World War I and The Great
Depression
Warm Up
Unit 11 Vocabulary
• Ally – A country that agrees to help another country achieve a common goal.
• Patriotism – Love or devotion for one’s country.
• Consumer goods – product created for personal use, such as clothing, radios,
and refrigerators.
• Urban – City or city life
• Rural – Country or country life
• Stock – Ownership in a corporation usually divided into shares and represented
by a certificate
• Stockholder – Owner of Stock
• Crash – A sudden decline or failure.
• New Deal – The set of programs and policies designed to promote economic
recovery and social reform introduced by FDR.
• Great Depression – The longest and worst depression in U.S. history; 1929WWII.
• Unemployment rate – the percentage of people who are out of work.
• Black Tuesday – Record amount of money lost in the stock market.
• Drought – A long period of dryness; going for a period of time with little or no
rain.
• Black Blizzard – Dust storms so fierce that the sun is completely blocked out for
hours at a time.
World War I
• 1914 – World War I began, but the U.S.
remained neutral (stayed out of the war).
• 1917 - German submarines sank ship (the
Luisitania) carrying American passengers. This
forces the U.S. into the war! In April, President
Woodrow Wilson officially declares war against
Germany.
The Zimmerman Telegram
• German diplomat, Arthur Zimmerman, sent a
secret-code telegram to Mexico.
• In telegram, Germany promised to help
Mexico regain its “lost territories” of Texas,
Arizona, and New Mexico in exchange for its
support.
• News reaches the U.S. and Texas; they are
furious!
Texas and World War I
• About 200,000 U.S. troops are Texans. 25% are African
Americans.
• Texas is excellent for training troops
because of
wide open spaces and
many connecting
railroad networks.
• Training camps include:
1.
Kelly Field in San Antonio –
world’s largest flight
training school
2.
Camp Logan near Houston
3.
other camps in Waco, Fort Worth
Texas Soldiers in the War
• The War caused significant changes for Texas
soldiers.
1. many got health and dental care for
the first time.
2. many had never before traveled
outside of Texas.
3. many received more education and
specialized training.
Texans Support the War at Home
• Texans encouraged to “Do
your bit” at home to support
troops by:
1. buying war bonds and
liberty loans
2. buying war stamps
3. giving to the Red Cross
4. ration food supplies
Wartime Prosperity in Texas
• Businesses, industries, farmers, and ranchers
prospered during the War because they produced
many things for the troops.
• Items included:
1. cotton/wool = tents, uniforms
2. leather = boots
3. meat/grain = food supplies
4. petroleum industry = gas, lubricants
for machinery
Farmers, ranchers went into debt to expand farms for
wartime production.
Warm Up
Ku Klux Klan
• Ku Klux Klan was a secret anti-minority
organization formed during Reconstruction
• Used violence against victims (African
Americans, Jews, Catholics)
• 1920s – very influential in Texas politics
Against the KKK
• Many Texans fed up with Klan’s violence and
elected anti-Klan Miriam “Ma” Ferguson as
Governor. First woman to be elected
Governor in Texas!
Urban Texas
• 1920s - Texas changed from a rural,
agricultural state to an urban one in which
people had more leisure time.
• Most homes now had:
1. electricity, phone service
2. refrigerators, electric appliances
3. washing machines, irons, vacuums
The Roaring 20’s
• The new concept of
“credit”
• People were buying:
– Automobiles
– Appliances
– Clothes
• Fun times reigned
– Dancing
– Drinking
– Jazz
Texas Highway Department
• 1922 – more than one million cars and trucks
were registered in Texas, ending the horse and
buggy era.
• Traffic laws were passed and police enforced
them.
• Texas created the Texas Highway Department and
became eligible for federal funds to build new
roads.
Why was this bad?
• Credit system
– People didn’t really have
the money they were
spending
• WWI
– The U.S. was a major
credit loaner to other
nations in need
– Many of these nations
could not pay us back
The Stock Market
• People bought stocks
on margins
– If a stock is $100 you
can pay $10 now and
the rest later when the
stock rose
• Stocks fall
– Now the person has
less than $100 and no
money to pay back
Great Depression Begins
• In 1929, early in Republican Herbert Hoover’s
presidency, the U. S. stock market collapsed.
• Many investors, hoping to make quick
fortunes, drove up the price of stock.
• Some investors borrowed money heavily to
buy stocks, and when stock prices fell, those
investors and the banks that loaned them
money were wiped out.
Cotton Crisis for Farmers
• 1930s - Cotton prices dropped and the Great
Depression forced the prices even lower.
• The Texas Department of Agriculture urged
farmers to reduce the number of acres
planted in cotton.
• Farmers were already feeling the effects
– Prices of crops went down
– Many farms foreclosed
• People could not afford luxuries
– Factories shut down
– Businesses went out
• Banks could not pay out money
• People could not pay their taxes
– Schools shut down due to lack of funds
• Many families became homeless and had to
live in shanties
Many waited in unemployment lines
hoping for a job.
People in cities would wait in line for bread
to bring to their family.
