Should the Government Help?

During the Great Depression families hardly survived. People lived in shanty towns and lean-to’s. People would spend all of their money then not have enough to buy a place to live. Jobs were almost impossible to find and if you could find a job it would not pay enough to survive. The President could not anything else to the economy but what was already done. In situations like this, should the government help? Yes. The government should help people that are trying to get back on their feet, not sitting on the couch eating chips waiting for your monthly government check to come in.

During the great depression for most families barely had enough to eat. “With half enough to eat” (Shafter 1). Even though the people did not make enough to fill their their stomachs they would still “rather not be on the rolls of relief” (Shafter 1). If a jobs opened for hardly any pay the people would run to the farmers looking for the job. “Like a swarm of bees we come” (Shafter 1). The families did not want anything special, just the necessities to survive. People wanted to work for their money even though they were about to starve. They would rather die with a job and an empty stomach then be living, and have stuff handed to them.

Unemployment rates were at an all time high. 23.6% of people in America were unemployed during the Great Depression. President Roosevelt was elected president in 1932. Roosevelt made the American citizens feel secure about themselves when he said “The only thing we have to fear is itself” (Roosevelt “First Inaugural”). He explained what his plans were for his presidency. “Our greatest primary task is to put people to work” (Roosevelt “First Inaugural”). Roosevelt believed in the American spirit. He knew that America was s...

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...g America was and still is. Yes, the government should help in times like this. The American Citizens need help sometimes and the government needs to take care of its people. The country pulling out of a depression as strongly as they did and turn into a country like we have today would make anyone proud to be an American Citizen.

Works Cited

“C.V.B. (female, 11, OH).” Dear Mrs. Roosevelt. New Deal Network. Web. 13 February 2014.

Harris, Nathaniel. Witness to History: The Great Depression. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2003. Print.

“1930’s: President Hoover.” Digital History. 2012. Web. 13 February 2014.

Roosevelt, Franklin D. “First Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt.” 4 March 1933. Yale Law School Lillian Goldman Law Library. Web. 24 January 2014.

Shafter, Lester Hunter. “I’d Rather Not Be On Relief.” 1938. Library of Congress. Web. 22 January 2014