(Donald
Worster)
6.9: Historian
Explanation (R.
Douglas Hurt)

6 (Fri) Dust Bowl -DBQ Wineburg DBQ

-Writing Lab Sources 6.2, 6.3,
6.4, 6.6, 6.7, 6.9

Instructional Activities
Short, in-class small group research - In groups of three to four students will research
modern technology like: The internet, stem cell research, plastic surgery, fracking, and
cell phones. Students will discuss what advantages come from these technologies within
their groups and then move on to discussing drawbacks or potential drawbacks (USHS
6.2).
Pros and Cons of 1920s technology discussion - With a relevant connection to
understanding that progress in the field of technology does come at a cost a class
discussion instigated by the teacher will have students look at technology (assembly
lines, mass production, steel tipped farming equipment, tractors, railroad proliferation,
and the combine) from the 20s and looking at their benefits and potential drawbacks
(USHS 6.2). This will be revisited later when discussing causes of the Dust Bowl on Day
5 and 6.
Fish bowl - On Monday homework will be assigned to read the following two primary
sources and one secondary describing some of the various causes of the Great
Depression. They are as follows: Pages 1-2 of FDRs Inaugural Address, Section 3 of the
1933 Banking Act, and page 10 & 11 of a secondary source analysis on fallacies of
teaching the Great Depression by historians Thomas F. Cargill and Thomas Mayer (see
below). Students will be informed prior to the class that they will be doing a fishbowl
type socratic seminar. In the seminar half of the students will be selected to sit in a circle
within a larger circle of the remaining students. For 10 minutes students will discuss what
they found to be the causes of the Great Depression referring to the primary and
secondary source excerpts. After 10 minutes the students swap positions and the latter
group analyze and discuss the arguments of the first group. 10 minutes will spent on this
and then the inner group gets their turn to discuss aspects of the reading they found to be
the causes. Again at the end of 10 minutes the students will swap concluding the exercise.
The class will then as a group discuss the exercise and conclude as to what they believe
causes of the Great Depression were ( USHS 6.3 and 6.4).
Lecture on economic intricacies - Due to the dense nature of the economics involved in
the series of events that lead up to the Great Depression, the remaining minutes of class
CHAPTER 6 UNIT PLAN 9

will be spent with teacher condensing the four points given by Cargill and Mayer on the
causes of the Great Depression. Students are encouraged to ask questions and formative
questions on the part of the teacher are required in order to gauge student understanding
of complex economic systems at work prior and following the Stock Market Crash on
Black Friday. This will be done through a prezi with flow diagrams and careful teacher
explanation of contributing economic factors. STUDENTS ONLY NEED BASICS.
Dont over complicate the economics(USHS 6.3 and 6.4)
Lesson on historical photo analysis - Primary source photos depicting scenes of the Great
Depression will be shown in a slide show. The teacher will lead a discussion that points
to a critical analysis of primary sources in the form of photos. For instance, questions will
be raised for each photo like Whos pictured here, Whos not pictured here, What
are they being pictured doing and why do you think he decided to picture this action,
What do you think the photographer wanted to accomplish with this photo? This helps
students answer the essential question of Whose story gets told and Why. (USHS 6.3).
Jigsaw on the Depressions impact on different ethnic communities- On Friday students
will be put into expert groups to research the effects of the Great Depression on the
following ethnicities: African American, Irish, Italian, Jewish, Chinese, Japanese,
Hispanics, Native Americans. In class a jigsaw activity will commence where one student
from each expert group will have 10 minutes to explain their specific ethnic groups
experience during the Great Depression. This is also an effective exercise for engaging in
Critical Race Theory.This will take 80 minutes. The first and last five minutes of class
are for transforming the class from and back to its original position. (USHS 6.3) This also
helps supplement the basic text understanding of the Great Depression by again helping
to answer the essential question Whose Story Gets Told and Why.
Collaborative primary source analysis - In class 9 stations will be set up. In each
station, one primary source document provided by the Wineburg text will be provided. In
groups of 2-3, students will rotate in six minute intervals and examining the primary
sources one station at a time. The students are looking to understand the source, source,
and contextualize it with their Wineburg reading. The remaining time in class will be
used for filling out information into the graphic organizer provided in tool 6.2 by the
Wineburg text. Before the end of class students are told that they will have a DBQ on an
item from the unit and to be ready to write the following Monday.
Document Based Question - The DBQ will be based on the documents provided by
Wineburg in particular sources 6.2, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 6.7, and 6.9. Because this information is
fresh and the documents have already been sourced and students only need to focus on
the use of evidence in a persuasive capacity and their argumentative strategies using the
primary sources. Due to this reason they will have 45 minutes and required to use at least
four of their sources in arguing rather the Dust Bowl was a man made disaster or one
based on natural occurrences (6.5).
Writing Lab - At the conclusion of the DBQ the class will have discussion talking about
how they used the different sources, what the majority of the arguments were, what
sources were hard to use, what sources were easier to use, how the sources were used,
and various ways to organize the argument. The students get a workshop on how to write
and use evidence and practice their analytical skills. Its not enough to analyze the
sources, they have to be employed the correct way (6.5).
CHAPTER 6 UNIT PLAN 10

