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The great depression time period
The great depression time period
What are the effects of the great depression
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The age of the Great Depression was littered with varying stories of extreme poverty rivaled by the contrasting stories of the .1 percent of society that possessed extreme wealth. President Hoover called the depression “a passing incident in our national lives” (cite 1) which proved to be a gross underestimation of the severity of the situation. The previous decades that brought roaring success and expanding technology was thought to be a period of great success that was earned through hard work and fluid government; and so when the economy collapsed blame turned inward and failure felt deserved just the same. Certain classes felt the strife more strongly as well as certain races, sexes and areas of the country. During the worst of the depression, Chicago suffered through a 40 percent unemployment average in some areas. A glaring example of the struggle in that area comes from Wanda Bridgeforth in an article published by National Public Radio. Wanda recounts the majesty that was Bronzeville, the “Black Metropolis” of Chicago; where jazz artists thrived and African American neighborhoods were relatively affluent before the struggle. "In the Depression, the men could not get jobs, and especially the black men," Bridgeforth noted. "Here was my father with a degree in chemistry, and he could not get a job." Shes goes on to recount how humiliated he was and how that lead to a debilitating breakdown of sorts, leaving her mother in a sort of “live-in domestic worker” and forcing her parents to send her to live with her relatives. When her relatives could no longer provide for themselves she was then sent to the homes of charitable strangers. (cite 2) Experiences like Wanda Bridgeforth’s were not at all uncommon during this tragic er... ... middle of paper ... ...ed from such well compensating industries. Employers paid higher wages to attract younger stronger laborers away from competing proprietors. Labor was not the only industry essentially begging from able workers; businesses such as daycare facilities, hospitals and other war related necessities boomed with job offerings. Furthermore, any companies hiring found it obligatory to offer excellent incentives including immunity from the draft, health care, and maternity leave; such benefits were unmanageable in previous years throughout the Great Depression. Perhaps the most benefited from wartime revenue was the state of California which became the most vital production area of industrial military production. Money was poured into the west coast via the federal government to aid the building of manufacturing plants, new military bases, shipyards and vessel factories.
During 1928, the stock market continued to roar, as average price rose and trading grew; however as speculative fever grew more intense, the market began to fall apart around 1929. After the stock market crash, a period began that lasted for a full decade, from 1929 to 1939, where the nation plunged into the severest and the most prolonged economic depression in history - the Great Depression. During this inevitable period, the economy plummeted and the unemployment rate skyrocketed due to poor economic diversification, uneven distribution of wealth and poor international debt structure.
Katrina Srigley, “‘In case you hadn’t noticed!’: Race. Ethinicity, and Women’s Wage-Earning in a Depression-Era City,” Labour/ Le Travail, Vol. 55 (Spring 2005): 69-105, accessed February 23rd, 2014, http://web.a.ebscohost.com.libproxy. uwinnipeg.ca /ehost/detail?vid=8&sid=ad10fcc5-3639-419d-a39f-90111463086e %40 sessionmgr4002&hid=4106&bdata=#db=ahl&AN=44182314
The Great Depression tested America’s political organizations like no other event in United States’ history except the Civil War. The most famous explanations of the period are friendly to Roosevelt and the New Deal and very critical of the Republican presidents of the 1920’s, bankers, and businessmen, whom they blame for the collapse. However, Amity Shlaes in her book, The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression, contests the received wisdom that the Great Depression occurred because capitalism failed, and that it ended because of Roosevelt’s New Deal. Shlaes, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a syndicated financial columnist, argues that government action between 1929 and 1940 unnecessarily deepened and extended the Great Depression.
As the United States became engulfed in the hardships of the Great Depression, a controversy regarding the Federal Government’s involvement with charity and relievement of suffering became apparent. Was it the Government’s responsibility to aid in relieving Americans of such misery? Or, was it the job of the People to work together to reach a solution? An analysis of the two presidents who took turn in office during the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover, reveals their opposing perspectives and philosophies regarding this controversy, and subsequently, Roosevelt’s and Hoover’s contradicting views played a fundamental role in America’s rise out of the Great Depression and the nature of government in today’s society.
Romasco, Albert U. The Poverty of Abundance: Hoover, the Nation, the Depression. New York: Oxford University Press, 1965.
During the 1920’s, America was a prosperous nation going through the “Big Boom” and loving every second of it. However, this fortune didn’t last long, because with the 1930’s came a period of serious economic recession, a period called the Great Depression. By 1933, a quarter of the nation’s workers (about 40 million) were without jobs. The weekly income rate dropped from $24.76 per week in 1929 to $16.65 per week in 1933 (McElvaine, 8). After President Hoover failed to rectify the recession situation, Franklin D. Roosevelt began his term with the hopeful New Deal. In two installments, Roosevelt hoped to relieve short term suffering with the first, and redistribution of money amongst the poor with the second. Throughout these years of the depression, many Americans spoke their minds through pen and paper. Many criticized Hoover’s policies of the early Depression and praised the Roosevelts’ efforts. Each opinion about the causes and solutions of the Great Depression are based upon economic, racial and social standing in America.
