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How Did The Great Depression Affect Society

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The Great Depression: How People Were Affected Everyone was affected during The Great Depression, however not everyone was affected the same way. Many of the rich felt no impact and were oblivious to the sufferings of others around them. Forty percent of the country never faced any hardship and the unemployment rate fell below fourteen percent in 1941 and in 1933, Toledo, Ohio’s had reached 80 percent, and nearly ninety percent of Lowell, Massachusetts was unemployed. Marriage was greatly impacted during The Great Depression. Couples delayed marriage and the divorce rate dropped due to the legal fees being too expensive and the fact that it was too expensive to support two households. Income decreased dramatically. This also affected marriages by bringing a great financial burden into the already stressful situation. Almost all families were affected in some way. With the unemployment rate below fourteen percent and the decrease in income, families were faced with great financial hardship. Birth rates dropped to the lowest in American history. Traditional roles in the family changed due to men being out of work. Families relied on children and wives to help out with things that the father would usually do. There was a significant amount of men who walked out on their families and as of 1940, 1.5 million married women had been abandoned by their …show more content…

“First of all,” he said, “let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” He promised that he would act quickly to deal with the “dark realities of the moment” and guaranteed Americans that he would “wage a war against the emergency” just as if “we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.” His speech gave many people assurance that they had elected a man who was not scared of taking brave steps to solve the nation’s

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