Assessments
K-W-L Bellringer on video: Before showing students the video, students will be asked
to fill out a K-W-L chart on their previous knowledge of the technology used in this time
period. The chart should be used to get students thinking about impactful technology up
to the 1930s and allows them to compare this to what was actually being done with
technology shown through the video. This activity should help students become more
familiar with technology before introducing the lesson.
Participation in fish bowl - For the fish bowl assessment the students will be assessed
formatively both on skills and knowledge. For skills proper debate and discussion skills
will be analyzed. For instance: does the student supply facts to back up his opinion, does
the student treats others in the classroom respectfully and appropriately. On content
students will be asked to reference specific instances within the sources to point to
various causes of the Great Depression. All students will be asked to make a minimum of
three contributions to the discussion but are free to make more. If at least three
meaningful contributions are given and the student remains respectful of his/her peers
then the student will have completed the assessment in a proficient manner.
Exit slip on photo analysis: Students will find a primary source photo from the Great
Depression using their one to one device and analyze photo like we did as a class. The
students will use critical analysis to raise and answer questions such as, Whos pictured
here, Whos not pictured here, What are they being pictured doing and why do you
think he decided to picture this action, What do you think the photographer wanted to
accomplish with this photo? This assessment will help students answer the essential
question of Whose story gets told and Why. (USHS 6.3). This assessment can help
prepare students for the upcoming Jigsaw activity by giving them a visual representation
of the different peoples/communities experiences during the Great Depression. This
assessment is formative because it will determine how well the students understood the
material covered that day.
Participation in Jigsaw: After the Jigsaw activity is complete, students will be assessed
on their understanding, knowledge, and explanation of their specific ethnic groups
experience during the Great Depression. In addition to this, students will also be assessed
on how well they collaborate with, respond to, and question each other. This also helps
supplement the basic text understanding of the Great Depression by again helping to
answer the essential question Whose Story Gets Told and Why. This assessment is both
formative and summative because it requires students to demonstrate their understanding
of the material that they have learned prior to and during the activity while they also
demonstrate their research abilities, their critical thinking skills and their ability to
collaborate with each other.
Tool 6.2: Students will complete this graphic organizer during and after their rotations for
the collaborative primary source analysis. It allows them to organize evidence based on
whether it supports the hypothesis of a human-caused disaster or a naturally occurring
disaster. This prepares them for the DBQ on the last day of the unit, ensuring that they go
into the writing exercise fully versed in their arguments and counterarguments. Students
will be evaluated on participation/completion of the graphic organizer. This is formative
assessment because it scaffolds them through source analysis.
CHAPTER 6 UNIT PLAN 11

DBQ: The DBQ will be completed on the last day of the unit. It will ask Was the Dust
Bowl a natural disaster or a human-made disaster? They will be able to use sources 6.2,
6.3, 6.4, 6.6, 6.7, and 6.9 to defend either side. Following the initial 45 minute writing,
the class will complete a writing lab together. They will go through their writing with
their peers and will determine what they did well and what they need to work on. This is
both a formative and summative assessment because it not only asks the students to
demonstrate their knowledge of the entire unit (summative), but it also gives them the
opportunity to address their writing and make improvements (formative).

Primary Sources
Banking Act of 1933 (Glass-Steagall Act)
Sec. 3. (a) ...Each federal reserve bank shall keep itself informed of the general character and
amount of the loans and investments of its member banks with a view to ascertaining whether
undue use is being made of bank credit for the speculative carrying of or trading in securities,
real estate, or commodities, or for any other purpose inconsistent with the maintenance of sound
credit conditions Sec. 20. After one year from the date of the enactment of this Act, no
member bank shall be affiliated in any manner.. With any corporation, association, business
trust, or other similar organization engaged principally in the issue, flotation, underwriting,
public sale, or distribution of stocks, bonds, debentures, notes, or other securities Sec. 32.
CHAPTER 6 UNIT PLAN 12

From and after January 1, 1934, no officer or director of any member bank shall be an officer,
director, or manager of any corporation, partnership, or unincorporated association engaged
primarily in the business of purchasing, selling, or negotiating securities
(http://www.federalreservehistory.org/Media/Material/Event/25-203)

Federal reserve bank: banks within the system controlled by the central Federal Reserve
that are responsible for implementing the countrys monetary policy
Ascertaining: discover, determine, understand
Securities: Any proof of ownership or debt that has a value and can be sold (like a stock
or bond)
Corporation: a company or group of people that acts as a single business entity
Stock: a type of security that signifies part ownership in a corporation and represents a
claim on that corporations earnings
Bond: a legal promise to pay a certain amount of money on a certain date; represents debt
Debenture: a type of debt security that is backed by credit, not by actual assets/money

Franklin D. Roosevelt - INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT

Washington, D.C.
March 4, 1933
I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I
will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our Nation impels.
This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we
shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it
has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the
only thing we have to fear is fear itselfnameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which
paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a
leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people
themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to
leadership in these critical days.

