In America, the years 1929 through 1941 were not necessarily the brightest years the country has seen, but certainly should not be forgotten, and here’s why: during the Great Depression, one may say the true colors of the nation, showed through. As people lost money and unemployment rates skyrocketed (seen in document 1), companies were picky as who to hire, usually hiring the average white male over any other minority (women included). On the other hand, however, many people came together as a community and helped restore America to its former glory. In the 1920s, the economy boomed. Poverty was nowhere to be found and people were living their lives happily. At least in the cities and suburbs. Farmers, however, were not getting their …show more content…
The depression, however, was not only in the United States. Countries all over suffered from World War One as well. Depression spread and unemployment continued to skyrocket. Poverty spread, people lost their money and homes and struggled to feed their families. People moved from town to town just searching for work. In desperate need of food, women would even grow their own food to feed their family. The homeless often lived in shacks, nicknamed ‘Hoovervilles’ after President Hoover. Although Hoover felt a deep concern for the homeless and unemployed and as much as he tried to restore the confidence of the nation, he felt that the government should not become directly involved in helping restore the economy. He felt it was up to the people to end this depression, which was spiraling out of control. He opposed government relief programs and urged business leaders to keep workers employed and maintain wages. He also had called on churches as well as private charities to help the needy and set up soup kitchens (seen in document 4). Hoover also set up public works programs, which provided jobs and helped the government at the same time. He also approved the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which would loan money to railroads, banks, and insurance companies to help them stay in business. Although Hoover had tried to help the economy, it had little effect. The depression continued to deepen. Hoover, however, was …show more content…
Roosevelt. This World War One navy veteran saw the troubles that the United States was going through, (document 5) and promised a ‘New Deal’. During his run in office, he had three goals: Relief for the unemployed, repair the economy, and reforms to prevent another depression (the three R’s). The first thing Roosevelt did was fix the banking system. He knew that without stable banks, money would not be able to start flowing in the economy anymore. He ordered and ‘Bank Holiday’ and went through to all the banks making sure they were financially stable, and shut down the ones that were not. The nation soon had faith in Roosevelt and quickly saw brighter days ahead. Roosevelt provided relief for the unemployed through the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the Works Progress Administration. Both hired unemployed civilians to work building parks, playgrounds, hospitals, schools, etc. Roosevelt also provided recovery to the industry and farmers. He passed acts such as the National Industrial Recovery Act, and the Agricultural Adjustment Act. He paid farmers to start planting a variety of crop instead of competing in prices for the same product. He also provided long-term reforms and has so far prevented another depression through acts such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Social Security
Imagine this. You wake up one morning in the year 1929, in your luxurious, pricey mansion. You then make your way downstairs to eat that nice big breakfast. Then you kiss your family good bye and head off to your fancy job. You come home that evening and suddenly you’re flat broke. Meaning all your money and life’s savings vanished. Unreal right? Well it was real for hundreds of families on October 29, 1929. The day the stock market crashed and when America’s confidence was challenged greatly.
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s plan helped make the economy get stable through programs that he started, helping create more jobs for the unemployed. He passed bills that helped both the American people and its environment. For example, new roads and bridges were built. Another one of FDR’S efforts to get out of the depression was to enter WWII. Document 6 shows a cartoon of how much was produced for the war and shows Uncle Sam working, too. Overall, FDR’s decision to enter the war was the greatest impact on the Great Depression because they got out of it. Herbert Hoover was a terrible leader in many Americans’ views because they believed he did not do enough for the people and was more supportive toward big businesses. He gave money to the rich so that they would pass it down to the poor but instead the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. Another downfall of Hoover was Hoovervilles. These were a collection of poor people without homes. The name was given as a disgrace to Hoover. In result, FDR was a more favored president during the Great Depression than Hoover.
The America in the 1930s was drastically different from the luxurious 1920s. The stock market had crashed to an all time low, unemployment was the highest the country had ever seen, and all American citizens were affected by it in some way or another. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal was effective in addressing the issues of The Great Depression in the sense that it provided immediate relief to US citizens by lowering unemployment, increasing trust in the banks, getting Americans out of debt, and preventing future economic crisis from taking place through reform. Despite these efforts The New Deal failed to end the depression. In order for America to get out of this economic
The journal article begins by introducing an African American couple who resided in Russellville, Kentucky. James Wright held an occupation as a corn cutter while his wife Gladys worked as a cook in a white home. The time span of their journey occurred at the beginning of the great depression all the way through World War II. Seeking better employment opportunities, James traveled to Louisville. Although, his first couple trips were in vain. His resilience and determination eventually lead to a job working for International Harvester. During an era of many trials and tribulations, James found a way to support himself and his family by migrating from a rural to an urban area. By sharing this anecdote the author establishes a mood of hardship
The majority of individuals trust that the stock exchange crash that happened on October 29, 1929 is the main source of the Great Depression. The stock market accident was not the sole reason for the Great Depression, but rather it acted to quicken the worldwide economic breakdown of which it was additionally a symptom. Numerous components prompted the Depression. One of which being bank failures, another the global downturn, and dry season conditions.