Despite the phenomenal economic growth many American laborers lived at or below the poverty level. While some advances were made like welfare capitalism, which raised wages, shortened the work week, and instituted paid vacations. Modest company made labor unions emerged in many industries, these unions gave some help to solving labor grievances. But in the end welfare capitalism was only adopted by a few employers and workers still had no control over their fates. Most employers tried to keep their labor costs low and with a nearly endless supply of unskilled workers there were an endless supply of people to fill jobs.
The aging of the generation of child factory workers improved the quality of adult factory workers and created a reserve pool of adults with factory experience. This pool of adults is particularly significant for men. As a child worker, they were exposed to many different positions and so learned a great deal of experience. Not only were the children fulfilling the basic factory needs, but were creating a more experienced labor force for the future. No longer where adults had to learn how to use machinery when entering the factory market but instead had worked in textiles during their childhood so had already obtained the human capital needed to work.
The Great Depression began in October of 1929 when the stock values in the United States dropped rapidly. Thousands of stockholders lost large sums of money-or were even wiped out. Many people had to depend on the government or charity for food. Many of the stories about the Depression have been told about the large cities and their struggles to live a life of poverty after being used to the luxurious lifestyle. However, those accounts do not reflect the true damage caused by this economic plunge. The many "country folk" that inhabit the area around Tennessee had a somewhat different recollection of this time period. The stories told by the people who had lost all of their money in the stock market are stories of doom and despair, but those told by the people who didn't have anything to begin with are filled with memories of family and friends helping one another in a time of need. In a personal interview with my grandmother, Vergie Matherly (eighty-seven years old) whom I call "Nanny", I learned first-hand what the Depression was like in a small community located in a very isolated area. Her accounts of family struggle seem to dwarf those accounts of the rich tycoons who lost it all in the stock market. A book entitled Stories and Recipes of the Great Depression of the 1930's contains several pages of anecdotes written by various people who lived in small towns during this time. This book goes hand in hand with the memories of my Nanny.
During the 1870’s the United States experienced great changes with the end of the Civil War. America was going through a period called Reconstruction. Tensions were fairly high and an air of freedom was present throughout the nation. By 1877, it was obvious the United States was beginning to develop into a recognizably modern economic system of making, earning, spending, and living (Brown 60). In 1880, “over half of American workers worked on farms and only one in twenty worked on manufacturing” (Brown 59). Farmers outnumbered factory by a large number, but factories were still abundant. Child labor occurred after the Civil War as well. By 1872, more than 10,000 children were employed in Philadelphia’s industrial workplaces. That number was even larger in cities such as New York, and it increased as the years progressed (Brown 60).
...these camps were running water, decent housing, community functions, and centralized law enforcement provided by its very own occupants. It was also an employment site for businesses seeking to hire unskilled laborers. These establishments that Roosevelt created showed the nation his concern for this country's displaced workers. This program along with many others assisted the nation in recovering and eventually overpowering the great fiscal pit that it had fallen into. Roosevelt's unending concern for the wellbeing and financial security of the common folk effectively guided this country towards its escape from the Great Depression, but nevertheless, the goal was realized with the effective and organized economic employment structure that America's entry into the Second World War brought to the people.
However, for the worst affected, the most difficult effect on morale must have been the lifelong memory of seeing their children and family suffer, and having no power to change this. For the lack of power to change the future is the exact opposite of the ‘American Dream’. References: Prosperity, Depression and The New Deal, Peter Clements, 2001, Hodder and Stoughton, London Letters To The Roosevelts, various authors, date and publisher unknown An Editor Loses His Job In The Great Depression, Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression, Studs Terkel, 1978, Pantheon Books. Brother, Can You Spare A Dime? , Jay Gorney, 1932, Warner Bros. Music The Great Depression, Mc Elvaine R., 1984, Times Books, New York
During the Great Depression, many middle and upper- income families first faced poverty in America. They were hard-working people who pursued the values and ideals of American dream and lived comfortably until several downturn of the American economy. Thousands of banks had failed and millions of Americans were unemployed that they were looking for work but couldn’t find it. Many of Americans became homeless and breadlines and soup kitchens were widely spread through the towns and cities.
The Great Depression was the worst period in the history of America’s economy. There is no way to overstate how tough this time was for the average worker and there was a feeling of desperation that hung over the entire country. Current political wisdom leading up to the Great Depression had been that the federal government does not get involved in business or the economy under any circumstances. Three Presidents in a row; Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover, all were cut from the same cloth of enacting pro-business policies to generate a powerful economy. Because the economy was doing so well during the “Roaring 20s”, there wasn’t much of a dispute
The Great Depression was a period of first-time decline in economic movement. It occurred between the years 1929 and 1939. It was the worst and longest economic breakdown in history. The Wall Street stock market crash started the Great Depression; it had terrible effects on the country (United States of America). When the stock market started failing many factories closed production of all types of good. Businesses and banks started closing down and farmers fell into bankruptcy. Many people lost everything, their jobs, their savings, and homes. More than thirteen million people were unemployed.