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Hoovervilles?
Did you ever build cardboard forts as a child? During the Great Depression, this is how some Americans had to live. They were called Hoovervilles. What is a Hooverville you might ask, a Hooverville is a shanty town in the 1930s named after President Herbert Hoover. Life in Hoovervilles were unbearable, and at points the proper authorities didn’t know how to act. Hoovervilles played a very important part during the Great Depression. To understand why that is, you must know more about what a Hooverville was.
The term was first used in a newspaper article written by Democrat Charles Michelson in 1930. As defined in the opening paragraph, Hoovervilles were ramshackle towns built by the poor during the Great Depression. They were
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normally made of cardboard, glass, lumber, or tin. "Deep holes dug in the ground with makeshift roofs laid over them to keep out inclement weather. Some of the homeless found shelter inside empty conduits and water mains" (History "Hoovervilles"). The early Hoovervilles were built under bridges, for extra protection, or near rivers for a water supply. Some of the bigger Hoovervilles include, Central Park or Riverside Park, and the three biggest were St. Louis, Seattle, and Anacostia, which was in Washington D.C. Most of the bigger Hoovervilles were informal, some had mayors, churches, social institutes, etc. Hoovervilles were ethnic rainbows with such a diverse population, but very poor conditions.
The main people living in the Hoovervilles were middle to lower class citizens and made up about 25% of the workforce. People in Hoovervilles acted like rats, living clumped together and fighting for scraps of food to feed their families. Some families used public charities, and even begged, for food. "Hooverville residents had nowhere else to go, and public sympathy, for the most part, was with them." (History "Hoovervilles"). Very few people went to barber shops or to dental offices because they had no money to pay for anything. One of the reasons the suicide rate went up dramatically during that time was because of the poor conditions. Citizens of these poor Hoovervilles were not limited to out-of-work ordinary people, but also included military …show more content…
veterans. In 1932, WWI veterans demanded that they get their bonus money, which they were to have received from fighting during the war.
When the Government said no, the vets set up a Hooverville, near the Anacostia river, in Washington D.C. They marched to the capitol to appeal the Bonus Law. “We’re here for the duration and we’re not going to starve. We’re going to keep ourselves a simon-pure veteran’s organization. If the Bonus is paid, it will relieve to a large extent the deplorable economic condition.” Walter Waters 1932. The veterans didn't back down and thus Hoover ordered General Douglas MacArthur to control them, and he used excessive force, such as the military blockading them and burning part of the Hooverville. On June 15, 1932 the Government gave the veterans a total of 2.4 billion dollars, which in today's money is about 42.2 billion dollars. After the vets got their money most of them left while a few of them stayed, the few that stayed got
evicted. In 1933, Americans were outraged by Hoover. As a result Hoover lost the 1933 election by a landslide to FDR, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. As FDR took over the presidency, the American people had hope. The Hoovervilles slowly went away and by the early 1940s, many of the Hoovervilles were gone and the American people had real houses. “I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.” Franklin D. Roosevelt. Many Americans say that FDR was the reason that America lived after the Great Depression. In conclusion, Hoovervilles were Decrepit shacks that, were made by people who were too poor to own an actual house for them and their families. As Robert Bendiner said, “... scores of families the lives of reluctant gypsies.” Here he was stating what life was like in Hoovervilles. Not to mention that it was very hard to get any food, people had to buy apples on credit because they had nothing. And the WWI veterans weren’t able to get the money that they earned from fighting. But when they did most of them went home, but some stayed. After that Hoover lost the election by a lot. FDR was able to bring us out of the depression and was able to get rid of all of the rest of the Hoovervilles. Hoovervilles were all over the place back then and they still are figuratively, in the papers that people write and the blood that was passed down to us. Hoovervilles were a very big part of our history, even though they were bad they are still our history. So the next time that you build a fort for fun just remember that long ago they had to build these little forts to survive.
President Herbert Hoover was the conservative republican president of America when the great depression occurred, and was given the burden of rebuilding the economy. He believed the federal government should not intervene, and instead believed that helping the needy was the obligation of private organizations and donors, whom he pressured. In addition, Hoover granted loans to big businesses, hoping that the money would “trickle down” and that more employees would be hired. Still, during...
In America the Great Depression hit hard especially in the 1930’s. People lost their jobs and then their homes. When the depression hit everyone blamed President Hoover for all of the homelessness. Hoovervilles are an important part of history; some important things about hoovervilles are how they started and who it involved.
Because of the plague known as the Great Depression, Herbert Hoover is often seen as one of the worst presidents in American history. He enacted policies such as the Hawley-Smoot Tariff that flushed America deeper into the depression. Hoover didn't understand that to solve a crisis such as a depression, he needed to interact directly with the people by using programs such as social security and welfare. Instead, Hoover had the idea that if he were to let the depression run its course, it would eventually end. There are three things that can be used to define Hoover's presidency during the depression, his actions, his mentality toward fixing things, and the fact that he helped pave the way for the “New Deal”
Hoover shared with the nation after the First World War, and he promised to bring continued peace and prosperity. He declared, “I have an abiding faith in their capacity, integrity and high purpose. “…we find some causes for concern. We have emerged from the losses of the Great War and the reconstruction following it with increased virility and strength.” In this regard, he also pushed the nation to take the blame and the initiative to be responsible to make that change needed.