The 1920s was known for its prosperous and flamboyant lifestyle. The GDP during that time had risen by 30 percent and unemployment was as at an all-time low of 3 percent. This was not meant to last forever. In fact, it was nearly impossible for this to last any longer than it did due to an imbalance that society was unaware of including that not every citizen was experiencing this uncommon wealth. There were still 3 percent unemployed and even some of the employed members of society did not make enough to support a family and were considered homeless. It was in October of 1929 when this so-called luxurious lifestyle vanished as the stock market crashed at a time when the stock market seemed it would never stop increasing. This caused an economic, downhill, rolling ball effect. Those who took out loans to invest in stocks could not afford to repay the banks causing the banks to fail and close down. When the banks closed down, the depositors of that bank lost their life savings causing them to go broke and some company owners to close their doors. This led to a loss of jobs by the employers of those companies. This time period was known as the Great Depression and rightfully so. It is the most significant setback in the American Economy to date. The Herbert Hoover administration was in effect at this time giving the society an easy target to blame. Come time for the next election in 1932, Americans were ready for a change in authority to bring them out of this seemingly black
Imagine losing years of saved money, while being homeless and jobless. Americans went through these sufferings after the Stock Market crash. After the Stock Market crash of 1929, the United State’s economy crashed and worsen as more economical problems built up. During this time, the political, economic, and social organization were in a state of confusion and disruption. The government, various groups, and individuals sought ways to fix the problems of the Great Depression. Americans faced many problems during the Great Depression, he government, various groups, and individuals attempted to solve the problems brought about by the Great Depression.
The Great Depression affected Americans no matter their educational stance or social class. For example, a college educated woman named Vera had extreme problems with acquiring a job. Due to her inexperience, no one would hire her. The didn’t care if she had a college
Historians argue what caused the Great Depression, some say it was due to the stock market, others say it may be the war debt or overproduction. To believe the Great Depression was caused by only one event is naive. It was caused by a multitude of problems that the government failed to fix.
“What caused the Great Depression?” The Great Depression was one of America’s most influential stepping stones. It helped shape society and the economy for the better, but it caused the most damage. Millions nationwide were affected by the economic fall. Unemployment rates were high and more than thousands were forced to leave their homes.
He then created the Reconstruction Finance Corporation in 1932 to bail out the banks, railroad and agricultural corporations. He also asked American people to be involved in charity through President's Organization on Unemployment relief. These were the steps that President Hoover took to tackle the Great
There were many actions taken to try and solve The Depression. Some of the problems were the stock market crash of 1929, unemployment rising, hunger spreading across the country, and bank failures. Some of these problems did have solutions though. For example, one of the attempts to solve the problem of unemployment was creating the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of 1935. The WPA set out to create as many jobs as possible so people could get back to work and provide for their families.
The Great Depression of 1929 was a horrible time where American and its people had to suffer from poverty and hunger. The reasons for the Depression as stated on page 4, were “...a number of serious weaknesses in the economy.” examples such as people borrowing money they could not give back, wealthy making more money, and even the cost of WW1 cause problems. These all lead up to the U.S. stock market crash of 1929, were “thousands of investors were ruined and confidence in the economy was destroyed. ”(page 4)
The Great Depression was a time of great economic tragedy during the 1930’s. October 24, 1929 was the day of the stock market crash, causing economical shortage everywhere, even globally, and this scared everyone, including the rich. This day was/ is known as “Black Thursday”, where over 2.9 million shares were traded. On “Black Tuesday”, five days later, more than 16 million more shares were traded in another wave of panic. Many investors then lost confidence in their banks and demanded deposits in cash which forced the banks to liquidate loans in order to supplement their on hand cash reserves. By 1933, around 15 million Americans were unemployed and nearly half of the country’s banks had failed. This stopped Americans from purchasing which then led to less production of goods and decreased the amount of needed human labor. In the end, millions of shares ended up worthless, and those investors who had bought stocks with borrowed money were wiped out completely.
After the Civil War, America started experiencing prosperous times in terms economic boom. However, in September, 1929 things took a different twist when the stock prices fell abruptly, eventually leading to the stock market crash the following October. This, combined with rising personal debt triggered the Great Depression, the worst economic collapse since the onset of industrialization. The ensuing effect was collapse of banks, closure of businesses and a quarter of the employed Americans lost their jobs. Further, families became homeless and some resorted to camping out on the Great Lawn in New York City, which was an empty reservoir then.