How Did The Great Depression Affect The Economy In The 1930s

When World War I ended on November 11, 1918, President Warren G. Harding proposed “a return to normalcy”. This promised a return of the United States prewar mentality, without the thought of war contaminating the minds of the American people. With this in mind, the 1920s began- but Americans in the 1930s witnessed dramatic changes in their lives from the 1920s. The 1920s was a period of prosperity and economic success, while the 1930s was a time of economic downfall. The economy fluctuated between times of great prosperity and times of undoubtable depression. Following these economic downturns was a period of rigorous attempts to recover from severe economic loss. It did not take long for this economic hardship to lead to some more

• The United States Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, making it impossible for the United States to join the League of Nations.

In the 1930s, several economic, political, and environmental factors caused Americans to lose hope of a future beyond the extreme circumstances in which they had to survive. America prospered during the roaring ‘20s, but the stock market crash of October 1929 set off a devastating chain of events; banks and factories closed and one out of every four Americans found himself unemployed. The sudden economic collapse began the era of the Great Depression, in which millions were jobless by 1933 and countless others wandered the country in search of work, food and shelter. “The core of the problem was the immense disparity between the country’s productive capacity and the ability of the people to consume” (Nelson). The economic downturn coupled

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Great Depression changed the lives of everyone on a global scale, but the economic and social change in America was incomparable. In 1929, the unemployment rate was at a mere 3.2%, but by 1933 however, a massive 25% of citizens were without jobs. To truly understand the enormity of this decline in the working population, one must first understand the causes of the depression itself. On October 29th, 1929 a crash in the stock market, known today as Black Tuesday, contributed to a drastic decline in the value of stocks and assets of banks. The massive hit that many of these banks took to their assets forced many of them into failure, and they took the savings and fall-back plans of millions of Americans with them. Without the banks, ordinary people had no access to their own savings and many people’s homes were foreclosed upon. Following the loss of the banks, unemployment also skyrocketed since people weren’t able to buy goods without access to what they had thought was their money. If there is no demand for products in a market like the United States’, then there is no demand for the production of those goods, and that very production of consumer goods was the trade that many of those hurt the worst by the Great Depression relied upon.2 This vicious cycle was one that would continue to plague the country until a new problem, the

You think your life is hard and miserable now, think back during The Great Depression.

The Great Depression was an economic crash in the United States from 1929-1939. Contributing to the Great Depression was the Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl was an area of the United States that suffered a severe drought in the 1930s. In the novel, To kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the main character, Atticus has a job as a lawyer and can afford food and does not suffer as much as many others do from the Great Depression. The town is not suffering from the Dust Bowl as much as other parts of the country are.

The Great Depression was a horrible time in the United States as we have learned through years of history classes. Americans struggled physically and mentally because of the depression. Suicide and admitting to mental hospitals, strain marriages increased during these times. The Great depression affected the relation between ethnic groups; increased competition for jobs which increased hostility and violence;african americans were killed; mexican americans voluntarily left country or were deported.

“The Great Depression was the most severe, prolonged economic crisis in American History. It displaced thousands of families, created hardships for millions of people, shaped an entire generation, and reshaped the way Americans viewed the role of their government,” (Cravens). Although the Great Depression had devastating effects on the United States, its impacts on family life and structure were the most devastating. Children had to take on more responsibilities by attempting to find jobs in a market where there were a scarce amount of jobs even available for adults. These children suffered a lot from the depression since their parents didn’t have the money to take care of them, but more children started finishing high school and going to college to get better jobs. Mothers were greatly affected by the Great Depression as well, they had to start working to help take care of their families. Most of the jobs a woman could find were very difficult, low paying jobs with long hours. Women additionally started separating from their husbands and started having less children. Families had to make do by budgeting, changing their shopping habits, and finding alternate ways of bringing money home.

During the Great Depression, thirteen million Americans lost their jobs, one million families lost their farms, 273,000 families were evicted from their homes, and four thousand banks closed (“The Great Depression Facts”).The stock market crashed on October 29,1929. This caused an abrupt panic all throughout Wall Street. Due to this event, investors were forced to quickly withdraw their shares.This extreme loss lead to an even greater economic collapse. Ultimately, this caused citizens to flood their nearby banks with distress. The surprising amount of withdrawals made banks begin to lose the money that they had (“The Great Depression”). The Great Depression brought a downfall to the economy, made the citizens of the US feel hopeless, and challenged American families.

The United States was forever changed during the 1930s. The United States had just come out of a period of unprecedented wealth. Farmers had abundance of crops, many were investing all of their paycheck into the stock market, and banking-business practices had not changed since the Industrial Era. Many of these factors contributed to the Great Depression. Americans felt as if they were immune to any economic downturn; however by 1932, one in four American “breadwinners” were out of work. On October 24th, 1929, the United States stock market crashed, setting the stage for the worst economic decline the US has ever seen, changing us as a society.

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 production industry had a major impact on 1930s or before and after the Great Depression. This timeframe changed the whole industry dramatically and helped transform it into what we have today. The Great Depression forced many factories to shut down and many people lost their jobs because of it. After the Great Depression, some of these factories were revived and transformed into newer and more advanced ones (“The 1930s”).

The 1920’s in American history, characterized by its social, artistic and cultural vitality, and is known as the roaring twenties. The U.S. economy was the largest industrial in the world, thus it provided significant help to European nations that experienced debt after World War I. Throughout this prosperous era, many rich Americans made large profits from businesses that they owned. A majority of Americans started to spend more money than they earned which would inevitably lead to major problems in the future. On October 29, 1929, which is known as Black Tuesday, the stock market crashed. The Great Depression began and proved to be a worldwide phenomenon. Domestically as well as internationally, the dramatic effects of the depression worked as a domino effect as all banks and other businesses fell almost instantaneously. Through the use of these two documents which are being used from Shi and Mayer, For the Record; “Two Views of the Great Depression”, and “Letters to the Roosevelt’s this paper will address and assess the effects of the depression from eyes of the everyday American who experienced this depression first hand.

From 2008 to 2010, a recession plagued the United States’ economy. Although occurring from dissimilar causes, this recession reintroduced research and discussion on the source and length of its nearest equivalent, the Great Depression. The Great Depression was the most severe and damaging occurrence to affect the world since the beginning of the 20th century (Tavlas). Modern economic views on the Great Depression of the 1930s differ considerably; however, there exists a consensus on the idea that the Depression was worsened by elements such as inflexible wage rates, augmented labor costs, and the distribution and consumption of labor resources. In many eyes, the government was to blame, especially regarding the New Deal, a legislative platform that encouraged greater collective bargaining, a legal minimum wage, and unemployment insurance.

These factors generated the so called Great depression between the 1920s-1930s. The promises that were made during the war towards the colonies were viewed differently and were regretted, and she did not give the promised self-government– partly because for Britain her interest was the number one issue and because they thought the colonies incapable to rule themselves. Those colonies and dominions that took part in the Great War on the British side and worked along in co-operation now felt dissatisfaction and anger. The decisions were often unplanned, immediate and came along with unpredictable consequences. However, as coming out of the war as winner along with her allies they shared the colonies of Germany and Turkey. Those areas were shared