The Great Depression And Its Effects

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.

The Great Depression started in 1929 and lasted up until 1939. It happens to be the worst economic downturn for the United States and the the rest of the world. It caused companies and corporations to eventually go bankrupt as well as workers to be laid off. Another effect of The Great Depression is that factory production was reduced, and the banks started to shut down. In the lowest point of The Great Depression in 1933 nearly 15 million workers in America were unemployed and one half of the banks started shutting down.

The Great Depression was an economic collapse that began in 1929 and ended in 1938. During the Depression most citizens went through hardship .Three main causes of the Great Depression were the stock market crash of 1929, the Dust Bowl, and Bank failures.

The Great Depression was caused by the stock market crash in 1929. The Great Depression was very sad time for Americans, who faced many adversities which ultimately changed the way they lived. During this period of time unemployment rose to nearly 25% of the population, those who did not lost their job saw a dramatic decrease in their pay.

President Herbert Hoover, a Republican, had control of the United States from 1929 to 1933, the beginning of the economic downfall. Hoover created a laissez-faire government; the government was not involved in everyday business, instead it was a very hands off approach and daily life just took its path. When Franklin D. Roosevelt became president in 1933 the economy was now deep in a huge downward spiral, and he raised a new Democratic approach to run the government and United States. The United States was in for a lot of reform movements being that a Democrat was president, and something needed to be done to prevent the status of the United States to fail even more. Franklin D. Roosevelt responded to the problems of the Great Depression

With Hoover in presidency and all was headed downhill with unemployment and food shortages people lost hope but, when FDR was elected president things started to turn around with his New Deal programs. FDR would turn it around with his policies of reform, relief and recovery. This was very effective in the way which he stopped the economic fall, relieved Americans of the depression, reformed many policies, and expanded the government.

Few Americans in the first months of 1929 saw any reason to question the strength and stability of the nation's economy. Most agreed with their new president that the booming prosperity of the years just past would not only continue but increase, and that dramatic social progress would follow in its wake. "We in America today," Herbert Hoover had proclaimed in August 1928, "are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poorhouse is vanishing from among us."1

The Great Depression was a dreadful worldwide economic depression that occurred in the 1930s and it was the most profound and longest depression in the American History, which lasted from 1929-1939. Although the Great Depression began soon after the crash of the stock market in October 1929, it is too straightforward to say that that was the major cause of the Great Depression. This crash did not by itself cause the Great Depression. Even before the year 1929, signs of economic trouble had become evident. (Give Me Liberty! An American History, 5TH Edition, Eric Foner, Pg 811).

As most of you should know Herbert Hoover was president at the beginning of the great depression. How did you think hoover responded to the great depression? Well Hoover thought America could get through the great depression the great depression by hard work . Hoover also tried to boost the economy by creating jobs but it didn’t work and people started to lose faith in Herbert Hoover. Soon these little towns of poor unemployed people where called

He as an optimistic man felt that minimum government involvement was important for he and the U.S citizens to rise above this detrimental situation. He simply did not try to directly give money to the citizens to make the economy better. This probably would have been easier, but not most effective. Many look horridly at Hoover identifying him as the president who did nothing at America’s time of need, but was he truly wrong for believing in the U.S citizens and giving them encouragement to do better at their worst? Hoover reduced government spending hoping that with this the economy would recover.

After the Depression Hoover had some strategies he used to try and fix the economy, but they did not play out as smoothly as he would have liked them too. Roosevelt 's approach to fix the economy was more uplifting to the people in almost every aspect. Even their campaign songs, Roosevelt’s was about Happy Days coming again, and Hoover’s was about the depression. Roosevelt proposed a “New Deal” to the people and manny clung to it. His deal was that he was going to start experimenting with government roles. WHat he means by this is that he promises to increase government help and use the power of the government to address the people’s issues. Although, he did not explain how he was going to fix things such as unemployment and and improving the stock market in

The economic expansion of the 1920’s, with its increased production of goods and high profits, culminated in immense consumer speculation that collapsed with disastrous results in 1929 causing America’s Great Depression. There were a number or contributing factors to the depression, with the largest and most important one being a general loss of confidence in the American economy. The reason it escalated was a general misunderstanding of recessions by American policymakers of the time.

Before FDR becoming president, hoover went after a laissez faire economic policy. In other words the government did have a few limited roles in the economy. The president hoover knew that the economy will experience through the ups and downs. Hoover also knew that markets forces may go into corrections in the economy. Therefore the government had to step aside of the ordinary operation of these forces in the economy.

Many people think that the Great Depression was caused solely by the stock market crash. Anybody who tells you this probably didn’t pass U.S. History in high school. The fact is, the Great Depression was caused many different factors. Four of which were overproduction, uneven distribution of wealth, protective tariffs, and the four “sick industries” of the 1920’s.

“Shrunken perhaps by the vicissitudes and exigencies of the times, Broadway presented itself admirably throughout the Thirties. It not only managed to preserve the best, but also nurtured and expanded them. At the brink of the new decade, Broadway stood smaller but brighter”