In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern,
thank God, only material things. Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our
ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the
means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise
lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in
thousands of families are gone. More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim
problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist
can deny the dark realities of the moment.

Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of
locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and
were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human
efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the
very sight of the supply. Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankinds goods
CHAPTER 6 UNIT PLAN 13

have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their
failure, and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the
court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.

True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn
tradition. Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money.
Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they
have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They know only the
rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people
perish. The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We
may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the
extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit

Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand
with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be
valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a
conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of
callous and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on
honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish
performance; without them it cannot liveOur greatest primary task is to put people to work.
This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in
part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the
emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly
needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our natural resources.

Hand in hand with this we must frankly recognize the overbalance of population in our
industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to provide a
better use of the land for those best fitted for the land. The task can be helped by definite efforts
to raise the values of agricultural products and with this the power to purchase the output of our
cities. It can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy of the growing loss through
foreclosure of our small homes and our farms. It can be helped by insistence that the Federal,
State, and local governments act forthwith on the demand that their cost be drastically reduced. It
can be helped by the unifying of relief activities which today are often scattered, uneconomical,
and unequal. It can be helped by national planning for and supervision of all forms of
transportation and of communications and other utilities which have a definitely public character.
There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped merely by talking
about it. We must act, and act quickly.

Finally, in our progress toward a resumption of work we require two safeguards against a
return of the evils of the old order; there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits
and investments; there must be an end to speculation with other peoples money, and there must
be provision for an adequate but sound currencyThrough this program of action we address
ourselves to putting our own national house in order and making income balance outgo. Our
international trade relations, though vastly important, are in point of time and necessity,
secondary to the establishment of a sound national economy I shall spare no effort to restore
CHAPTER 6 UNIT PLAN 14

world trade by international economic readjustment, but the emergency at home cannot wait on
that accomplishmentThe basic thought that guides these specific means of national recovery is
not narrowly nationalistic. It is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon the interdependence
of the various elements in all parts of the United Statesa recognition of the old and
permanently important manifestation of the American spirit of the pioneer. It is the way to
recovery. It is the immediate way. It is the strongest assurance that the recovery will endure

Candor the quality of being open and honest in expression.

Impels drive, force, or urge someone to do something.
Vigor physical strength and good health.
Curtailment the action or fact of reducing or restricting something.
Languishes to grow weak or feeble.
Unscrupulous having or showing no moral principles; not honest or fair.
Indicted formally accuse of or charge with a serious crime.
Court of Public Opinion using the news media to influence public support for one side
or the other during an issue.
Callous showing or having an insensitive and cruel disregard for others.
Outgo the outlay of money.

Time Photo Essay: The Crash of 29

Example of one of many photographs:

Brokers furiously trading on Black Thursday in attempts to stop the crash.

http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1677033,00.html
CHAPTER 6 UNIT PLAN 15

Secondary Sources:
Secondary Source Analysis of Great Depression Causes:
The Great Depression and History Textbooks Thomas F. Cargill and Thomas Mayer 1998

A third explanation, or rather set of explanations, is a mixed bag that includes the previously
discussed monetary explanation as only one of several factors (e.g., Eichengreen, 1992), and
stresses international developments. World War I had destroyed the old order. The gold standard
that had been painfully reestablished in the 1920s could not function as smoothly as had the old
gold standard, in part, because the changed role of the United States from a debtor to the
predominant creditor had not been accompanied by a sufficient readiness by the United States
to allow the needs of the international gold standard to take precedence over domestic policy
needs. More generally, the gold exchange standard which some countries had adopted in the
1920s was inherently unstable. Furthermore, in many countries left-wing parties had gained a
greater say, and they were less willing to sacrifice employment to maintain the gold standard. In
addition, the wartime expansion of American agriculture had led to large surpluses once
European agriculture recovered, and the resulting fall in the prices of agricultural products and
farm land seriously weakened rural banks. And rising tariffs and other trade barriers choked off
international trade. Some economists, but not others (e.g. Temin, 1994) think that the
Smoot-Hawley tariff seriously weakened the American economy.
Finally, there is a set of explanations referred to as the spending hypothesis, that focuses on
specific types of spending. Thus Temin ( 1976) argues that in 1930 there was an autonomous
and inexplicable drop in consumption.

Debtor Someone that owes money to someone else (Europe in this case)
Predominant Creditor The main nation that money was owed to (from Europe after
World War I)
Sufficient Enough
Precedence To go ahead of
Domestic Policies that have to do with a nations internal issues (taxation or welfare for
example)
Gold Exchange Standard The rate that gold was exchanged at between nations whose
money was backed by gold.
Inherently Unstable It was not going to work from the beginning.
Left-wing parties Communist or socialist parties would be examples of this
Surpluses More than a nation can sell or use.
Tariffs Taxes on goods being brought into the U.S. from other countries making
foreign goods more expensive
Smoot-Hawley Tariff Main tariff implemented during the Great Depression to try to
encourage spending on U.S. made goods.
Autonomous and Inexplicable drop in consumption People in that time, for their
own reasons that we do not know, decided to stop spending as much as they had been in
the years leading up to the Great Depression.