Great Depression Myths

The Great Depression was a dark time in American history that lasted from1929-1939. It began after the Stock Market crashed on October 19, 1929. According to A Biography of America: FDR- The Great Depression, “It was the deepest and longest lasting economic downturn in American History” (A Biography of America). As a result of the Great Depression one out of every four Americans was out of work. The Great Depression resulted in a life for Americans that was plagued by overproduction and under-consumption of products, starving families were forced into bread and soup lines, and thousands of agricultural workers became migratory workers in order to survive.

One such program was The Farm Relief Bill. FDR made a bill that supported farmers in many ways but this caused other citizens not to get the needs they need (Halladay). In other words the farmers were making decent money for that time so they’re goods they sold went up in price causing them to be harder to be purchased due to financial struggles. This was a huge deal because farmers were receiving well deserved assistance while hard working non farmer citizens were still ongoing through miserable conditions. While all this was happening FDR just desired to assist the farmers in this act. Thankfully this horrid bill was later declared unconstitutional. Also another bill was passed, The National Industrial Recovery Act, which only assisted businesses and employees. This was intended to make a change but such as the farm relief bill only assisted a certain group and was later declared unconstitutional (Halladay). Some acts did assist others such as the Works Progress Administration which tried to help the unemployed, didn’t work all that well, but the effort was their. However the majority of these new programs did nothing and were later declared

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.

After a series of stock market crashes, the United States’ economy descended into a period of contraction. For more than ten years, the United States suffered through this state of economic despair also referred to as the Great Depression. President Herbert Hoover was in office at the time and found himself amongst the greatest era of economic declination. His response was to devise countermeasures to the depression that he felt would be most beneficial to the country. He began by requesting of large corporation heads to resist cutting employees’ wages and positions and instead reduce the margins of profit they accrued. He also pumped money into public works projects such as the construction of highways and government institutions. In addition

The Great Depression is probably one of the most misunderstood events in American history. It is routinely cited, as proof that unregulated capitalism is not the best in the world, and that only a massive welfare state, huge amounts of economic regulation, and other interventions can save capitalism from itself. The Great Depression had important consequences and was a devastating event in America, however many good policies and programs became available as a result of the great depression, some of which exist even today.

Lawrence Reed is an Austrian economist who holds a Master of Arts in history from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. He served as a professor of economics at Northwood University in Michigan from 1977 to 1984, chairing the department for his last three years. He then moved into the world of think tanks, becoming president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. He stayed in that job for twenty years before assuming the presidency of the Foundation for Economic Education. He holds honorary doctorates from Central Michigan University and Northwood University.

Herbert Hoover was elected president of the United States on November 19, 1928; unfortunately, less than eight months later, the stock market crashed. Hoover mistakenly considered this crash as only a passing point for America. But it was only three years later when economic slowdown and over speculation brought America into an upcoming Great Depression. This was a devastating blow for Hoover, his administration, and the American people. President Hoover attempted many ways to fix the economy. He founded new government agencies and encouraged cooperation between government and business to try to stabilize prices as well as attempt to balance the budget. These relief attempts might have shown positive outcome in the early years of the depression, but as the economy worsened, calls for more government involvement increased.

The Social Security act aided many people with government relief. These 2 acts helped to boost the economy. President Roosevelt’s many daring projects proved to pay off in the end because many people regained jobs. Roosevelt’s New Deal basically ended the great depression altogether because of his many government aid projects and employment agencies.

Second cause of the great depression is the uneven distribution of wealth. Business owners made huge profit from the beginning of the Roaring Twenties. These business owners did not deal with the low wages of their workers. As a result, the workers were not able to afford goods as these companies produced them. Also, after the world war one, the European nations owed America billions of dollars. The economy of these European countries was devastating; thus, there was no way for these countries to repay.

Herbert Hoover, the president in office when the Great Depression hit the country, did very little to ameliorate the devastating situation. Hoover underestimated the seriousness of the crisis, misdiagnosed the causes of the problems, and clung to his beliefs in individual achievement and self-help. His corrective measures, aimed at inflation and the federal budget, were thus damaging themselves. Furthermore, he hesitated to mobilize government resources to aid Americans and instead appealed to private groups to lend a hand (Encarta). Thus Hoover’s administration did little to mitigate the impact of the Depression.

