The Great Depression And The Dust Bowl

The ‘Dirty Thirties’ is perhaps one of the most known time periods in American History. During the 1930s, the worst and longest drought occurred in the United States, this was also know as the Dust Bowl. According to Christopher Klein, the Dust Bowl is considered both a man-made and natural disaster. In fact, many events contributed to the Dust Bowl such as poor farming techniques, a severe drought, and economic 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 1930s was one of the most challenging times in US history, where the Great Depression caused millions of Americans to suffer through hardships because of the economy. Many people were out of work and unemployed, and the government at the time, believed that the best option was to stay out of its affairs, leaving the struggling people hung out to dry. It was not until Franklin Roosevelt was elected president, that the state of the country began to change. And that was due to the creation of the New Deal; a plan to alleviate the state of the country, providing help through increased government spending and programs, that led to its eventual recovery after the second World War.

The Great Depression was a devastating time for many Americans. From 1929 to 1932, the US experienced an economic downturn that was calamitous to the lives of many people. Millions upon millions of Americans lost everything when the stock market crashed on October 29, 1929. After exiting an era that left people living a life of luxury, the stock market crash came as a surprise. As a result of the stock market crash, many became unemployed and many families were being forced to close their businesses. Although there were many factors that contributed to the cause of the Great Depression, the three main causes were The Stock Market Crash of 1929, high unemployment, a decrease in consumer purchases due to being “stuffed with stuff” during the roaring twenties.

The 1930s, commonly called “The Thirties” was the best and worst decade. It was the home of swing music, butterfly sleeves, and Roosevelt’s presidency. The 1930s also saw lots of new technologies in the radio and film fields. But amongst the great times, there was lots of tragedy. The Dust Bowl, the Ku Klux Klan, and the start of the Great Depression are just to name a few of the many disasters in the 1930s. In the midst of this, the United States and Germany had very many legislative problems. Both countries had objectives of making their societies better by “removing the inferior”. This is when Nazi Germany and America started creating laws to target Jews and Blacks.

The Great Depression remains to be the worst economic slump ever in American history and one which spread practically all over the industrialized world. The Depression bombarded in late 1929 and lasted nearly a decade. Many factors elemented the depth of the widespread prosperity. However, combined, the greatly unequal distribution of wealth throughout the 1920's and the extensive stock market speculation that took place during the latter part that same decade remain the key of all elements.

The Great Depression was a time of great economic tragedy during the 1930’s. October 24, 1929 was the day of the stock market crash, causing economical shortage everywhere, even globally, and this scared everyone, including the rich. This day was/ is known as “Black Thursday”, where over 2.9 million shares were traded. On “Black Tuesday”, five days later, more than 16 million more shares were traded in another wave of panic. Many investors then lost confidence in their banks and demanded deposits in cash which forced the banks to liquidate loans in order to supplement their on hand cash reserves. By 1933, around 15 million Americans were unemployed and nearly half of the country’s banks had failed. This stopped Americans from purchasing which then led to less production of goods and decreased the amount of needed human labor. In the end, millions of shares ended up worthless, and those investors who had bought stocks with borrowed money were wiped out completely.

In the decades leading up to the 1920s, industry in America boomed. Not only were monopolies created but mass production of many goods was the source of an economic boom. During the 1920s the economic boom led to some of the best times in history. However, later in the decade, devastation came in the form of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. These two factors left a sour taste in the mouthes of Americans as they moved into the thirties. The drastic difference between the economic high and low of the 1920s are due to a combination of the economic boom at the beginning of the decade and the Great Depression at the end, with numerous factors in between these two bookend events. During the best of the decade there was economic boom,

On Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929, the stock market saw its greatest crash in history. The next 10 years brought an economic depression the world had never experienced. Unemployment would soar, a banking crisis would lead to a global phenomenon, and Americans would find themselves struggling to survive. In addition, the government would step up their involvement in American lives, as they felt a responsibility to the people. This would lead to mixed feelings from the American people. The Great Depression affected people in many different ways. For some it led to their demise, while it brought others closer together than ever before.

