Introduction: The Great Depression

Group Leader: Morgan P.

Technical Expert: Presttee R.

The Great Depression was a time of fear and devastation that hit the entire country. The situation was unique due to the fact that the consequences hit all Americans regardless of race, gender or wealth. Many factors led up to the Great Depression, but one thing was constant: the fight to survive crossed boundaries as never before. When the Great Depression began Hoover was leading the country and the country was struggling, many were losing their livelihoods, and hope of providing for their children was dismal. The election of Roosevelt was hoped to be the answer and he did not disappoint. The country was pulled out of the depression by the blood, sweat and tears of a nation intent on surviving; the same attitude that made our great country what it is today.

Early Signs of the Great Depression – Presttee R.

There were many different signs that heralded the Great Depression and all of them were warning bells to the tragedy that would soon befall the nation.

Early signs of the Great Depression started showing up all over the globe. Throughout the world, manufacturing and trade business started on a decline. This decline started in a domino effect. One of the factors that contributed to the decline was the stock market crash in 1929, remembered as “Black Tuesday.” Stockholders lost approximately $40 billion dollars. Before America could regain some of what was lost it was too late and banks began to close. In the 1930s over 9,000 banks failed. Bank deposits were uninsured, so when banks closed people lost their money. The banks that survived were so afraid of being in the same economic situation that they stopped lending money. People had lost so much money with the bank closings and were afraid of the unknown that they stopped making purchases. The loss of purchases by the consumers led to reduction in the number of items being produced which in turn caused a workforce reduction. This means jobs were lost and people were unable to pay for items they had bought through installment plans. Businesses began failing and in turn the government created a high tax on international trading which in turn caused trading to be less. All these things led to the Great Depression.

Daily life for a lower class family – Kamil P.

When one looks into the past and notices the many signs that heralded the start of the Great Depression the signs were first manifested most obviously in the lives and actions of the lower class families, as they did not have a fortune to spend before hardship struck. They were already struggling and when the Great Depression hit, they were the first to suffer and the hardest hit.

Daily life during the Great Depression was vastly different than any other time period in America. The Great Depression’s unemployment rate rose to 13 million people when the country had only 125 million people. The 13 million were primarily comprised of men who were often the head of their households and the only one working to support the family. By not being able to financially support their families, several young family members were forced to do what they could. Teenage boys would take up jobs in factories, some even had paper routes. Most girls took up sewing and knitting, whether it was for money or for their own families. This generation was often uneducated and did not complete schooling past elementary, if even able to go to school at all. Many people committed suicide during this time period, giving the US its highest suicide rate in its young history. Entertainment was scarce with not much to do without any money. They would tell stories, sing, and sometimes be see movies or listen to radio shows. Luxuries during this time period consisted of listening to the radio for the show, “Little Orphan Annie.” The movie, “Gone with the Wind” was an instant classic. It sold more tickets than any movie even today. It broke the all-time box office records if adjusted for inflation. Families survived on bread and soups for months, and years, during this time period. Butter was considered a luxury as well as sugar. Homes were foreclosed; families were forced to move into small apartments not meant for more than one person, often accommodating five or six people. If they could, they would move in with other relatives who were able to save their homes from the Great Depression. Many people invested all they had in the stock market, hoping to get rich quick, or perhaps even make enough to save their money. This was the lowest the market ever was. Daily life during the Great Depression was very difficult and at most times it was unbearable. Through Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt, our country was able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

How did family’s problem solve in order to survive? – Edmund P.

One of the ways these poor lower class families sought to survive was with the use of problem solving. Families banded together to find out how to provide food, shelter, and clothes on their backs.

During the Great Depression many people came up with creative ways to solve family problems. The first and foremost problem was housing. Many families upon losing their homes to the bank moved in with family members or rented rooms from neighbors who were having a tough time paying their own mortgages. When the money ran completely out they would live as squatters in communities of homemade shacks of cardboard and scrap called Hoovervilles. The next major problem was income. Many were part of the government run WPA - Works Progress Administration which paid modest wages. To make ends meet they would also take on additional cash labor in forms of laundry or day labor type work. These modest wages were used to pay rent, buy food and meager portions of biscuits and bread. The final resort was begging. Many requested assistance from many different government and non government sponsored programs: Free Lunch Program from the school, Christmas Dinner at the Y.W.C.A, free shoes from local merchant on Christmas, cod liver oil from the nurse at the doctor’s office, the American Red Cross and Welfare Department, a bag of coal from a coal dealer.
Citations: Stevens, Anne. "Great Depression and World War II, 1929-1945: Begging". Library of Congress. 2/12/2010 http://memory.loc.gov/learn//features/timeline/depwwii/depress/begging.html
Shahn, Ben. "Dwellers in Circleville's "Hooverville," central Ohio Call Number: LC-USF33-006580-M4". Library of Congress. 2/12/2010
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@FILREQ(@FIELD(DOCID+@LIT(fsa1997018403/PP))+@FIELD(COLLID+fsa))

Discrimination during the Great Depression – Kathy P.