For example, unemployment was a major issue in America during the Great Depression and one of the main causes. FDR’s New Deal fixed that issue with programs such as the Works Progress Administration and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, and the Social Security Act. Citizens that were unemployed or retired received funds to buy products, which caused businesses to grow and hire more workers. The New Deal also opened more jobs up. The New Deal also allowed farmers to gain wealth with the Rural Electrification Administration, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, and the Soil Conservation Act. Farmers could now buy products that they couldn’t afford before and hire more farmhands, which opened up more jobs and helped solve the issue of

Preceding the Great Depression, the United States went through a glorious age of prosperity, with a booming market, social changes, and urbanization; America was changing. At the end of the 1920’s and well through the 1930’s, America was faced with its greatest challenge yet; the 1929 stock market crash. It would be the end of the prosperity of the “Roaring Twenties”. Now the American government and its citizens were faced with a failing economy. President Herbert Hoover was clueless to how to approach the problem. Hoover believed that government works best when it governs less, and should not intervene in the economy. Traditionally, he stayed out the issue hoping that the economy would fix itself; it didn’t. Hoover’s inaction makes his presidency look ineffective as if he caused the Great Depression. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) succeeded Hoover as president. Like Hoover, FDR didn’t know exactly how to help the economy. Unlike Hoover, FDR introduced experimental ideas and programs to help solve the issue. These ideas and programs would become a part of Roosevelt 's policies known as the New Deal which sought to fix America’s economic struggles. Despite short term successes, the New Deal implemented during the 1930 's by FDR did not lift the United States out of the Great Depression. Instead by intervening in the economy, and creating huge debt, the New Deal prolonged the Great Depression.

The Glass-Stbagall Banking Reform Act, which forbade banks to invest customers' money into the stock market. President Roosevelt also tried to better the economy by causing inflation. Inflation would cause an increase in prices and businesses would make more profit and the economy would boom.

During Herbert Hoover’s administration any mistakes were made after the Stock Market crash. After the crash during the depression Hoover took action but made a few mistakes along the way. Many of Hoover’s acts were passed by congress and signed by Hoover himself. His worst offense was the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, which raised tariffs. The raising of tariffs was the worst possible thing that could have occurred. Hoover tried his best to reassure the country that the economy would become improved, although it actually worsened. To improve things after the crash Hoover prepared all Federal Departments to speed up public works. He did this with hopes to generate supplementary jobs and bring back the economy. As well, Hoover asked congress if they would reduce spending, and use what was no longer required to restart public works. Unfortunately for Hoover a collapse in Europe and a change in foreign trade caused prices for United States manufactured goods and farm equipment. After this occurrence President Hoover asked congress once again for more money, his time he wanted the money for farm loans and to establish the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which would be used to help buildings in need as well as banks and railroads. With all of Hoovers efforts by July 1932 the Depression began

During the 1930s. the United States faced one of the greatest economic depressions in history, known as the Great Depression. Since many people essentially manipulated the stock market to their advantage, they eventually got richer. However, on October 29,1929, the stock market crashed since so many people wanted to sell their stocks but so few people wanted to buy these products, which caused prices to collapse. This led up to issues such as banking crisis, where banks who invested so heavily on the stock market lost so much money. In fact, people who deposited money lose everything they had. In addition, factories that has overproduced goods had also lost tons of money since businesses were producing far more goods than people were consuming. All these events that led to the Great Depression. Although Franklin D. Roosevelt came into office in 1933 and released his plans known as the New Deal which were essentially government programs that provided aid to Americans, it did not change the fact that the economy was still largely suffering. Meanwhile, tensions in Europe also increased as European countries were devastated from the hard times occurring in their nation. Following totalitarianism as a political system, many European countries were led by dictators. One of the most important dictator, was German leader Adolph Hitler. Germany, who had lost a lot power and land, after the loss in World War I and the