Georgia during WWI and Great Depression

• Georgia's contributions to the WWI war effort included farms providing food, textile mills producing uniforms, and military camps training troops.
• Georgia had more military training camps than any other state during WWI.
• Citizens were asked to conserve food to ensure enough resources for troops overseas and were encouraged to plant victory gardens to meet their needs and provide for the troops.

Great Depression

• The boll weevil and drought caused rapid changes in cotton production before the Great Depression.
• The boll weevil forced farmers to diversify their crops which led to an economic depression in the state before the rest of the country.
• The boll weevil played a role in urban migration as people left farms in search of work, with many African Americans moving North.
• The boll weevil infestation was particularly harmful to Georgia because the state's economy heavily depended on cotton.
• Stock speculation involved investors overvaluing stocks, overproduction meant farmers grew more crops than people could buy, and consumerism led to people borrowing more money than they could repay; all factors contributing to the Great Depression in the U.S.
• Consumerism contributed to the Great Depression as people bought on credit and spent more than they saved.

Governor Eugene Talmadge

• Eugene Talmadge opposed the New Deal, arguing it infringed on states’ rights.
• Talmadge’s opposition to New Deal Programs hurt poor, rural farmers the most.
• Talmadge opposed the New Deal Programs due to his prejudices against Black people, disliking that it aided them.

President Roosevelt & GA

• Warm Springs, GA, was strongly attached to President Roosevelt because he had a home there and visited for polio treatments.
• Roosevelt's time in Georgia motivated him to address poverty in rural areas through his New Deal policies.

New Deal Programs

• The CCC was popular in GA, due to the jobs it provided.
• The CCC's biggest impact on GA was improving the state’s State Park System.
• The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) aimed to fix overproduction by paying farmers to plant less, which raised crop prices.
• The primary goal of the Rural Electrification Act (REA) was to provide electricity to rural farmers, most of whom lacked it before.
• The Rural Electrification Act gave people in rural areas a fair chance to prosper.
• The Social Security Act created retirement income for people 65+, disability insurance, death benefits for children, and unemployment coverage.
• The main purpose of the Social Security Act was to help Americans feel financially secure about their future.

WWII in GA

• The Lend-Lease Act authorized Congress to provide supplies to countries during the war in return for land for bases in those countries.
• The Lend-Lease Act assisted in the war effort without committing troops.
• On December 7, 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor caused significant casualties, sank warships, and led to the U.S. declaring war on Japan.
• The Pearl Harbor attack pulled America into WW2 - Dec. 8 1941
• Savannah and Brunswick were economically impacted by WW2 through shipyards providing jobs in the building of Liberty Ships.
• World War 2 shifted GA’s economy away from total reliance on agriculture through major industrial development.
• The Bell Bomber Plant had a great economic impact on Marietta and the state of GA by creating many jobs that employed men, women, and African Americans.
• Carl Vinson, a famous Georgian, was the “father of the two ocean navy”.
• Senator Richard Russell helped to increase the amount of military investment in GA.
• Richard Russell and Carl Vinson both helped to grow the economy of GA by using their positions in Washington to bring military bases to the state.