Some families were forced to relocate because
they had no money.
The Dust Bowl in Texas
• After World War I, when wheat prices were
high, farmers tried to earn more money by
planting more crops.
• But, during the 1920s, wheat prices dropped
drastically from overproduction.
• Farmers plowed under the grasses of
the plains to plant crops, but there was
nothing to hold down the soil from strong
winds.
The Dust Bowl in Texas
• 1930s - A severe drought added to the
problem as dust storms made the area into a
Dust Bowl; it lasted 7 years.
• People became ill from lung diseases and
many families lost their farms because of hard
times.
• The Dust Bowl covered a five-state area:
Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico,
and Texas.
A New Deal for Texas
• 1932 - Franklin D. Roosevelt won the presidential
election, with almost 90 percent of Texans
supporting him.
• After taking office in March 1933, he started
reform programs called the “New Deal.”
• John N. Garner, former Texas Congressman and
then the U.S. Vice President, helped push New
Deal programs in Congress.
New Deal Programs in Texas
• New agencies to deal with problems of the
Depression were known as alphabet agencies
because people called them by their initials.
• Agencies included: Civilian Conservation Corps
(CCC), National Youth Administration (NYA),
Public Works Administration (PWA).
New Deal for Rural Texans
• New Deal programs tried to slow down soil
erosion to help farmers in the Dust Bowl
regions.
• New planting and contour plowing techniques
helped farmers protect the topsoil from
blowing away.
• The federal government paid farmers to plant
trees as windbreaks, and by 1938, sand dunes
around Dalhart were gone.
World War II
• Military leaders in Germany, Italy, and
Japan took control and began wars of
expansion. They signed a treaty
promising not to attack each other and
became known as the Axis Powers
because they thought the earth
“revolved around them.”
• When Germany invaded Poland in
1939, and continued invasions of
several smaller countries, European
democracies like France and England
were forced into action, and World War
II began.
U.S. Supports the Allies
• Roosevelt favored the Allies–nations at war
with the Axis powers–although the United
States was officially neutral.
• To assist the Allies,
Roosevelt made
military equipment
available through
the Lend-Lease Act.
U.S. Goes to War
• December 7, 1941 - Japan attacked the U.S.
troops based at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and
the United States officially entered the war.
• World War II would not end until 1945 with a
victory for the Allied forces.
Texas Leaders in World War II
• General Dwight Eisenhower, who was born in
Denison, Texas, commanded Allied forces in
Europe, while
• Admiral Chester Nimitz of Fredericksburg was
one of 12 navy admirals from Texas.
• Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby of Houston,
organized and served as commander of the
Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC).
U.S. Forces Train in Texas
• Texas’s favorable climate, location between
the two coasts, and wide open spaces made it
ideal for military bases.
• More than 100 military bases were built or
enlarged.
Industrial Production in Texas
• World War II depended heavily on tanks,
ships, airplanes, gasoline, explosives, and
other supplies. Texas had large supplies of
natural gas, water, timber, and sulfur and
supplied 80% of the oil needed.
• From 1942 to 1944, Texas industries boomed,
resulting in a large population growth.
New Methods of Production
• Wartime needs encouraged development of
improved products and methods of production.
• Scientists invented synthetic rubber from
petroleum, and plants were built in Texas.
Home Front Workers
• Between 1940 and 1943,
about 450,000 rural Texans
moved to cities to work in
wartime factories.
• There were new job
opportunities for women,
African Americans, and
Mexican Americans, but
discrimination was still a
problem.
Texans Support the War at Home
• Food items, gasoline, tires, and other scarce
supplies were rationed.
• Texans supplemented their food by planting
“victory gardens.”
• They collected scrap iron for use in
manufacturing war supplies.
• Texans contributed to the Red Cross and
other agencies serving the military.
Texas After the War
• Airplane and ship plants either closed or began
producing consumer goods.
• Women who worked in factories generally were fired
so that returning servicemen could have their jobs.
• Since farming had become mechanized and required
fewer workers, most tenant farmers never returned
to work on farms.
New Attitudes of Minorities
• Many African Americans and Mexican Americans
realized the unfairness of fighting and dying for
democracy and freedom when many of their civil
rights were denied at home.
• Many Mexican American veterans joined LULAC,
while others formed the American GI Forum of Texas.
• The NAACP also became more active during
and after the war.
Texans Return to Civilian Life
• After the war, many factories closed down and there
were not enough consumer goods for everyone.
• 1944 - Congress passed the GI Bill of Rights which
helped veterans in various ways, including paying
college tuition.
• As a result, the United States economy grew and
prospered.
Foreign Affairs
• U.S. troops served in Germany and Japan as armies
of occupation.
• New threats emerged when the Soviet Union set up
Communist dictatorships in several Eastern European
nations.
• The United States was committed to stopping the
spread of Communism and became involved in the
Cold War.
VS.
New Threats
• 1950 - Communist North Korea invaded South Korea
and the United States was again at war – the Korean
War.
• This was would not end until 1953.