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The great depression
The Stock Market crahes, marking the end of six years of unparalledled prosperit for most sectors of the american economy. An estimated $30 billion in stock values will 'disappear' by November. -
Unemployedment
More than 3.2 million poeple are unemployed, up from 1.5 million before the october, 1929 crash. unemployedment have passed during the next 60 days. -
The Apple sellers
The street of New York City are crowded with Apple-sellers about 6,000 unemployed work for selling apples for five cents. -
Food riots
Riots start to break out in parts of the U.S in Minneapolis, hundred of men and women smash the windows of markets and take all the fruit, canned goods, bacon and Ham -
Three thousand unemployed workers
Three thousand unemployed workers march on the ford Motor Company's plannt in River Rouge, Michigan. Dearborn police and ford's company guards attack the workers, killing several and hutring many more -
New York's Bank of the United States
New York's Bank of the United States collapses. At the time of the collapse, the bank had over $200 million in deposits, making it the largest single bank failure in the nation's history. -
Congress establishescr
Congress establishes the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. The R.F.C. is allowed to lend $2 billion to banks, insurance companies, building and loan associations, agricultural credit organizations and railroads. Critics of the R.F.C. call it "the millionaires' dole." -
Unemploy men line
More than 750,000 New Yorkers are reported to be dependent upon city relief, with an additional 160,000 on a waiting list. Expenditures average about $8.20 per month for each person on relief. -
The Reconstruction Finance Corporation
The Reconstruction Finance Corporation is authorized to lend needy states sums from the National Treasury. The money is to target relief and public works projects. President Hoover signs a $100,000 transportation bill to assist "bonus Army" demonstrators in getting home. He sets a July 24 deadline for the men to abandon their encampments. On July 28, when some "bonus Army" members resist being moved from their camps, violence erupts, leading to the deaths of two veterans. Hoover orders Fed -
Franklin Delano
Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected president in a landslide over Herbert Hoover. Roosevelt receives 22.8 million popular votes to Hoover's 15.75 million. -
The Civil Works Administration is established
The Civil Works Administration is established. Devised as a wide scale program that could employ up to 4 million people, the C.W.A. is involved in the building of bridges, schools, hospitals, airports, parks and playgrounds. Additionally, C.W.A. funds go toward the repair and construction of highways and roads. Early in 1934, Congress will authorize $950 million for the continued operation of the C.W.A. -
Washington, D.C., Franklin Delano
Before a crowd of 100,000 at the Capitol Plaza in Washington, D.C., Franklin Delano Roosevelt is inaugurated. FDR tells the crowd, "The people of the United States have not failed. In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action. They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership. They have made me the present instrument of their wishes. In the spirit of the gift I take it."
FDR announces a four-day bank holiday to begin on Monday, March 6. Durin -
President Roosevelt, under the Emergency Banking Act,
President Roosevelt, under the Emergency Banking Act, orders the nation off of the gold standard. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) is established. Designed as a relief and employment program for young men between the ages of 17 and 27, the CCC is made up of groups of young men who work in national forests, parks, and federal land for nine-month stints. FDR envisions the program as a kind of volunteer "army." The first 250,000 young men are housed in 1,468 camps around the country. At its -
The Federal Emergency Relief Administration
The Federal Emergency Relief Administration is created by Congress. President Franklin Roosevelt appoints Harry L. Hopkins as its chief administrator. By the end of his first day on the job, Hopkins has issued grants totaling more than $5 million. The National Industrial Recovery Act is introduced into Congress. Under Title I of the act, the National Recovery Administration is designated to maintain some form of price and wage controls. Section 7(a) of the act guarantees labor the right to or -
Congress passes the Glass-Steagall
Congress passes the Glass-Steagall Act that separates commercial from investment banking and sets up the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to guarantee bank deposits. -
the federal government establishes
With an eye toward organizing farmers into soil conservation districts, the federal government establishes the Soil Erosion Service. The creation of this service was made necessary by the years of drought and dust that plagued the Southwestern Panhandle states. -