At first Hoover opposed any relief efforts, but as the Depression worsened, he started a few farm assistance programs. Hoover hoped that theses farm programs would help the farmers’ situation with the low crop prices. Unfortunately farmers had to come dependent on this government handout. Hoover also started federal work projects such as the Grand Coulee Dam and the Hoover Dam. These projects provided many jobs for people and provided affordable hydroelectric power for people but the Great Depression was a much bigger problem than a few extra job openings could fix. Hoping that raising tariffs could help American business Hoover created the Hawley-Smoot Tarrif. This actually worsened economy and caused lower export rates. One of Hoover’s big mistakes was that he wouldn’t go off the gold standard. Hoov...
While early 20th century America was an era of great economic advancement and material wealth, the prevalent growth in industry had a profound impact on small, rural communities. An expanding upper class did not signify prosperity for all. Those who were unable to rise in society were left behind, forced to live under harsh environmental conditions as factories polluted rural towns. As detailed by Nick while accompanying Tom to the city one
Hoovervilles were small towns that were built by homeless people during the Great Depression. They were built with any scrap material that they could find. Hooverville houses were very small and lacked a lot. An entire family would live in one small hut or tent. Most Hoovervilles were next to soup kitchens to get food.
Life in the Hoovervilles varied. Some Hoovervilles were big and some were small, they were most commonly placed in big cities like New York or Washington D.C. More often than not Hoovervilles were operated in an unorderly
At the start of the Depression, many letters (mostly discouraging) were sent to President Hoover. These letters came primarily from well-to-do citizens, however some leftist workers’ letters found their way in as well. The well-to-do citizens agreed that the ultimate cause of the lower classes’ depression was their laziness and incompetence. On top of that, these well-to-do citizens thanked Hoover, probably because their money had gone unscathed (McElvaine, 38). Some opinions weren’t as favorable for the Hoover administration, however. Some people believed that “engineers may be intelligent but poor presidents” (pp. 43). Finally, the leftist parties did not appreciate the endeavors of the Hoover presiden...
The book The Worst Hard Time describes my experience on trying to get through this book but somehow almost made me grateful that even as difficult and exhausting as it was in actuality there was nothing worse, difficult or exhausting than living through the dust bowl storms in the 1930’s which luckily I did not do. If you ever feel ungrateful or depressed about something in your life just read this book and you will know that most problems now a days in the United States don’t compare to the hardships and loss of loved ones who died during the dust storms in the 1930s. The people who inhabited the dust bowl area which consisted of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado and Kansas where sold an Idea of the American dream of owning property
... home for thousands of American during the 1930’s, even though hoovervilles weren’t the most ideal places to live. Hoovervilles were full of sickness, crime, and death. A large portion of Americans would say that hoovervilles were bad things because of all the crime and death that happened there, but what they don’t realize is that hoovervilles were a huge help to a large number of the victims of America's economic downfall that we call the great depression.
The 1930s plagued St. Louis with unrelenting economic hardships until war based economies began to prepare for the inevitable global conflict of the early 1940s. World War II revitalized the economy of the St. Louis region and relieved the population from the constraints of the Great Depression. The city experienced a 50% decrease in manufacturing, and unemployment levels greater than 30% by the end of 1933. Projects through the Works Progress Administration put people to work, but did little in reviving the ailing city. The threat of World War II, however, relieved St. Louis from the economic strife and put men and women of all races to work in order to aid the allied war effort. St. Louis changed to accommodate the new war industries by allowing companies to come into the region, such as Atlas Powder Company, and also by changing current production practices for the war as when Chevrolet converted to creating amphibious vehicles for the Normandy Invasion. The war created much needed jobs for the city and its residents. World War II economically revitalized the city, but it also ch...
His failure is what earned the name of Hoovervilles to the Shantytowns, and this term spread like a wildfire through the United States. An assortment of the name is even still used as a trend today to describe some opinions of Presidents such as Bushville or Obamaville. People during the 1930s even created new derogatory terms for many of the common homeless man’s or even a poor man's possessions such as the “Hoover Blanket”, which was an used newspaper used for warmth and blanketing, or “Hoover leather” which was cardboard used to line a shoe sole when it was destroyed, and a "Hoover wagon" which was an automobile with horses tied to it because the owner could not afford fuel , or even the big “Hoover flag”, which was an empty pocket turned inside out . People during these times created very degrading names, to not only demean President Hoover but to the government as a whole in which many people today still believe are at
People had to live off of the possessions they owned and what little money they had or could earn. The determined families had to cling to their homes and way of life. Some of the things they had to endure were the drought, dust, disease and even death for almost a decade. For the families to survive free from dust storms they had to move to California, but only a quarter of the “ Dust Bowlers” did (The Drought n. pag.). People during the Great Depression didn’t really have much so most of the families from the Dust Bowl had to stay at their homes and survive the extreme dust storms.Some people think that it was the hardest to survive as a child.
rural lifestyle and moving to cities where they could find work, but lived substandard lives.