Henry Ford's With The Great Depression

Arguing that the majority of farmers during the Great Depression benefitted from the government policies produced through President Roosevelt’s New Deal is an inaccurate claim. While history textbooks highlight the improvement of finances for people in rural areas in the United States of America, the personal experiences of family farmers contradict those textbooks. Writers of textbooks about American history should consider looking further into the delicate topic of how the Great Depression effected common farm families. In the West, farmers endured the Dust Bowl. In the North, people in rural areas competed to make a profit. Although statistics show the most economic damage of the Great Depression beginning at the end of 1929, small farm families refer to the effects of the Depression dating back as early as 1925 since government policies mostly benefitted large farm industries as small farms were forced to foreclose.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration was tasked with fixing the issues of the Great Depression the first step they took was creating programs to assist those in need. Although his programs pulled the United States out of the Great Depression they would prove to be a Pandora’s Box. Once the country was out of the depression these relief programs remained even when they were not needed. These programs would drain money from the Government and eventually lead to the bulk of the economic issues faced in recent years. Although these programs had a time and a place they eventually caused more harm then they helped.

After the Stock Market Crash of 1929, life for Americans changed dramatically as the nation’s economy came to a halt. With unemployment rates reaching historic levels, politicians scrambled to find a fix for the Great Depression; but President Hoover’s attempts to mediate the issue with charity and negotiation were unsuccessful at best. In the end, what had the greatest impact at the time was President Roosevelt’s New Deal. Roosevelt’s New Deal, focusing on the goals of direct relief, economic recovery, and financial form, had limited effectiveness in its time, but expanded the long-term role of the federal government profoundly. Roosevelt’s primary concern was to provide direct relief to the poor by providing jobs and financial assistance.

Families had to split up in search for work and many children got jobs to make extra money for their families. In 1933, when Roosevelt took office, “24.9% of the total workforce or 12,830,000 people were unemployed” according to the FDR Library. This statistic shows just how much the average American was struggling to keep themselves and their families afloat. The FDR Library also states that “drastic drops in farm commodity prices resulted in farmers losing their lands and homes due to foreclosure” and that “gangs of unemployed youth, whose families could no longer support them, rode the rails as hobos in search of work.” The previous excerpts depict America’s loss of stability because the people providing food were out of jobs and parents had to send their children away since they could not afford to care for them any further. Thankfully, President Roosevelt and his administration stepped in soon afterward to correct the

“No cracked earth, no blistering sun, no burning wind, no grasshoppers are a permanent match for the indomitable American farmers and stockmen and their wives and children, who have carried on through desperate days and inspire us with their self-reliance, their tenacity, and their courage” (qtd. In Lookinbill 89). Thus spoke President Franklin D. Roosevelt during a broadcast campaign in Washington, D.C. in 1936 (89). By the early 1930s the nation was in the grips of the Great Depression (“We are California” 1). Millions of Americans were without food and shelter, and as well suffering to grasp hope when it comes to extreme poverty (1).

Shortly after the Great Depression began, society began to fail quickly. The stock market crashed, the unemployment rate skyrocketed, business’ and banks were closing and people were losing their homes they had worked so hard for. Although President Hoover was attempting to help society, he believed that instead of governmental interventions you should be self-reliant and would not fund welfare programs that may incentivize not working. Hoover’s “attempts” to aide the economy were not enough to turn it around, and people began to set their sights on Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the oncoming election. FDR made it his goal to ensure relief, recovery and reform were provided for the country to counteract the Great Depression and to make up for all of the years of negligence and non interference from the government, collectively called the “New Deal” 15 major laws were created in just the first 100 days he was in office, and his “New Deal” was coming into fruition and the governments role was now to step in and take care of it’s people, and to neglect them no longer.

“Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.” Franklin D Roosevelt, an American political leader who served as the President of the United States from 1933-1945 who brought the country out of The Great Depression. Although some critics say that FDR worsened the country, he put an end to the problems of the country and helped escape the troubled situations of their rough time period especially while the citizens were dealing with the stock market crash, causing unemployment and money loss which then led to struggle of many families. The response of FDR’s administration to the problems of the Great Depression was effective because he established many New Deal programs,

In the year 1929, after a century of Americans being filled with a great sense of being alive and chasing after the American dream with new opportunities in front of them, everything Americans had worked so hard to establish came crashing down. On one fateful day the stock market crashed, leaving Americans all over the nation scared, penny less, and uncertain feelings about what the future would hold for them. The days leading up to years following this crash became known as the Great Depression a time where Americans struggled to get by or even had to leave the only home they’ve ever had when it comes to the dust bowl. The Great Depression posed a great hold on American economy leaving people unemployed and immigrants

The Great Depression caused many parents to lose their jobs, which affected not only the parents but the generation that had to grow up during this time. This paper will go into details about what that generation had to face, letters written by the children to the First Lady, and interviews with

The 1920s seemed to promise a future of a new and wonderful way of life for America and its citizens . Modern science, evolving cultural norms, industrialization, and even jazz music heralded exciting opportunities and a future that only pointed up toward a better life. However, cracks in the facade started to show, and beginning with the stock market crash of 1929 the wealth of the country, and with it the hopes and expectations of its people, began to slip away. The Great Depression left a quarter of the population unemployed and much of the rest destitute and uncertain of what the future held. Wealth vanished, people took their money out of banks, and plans were put on hold. The most significant way in which the Great Depression affected Americans’ everyday lives was through poverty because it tore relationships apart and damaged the spirit of society while unexpectedly bringing families together in unity.

“Growing up in a time when all you worry about is if your family will be able to make it through to the next day is definitely a very scary and difficult time to live in” (Vonder Haar). My great-grandpa had this to say to my grandpa about growing up during the great depression. For many people in America from the 1930s to 1940s, life was a constant struggle. The people living in the Midwest, especially St. Louis, knew much too well how difficult it was to live through the great depression. When great-great grandpa first came to St. Louis from Germany he purchased a farm. From that point on, my family struggled to maintain the farm that would still exist today. Many people were affected by the great depression. Throughout the time period before

When the citizens had bought all that they could buy, there was a decrease in demand. Suddenly, the industries had an excess of goods and no one to sell it to. At this point, the Fordney-McCumber Act began to cripple the economy of America. Other nations introduced high tariffs to boost their revenue and to spite the United States. Sadly for the United States, these high tariffs and low demand were instrumental in the depression that America experienced. When the stock market crashed on October 29th, 1929 or “Black Tuesday”, the united states, along with other nations were in economic turmoil and the widespread prosperity of the 1920s ended abruptly. The depression threatened people's jobs, savings, and even their homes and farms. During the heart of the depression, over one-quarter of the American population was out of work. For many Americans, these were extremely hard times. When Roosevelt was voted into office, he introduced the New Deal. While this plan tried to help the united states out of it’s isolationist rut, the second world war was the final solution. Mobilizing the economy for world war finally cured the depression. Millions of men and women joined the armed forces, and even larger numbers went to work in well-paying defence jobs.

The America in the 1930s was drastically different from the luxurious 1920s. The stock market had crashed to an all time low, unemployment was the highest the country had ever seen, and all American citizens were affected by it in some way or another. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal was effective in addressing the issues of The Great Depression in the sense that it provided immediate relief to US citizens by lowering unemployment, increasing trust in the banks, getting Americans out of debt, and preventing future economic crisis from taking place through reform. Despite these efforts The New Deal failed to end the depression. In order for America to get out of this economic

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.

Since its birth the United States of America has always ran on the notion that if you work hard, you can live a prosperous life while providing for yourself and your family. Unfortunately this was not always the case. Thus this was especially untrue when the Great Depression emerged after the stock market crashed in 1929. This was one of the hardest times America had faced on an economic level; the citizens of the USA were suffering. Thousands of single mothers were left with the choice of going to work to maintain a roof over their families’ heads or tending to their children and risk being homeless. The elderly and those already at or below the poverty line also felt the wrath. Due to this, under the guidance of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 the Social Security Act was enacted and the national welfare system had been established. Creating way for programs such as AFDC, TANF and SNAP that were created to assist families in financial need. "CONSTITUTIONAL”