Federal Agricultural Program
In an effort to stabilize prices, the Federal Agricultural Program orders the slaughter of more than 6 million pigs. Many citizens protest this action since most of the meat went to waste. -
A three-day dust storm
A three-day dust storm blows an estimated 350 million tons of soil off of the terrain of the West and Southwest and deposits it as far east as New York and Boston. Some east coast cities are forced to ignite street lamps during the day to see through the blowing dust. -
Father Charles E. Coughlin
Father Charles E. Coughlin establishes the Union for Social Justice. Using the radio airwaves as his pulpit, Father Coughlin railes against "predatory capitalism." His criticism of the banking industry and disdain of communism soon dovetails into a troubling gospel of anti-Semitism. -
The National Youth Administration
The National Youth Administration is set up to address the needs of young men and women (who are not allowed in the CCC). The NYA works on two levels: a student-work program and an out-of-school program. The student-work program provides students with odd jobs that pay them enough to stay in school. The out-of-school program sets young people up with various jobs ranging from house painting to cleaning local parks, and eventually comes to include vocational training. -
FDR signs legislation
FDR signs legislation creating the Works Progress Administration. (Its name would be changed in 1939 to the Work Projects Administration.) The program employs more than 8.5 million individuals in 3,000 counties across the nation. These individuals, drawing a salary of only $41.57 a month, will improve or create highways, roads, bridges, and airports. In addition, the WPA will put thousands of artists -- writers, painters, theater directors, and sculptors -- to work on various projects. The WPA w -
FDR signs the Wagner National Labor Relations Act
FDR signs the Wagner National Labor Relations Act. The goal of the act is to validate union authority and supervise union elections. -
The Social Security Act
The Social Security Act of 1935 is signed into law by FDR. Among the most controversial stipulations of the act is that Social Security will be financed through a payroll tax. Historian Kenneth S. Davis calls the signing of the act "one of the major turning points of American history. No longer could `rugged individualism' convincingly insist that government, though obliged to provide a climate favorable for the growth of business profits, had no responsibility whatever for the welfare of the hu -
Photographer Dorothea Lange visits a pea-pickers
Photographer Dorothea Lange visits a pea-pickers' camp in California's San Joaquin Valley and takes photographs of harvest workers. The images, especially those in the "Migrant Mother Series," vividly illustrate the plight of the workers. The San Francisco News runs the photo essay under the headline, "Ragged, Hungry, Broke, Harvest Workers Live in Squallor (sic)." -
The San Francisco News
The San Francisco News publishes a series of articles written by John Steinbeck called "The Harvest Gypsies." The series explores the hardships faced by those living and working in migrant labor camps. Steinbeck writes, "...One has only to go into the squatters' camps where the families live on the ground and have no homes... to look at the strong purposeful faces, often filled with pain... to know that this new race is here to stay and that heed must be taken of it." -
efeating Kansas Governor
Defeating Kansas Governor Alfred M. Landon, FDR is elected to his second term as president, winning every state in the Union except Maine and Vermont. -
United Automobile Workers strike
United Automobile Workers strike at the General Motors Plant in Flint, Michigan. The strike turns violent when strikers clash with company-hired police. -
The slow economic recovery
The slow economic recovery made possible by New Deal programs suffers a setback as unemployment rises. FDR's detractors call it the start of the "Roosevelt recession." -
At Republic Steel's South Chicago plant
At Republic Steel's South Chicago plant, workers and their families try to combine a picnic with a rally and demonstration. Ten people are killed and a dozen more are wounded in the "Memorial Day Massacre." -
FDR asks Congress
FDR asks Congress to authorize $3.75 billion in federal spending to stimulate the sagging economy. Economic indicators respond favorably over the next few months. Still, unemployment will remain high and is predicted to stay that way for some time. -
Franklin Roosevelt
Franklin Roosevelt is elected to an unprecedented third term as president, defeating Wendell Willkie. FDR's victory is seen as proof of the nation's support of his war policies. Roosevelt lobbies Congress to pass the Lend-Lease Act, which will aid Britain in its struggle to fend off Germany. In little over a year, following Japan's December 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. will enter the war in the Pacific and in Europe. The war effort will jump-start U.S. industry and effectively end t