Although many were fighting to survive together, no matter their race or affiliation, discrimination ran rampant. Those who were facing hard times chose to take their frustrations out on the men or women who were different. This bred resentment and violence towards those who were on the receiving end of the discrimination.

The Great Depression brought bad feelings toward the nation’s elite, typically white men, and allowed for a more diverse leadership to emerge. During this period, Will Rogers, a Cherokee Indian and a movie star rose to the position of advisor to President Roosevelt. Will Roger’s unusual popularity as a minority in a prominent position opened the door for other minorities to begin seeking leadership roles in society. He also was successful in helping Roosevelt promote the “New Deal” to the American public. Although discrimination did not go away, and in many circumstances it increased, people of many cultures and socio-economic backgrounds were thrown together with similar circumstances rooted in unemployment. Discrimination was not reserved for race minorities, but included women. White women could expect to earn 61% what a white man earned. A black woman earned only 23% what a white man earned. Black Americans, men and women, suffered twice as much as whites during the Great Depression. Black unemployment was 50% compared to only 25% for white unemployment. Mexicans also expected to earn less than their white counterparts. It was common for Mexican children to earn a third of the families’ total income, often working hard physical labor in the agriculture industry.

What was the dust bowl and what hardships did it create? – Neketha P.

During the Great Depression, the dust bowl became a place associated with the harshest of atmospheres. In this area, the land was unforgiving and so the people soon became the same, choosing to work hard to create a living in an environment which only bred resentment and hard times.

The “dust bowl” was a series of destructive wind and dust storms that hit the U.S. from 1931 to 1937. Farmers were enticed by the high prices of wheat to convert millions of acres of grazing land to farmland to plant wheat. After years of drought, the wheat crops had withered and nothing was left to hold the soil down. The dust bowl started when the wind picked up the dry and loose soil. The dust bowl was mainly in Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, and Texas. The name “dust bowl” began on April 15, 1935 after a report characterized the series of destructive winds and dust by this name. The hardships created by the dust bowl were The Great Depression, economic overexpansion, poor land management for farmers, bank closures, business losses, physical and emotional hardships. Many farmers lost their land and had to leave temporarily to seek work to provide for their families. In fact, a bulletin from the Works Progress Administration reported that in 1937, 21% of all rural families in the Great Plains were receiving federal emergency relief.

Citations:
www.mindsring.com/jwar/dust/bowl.htm
History1900s.about.com/od/great_depressionpictures.htm

Hoover – What did he do and was the country better off with his contributions? - Amber R.

Hoover was a man who happened to be in the White House while the country was falling apart. He was a man who had to deal with the beginning of the Depression in the town he lived and worked in. The country needed a leader to work hard to combat the problems of the country. Hoover tried but did he succeed.

Herbert Hoover was the thirty-first president of the United States. Elected at the beginning of what some say the start of the Great Depression in 1928. He was in office during the dark day of October 29, 1929 called “Black Tuesday.” After this day, Hoover tried to revitalize the economy by ordering federal projects to be sped up so there would be more work. He also tried to get all 48 states to cooperate in doing this as well. He went to congress with 160 million dollar tax cut and doubled the resources for public buildings. Hoover also encouraged businesses to give raises to their employees. All these things were meant to give people jobs and bring more income to the families that were affected by the depression. Although he was able to stimulate the economy on the technology and products side, the flood of goods was greater than the demand. This caused a great number of people to be unemployed. There was no unemployment insurance then so people went hungry. There was also the problem of banks gambling with people’s money in the shaky stock market. Since there was so many banks, this caused people to lose their hard earned money. The actions of Hoover’s administration regarding the stimulus of the economy tried to help but people were scared and cut their spending. The cause of the depression, although undetermined, was greatly encouraged by the fact that there were a lot of goods produced that no one could buy as well as the companies making no money from their goods and then laying people off and eventually going under. Hoover had the right idea to create an environment for a thriving economy, but there were a lot of outside factors that committed it to be doomed.