Indeed, the stock market crash triggered this event, however the vastly poor distribution of wealth, the wages of industrial workers, and the profitless work of farmers all added up to this downfall. In addition, high tariffs set by the U.S. made it difficult for foreign nations to sell goods to them and to buy goods in return. And to make things better, banks were failing and in result wiping out life savings of hundreds of people. The last straw was drawn when the stock market hesitated and investors began to sell their stocks for fear of what could happen. Brokers jammed the stocks as they attempted to unload shares. This grave dip became a panic that would be known as black Thursday. The following Tuesday all stocks had lost six-sevenths of their value, and it would be appropriately called black Tuesday. With thousands of people’s life savings gone overnight, the economy suffered immensely. Due to the lack of money people began to stop buying goods. To make up for the lack of revenue, businesses laid off countless workers to decrease the price of their outputs. This only furthered the issue into a never ending cycle. People now without jobs could not afford goods, and businesses continued to lay off its workers to stay profitable. Millions of Americans lived in poverty at this time, many unable to buy the

The Great Depression was the worst period of economic decline in U.S. history. It began on October 29th, 1929, and was officially declared over, in the year 1939, once the second World War was commenced. There were many factors that both influenced, and made the Great Depression even worse. A few examples of this are: During this time period, many Americans had money invested in the stock market, and once they saw that somebody else began to sell their stocks, they sold their own. On October 29th, people began to sell their stocks at an extremely rapid rate. Due to the rapid rate of stocks being sold, people lost countless amounts of money, and eventually ran to the bank to take out whatever they had in there. However, these banks were

The period of Great Depression 1929-1939 was very crucial, worst economic recession period in the history of industrialized world. October 24, 1929 was a day verifiably known as "Black Thursday", the United States securities exchange slammed because of financial specialists in the market beginning to "auction their offers, which brought about a decrease in stock costs” (Richard H. Pells, 2006; Christina D. Romer, 2008). This economic recession led to different consequences that caused lots of problems. Many banks failed, unemployment rose, world trade collapsed and there were many other problems that Americans were facing during this period. (History.com Staff, 2009)

     The Great Depression was a huge economic downfall in North America and involved many other industrialized countries of the world. The Depression began in 1929 and lasted for about ten years. Millions of people lost their jobs along with many businesses going bankrupt. The common misconception of the Great Depression is people think that the stock market crash was the main cause for it. There were many causes for the Depression; unequal distribution of money during the 1920’s was the main cause of the Depression. This unequal distribution happened on many different classes of people. The imbalance of money is what created such an unstable economy. The stock market was doing much worse than people thought

The roaring twenties was a time filled with hope and change. President Warren G. Harding promised a “return to normalcy”, which reflected his own conservative values and the voters’ wants for stability and order. Americans felt that they had been through more than enough, and desired prosperity. During the years 1919 and 1920 the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Amendments were passed; the outlaw of alcoholic beverages and the right for women to vote, which ones of the many reasons society was turning their backs on Progressivism. Republicans were beginning to return to their previous dominance. The 1920’s was an economic boom for America, including everything from an increase in jobs, a rise in plentiful goods, new consumer products, and the reduction of taxes. The country was filled with jazz music, dance, and what appeared to be a brighter future. The 1929 crash of stock market was the beginning of a downward spiral leading in to the Great Depression. The stock market crash is often to be confused as the cause of the Great Depression, although that is false. A few of the issues that lead to the Great Depression included; farming (which decreased in demand as farms increased through the states during World War I), banking, and mass unemployment. Capitalism took shape as what was once the individualistic Protestant work ethic was reshaped into industrial work on a grand scale. Each worker contributed to the greater good, and the workers were presided over by a boss

The deepest and longest lasting economic downturn was the Great Depression. It started after the stock market crash of October 1929. Almost half of the country's banks had failed. Foreign trade had collapsed. Most African-American women worked as an agricultural laborer. Street Vendors tried to sell apples to get money. The stock market crash wiped out millions of investors. The average income of an american family dropped by 40% from 1929 to 1932. The income fell from $2300 to $1500 per year. The Great Depression in the united states began on October 29, 1929. It was the day known as Black Tuesday. Many people suffered the Great Depression and many people had major effects.