Roosevelt – Fireside chats, programs, and changes for a future – Morgan P.

Roosevelt was a man who wanted to be the catalyst for a change in a country held in the grip of turmoil. Hoover tried and was unsuccessful, yet Roosevelt who was a newcomer to the Presidency sought to change the face of the country for the better, and Roosevelt accomplished the change he sought to achieve.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a man who recognized a need in our country and rose to the occasion, providing the country with hope for a future where the average American could rise out of poverty. Although Roosevelt developed polio before his political career took off, he would not be defeated in his rise to the top. He went from Senate to Governor and then took the position of Presidency. Roosevelt’s goal was to bring hope and stability to an unstable country through many programs and new laws. He believed that his New Deal would help the country regain its footing. Roosevelt’s New Deal was a turning point in our nation’s history that helped the little man with programs that provided jobs and relief. Roosevelt enacted legislation to regulate banks in order to provide a safe and reliable place for money to be kept. These changes include the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, he created jobs in order to allow the unemployed or barely employed a chance to earn the money needed for their families to survive. An example of one of the many programs that created jobs that were instituted at this time was the Tennessee Valley Authority, which created jobs by building dams, power plants and other helpful utilities. He not only worked to provide for the regular worker with these programs but he worked to preserve our legacy as well, in the form of music, theatre and the arts. In order to do this he provided funding to artists in order for them to continue creating, instead of previously where they were essentially forced to stop producing art in order to take jobs to survive. Due to his diligence in his actions to support the common man he was elected to a second term. This allowed Roosevelt to expand his goals for the country and to continue towards creating programs to care for the poor and elderly. This created the Social Security Commission and the Welfare system. Lastly, he believed that for labor to be profitable the need for the workers to begin to safeguard them against punishing big business was important. He supported the rise of the labor unions as another obvious step in the growth of our nation. All these reforms were testaments to the political and social understanding that Roosevelt showed throughout his political career. But, by far his most socially savvy decision was to institute the Fireside Chat; this allowed the programs, which were created to reach even the most far away citizen of our country. Most of the nation had radios and so Roosevelt became the first President to extensively use the media in order to spread his agenda and to bring information to the regular laborer. Roosevelt was a man who was in the right place when the country needed change and hope, he instituted many programs in order to help the country grow and guided the economy through a time when for most hope was lost. Roosevelt will be remembered throughout history as the man who took a hurting, economically collapsed country and helped it rise from the ashes to become a world player and a country who many only dream of living in.
Citations:
Audio Fireside Chat March 9th, 1937 - http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/mediaplay.php?id=15381&admin=32
Photo FDR, Churchill, and Stalin - http://www.mcmahanphoto.com/prco-presidents-fdr.html

New Deal – What was it and what went wrong with it? – Kenley R.

Roosevelt’s multi-faceted solution to the Great Depression was called the New Deal. For his wish for the future of the United States he knew that in order to restore the country to health many changes must be made. There were many individual parts to his project but as a whole they made up the recipe for the countries antidote to the Great Depression.

The first New Deal sought to restore the economy in order to try and fix the problems of the Great Depression during 1930-1935. There were two acts passed during this time that were supposedly going to help stimulate the economy. The first of the two was The Agricultural Adjustment Act, also known as AAA, intended to inflate farm prices that were low due to overproduction. This was done by the government to pay farmers to produce less. This did not exactly work out as planned, so the act was corrected and passed in 1935. It did not help small farmers as much as it did the larger. Also, it never solved the problem of low demand due to falling wages and unemployment which needed to be corrected in order to get out of the Great Depression. The second of the two acts is the National Industrial Recovery Act. This act was an attempt to help businesses in general. Businesses were to avoid cutthroat competition, which was selling below the actual cost to gain customers and drive out other businesses. The government also had suspended the anti-monopoly laws for a short time. Public Works Administration worked on getting jobs for the jobless but very few jobs were created compared to the amount of people unemployed. The First New Deal also created the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) which provided dams, electric power, and flood and erosion control to several Southern states along the Tennessee River. After results of the First New Deal were assessed, there was still weak consumer demand which was still causing the Great Depression.

The Great Depression was a time of hardship, but out of the utter collapse of our economy came a bright new future with the help of Roosevelt and Hoover. Our country was unable to avoid the trials and tribulations associated with the Great Depression, but the programs, jobs, and lessons learned will be remembered throughout history as a time of growth and metamorphosis for a burgeoning empire.