The Great Depression Essay

Imagine this. You wake up one morning in the year 1929, in your luxurious, pricey mansion. You then make your way downstairs to eat that nice big breakfast. Then you kiss your family good bye and head off to your fancy job. You come home that evening and suddenly you’re flat broke. Meaning all your money and life’s savings vanished. Unreal right? Well it was real for hundreds of families on October 29, 1929. The day the stock market crashed and when America’s confidence was challenged greatly.

The Great Depression is probably one of the most misunderstood events in American history. It is routinely cited, as proof that unregulated capitalism is not the best in the world, and that only a massive welfare state, huge amounts of economic regulation, and other interventions can save capitalism from itself. The Great Depression had important consequences and was a devastating event in America, however many good policies and programs became available as a result of the great depression, some of which exist even today.

Due to the lack of jobs endless people were homeless. Government agencies were in charge of helping people pay their mortgages and provided housing for the displaced. Document D it was stated that “New Deal was both a set of ideas and diverse programs”. This quote shows that the government was trying to solve the issues within the Great Depression. Housing was temporary, but some were denied because of overcrowding. Many people turned to the government for housing assistance because people did not have money to keep up with housing payments. In the end it couldn’t have been as effective because everything was temporary and everybody didn’t get in on the opportunities because so many people needed finical

The Great Depression brought hunger, homelessness, and hardship to millions of Americans. One quarter of the country was unemployed, and over one million families lost their farms. People struggled to make enough money just to buy food to stay alive. Even bakers could not buy their own bread. The government did little to stop the suffering.

During the Great Depression, Americans had to do whatever they can do to survive. They tried farming vegetables however, it resulted in them eating the vegetables before they were even ripe. There was an incredible amount of hunger in the US. The lines for just soup were horrendous. Serving only certain amounts of people in certain

Hoover’s anti-Depression policies were based on his fundamental beliefs and the theories of some of the best economists at the time. Hoover undertook various measures designed to stimulate the economy, and a few of the programs he introduced became key components of later relief efforts. He was very optimistic and believed in a limited role for government and worried that excessive federal intervention posed a threat to capitalism and individualism. He felt that assistance should be handled on a local, voluntary basis. Therefore he relied on Volunteerism, where he asked business leaders to keep up production and not to lay off workers or cut wages. Voluntarism and optimism failed to change the tide of the Depression and in turn bore much of the blame in the minds of the American people. Hoovervilles which were shantytowns that cropped up across the nation, primarily on the outskirts of major cities became hugely popular. A Hoover Flag which is an empty pocket turned inside out also turned into a term used

Some of the farmers harassed bank agents who were sent to foreclose their homes. Another thing that the farmers in the Farm Holiday Association did was dump their farming goods (Farless). Another protest that emerged was the Veterans’ Bonus Army. “The Veterans’ Bonus Army clash in 1932 proved to be the most damaging for Hoover” (Farless). The Veterans’ Bonus Army consisted of 15,000 World War I veterans who traveled to Washington D.C. to demand their early payment of their 1945 planned bonus (Farless). President Herbert Hoover believed that they were anarchists, so he called in troops to break up the army (Farless). This incident was captured on film and it changed President Herbert Hoover’s popularity for the worst (Farless). After the decrease of President Herbert Hoover’s popularity, someone else became the public’s favorite – Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The Great Depression took an enormous toll on the people living through it. The people living through the great depression had to suffer for years with little income and pocket-sized savings. People were obligated to, “cut back on everything possible.” Farmers lost money due to no rain for crops to grow, and nevertheless tried to take out loans from the government. Some buildings like the Marion Building and Loan went bankrupt, putting jobs in jeopardy. The people living through The Great Depression learned to live with almost nothing. The people were able to pull the economy together and stop The Great Depression, but consequently the bad majorly outweighs the good.

The Great Depression was a time when a lot of us citizens were unemployed we would all wanted a job in order to survive so when there was a job opening the people would go out and apply for the same job. The unemployment rate was I out of 4 Americans in the time of the Great Depression. Some that were lucky enough got a job at a place called as “Hoovervilles” (shantytown) or outside of town. As unemployment rose those the working wages went decreasing for those who worked. Some of the jobs that were available were Farming Labor

When the depression hit, the life of the American home changed drastically. Neighbors began to see families becoming homeless who were just fine the other day. With the birthrate dropping, and suicide rates going up, many children faced a type of family known today as a broken home. Many people lost hope, however through the guidance of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, families received relief. Young Americans found work through CCC and other government programs. World War II began and actually helped the United States get out the depression. When the war ended, the United States experienced another feel-good era, leading to the creation of the Boomer Generation.

The existing relief programs where inadequate to deal with the increased volume and type of people in need during the Great Depression. The number of people in need doubled and the demographic changed from mainly elderly and single mothers to all walks of life, shaking Americans belief that if a man worked hard he would be able to provide for his family. The charities, state and local government entities that had cared for the needy before were no longer able to keep pace with the growing demand because everyone was affected.

Hunger, uncleanliness, homelessness and poverty were widespread across the world.The Great Depression had a negative effect on every living American from every walk of life. It began in October 1929 shortly after the stock market crashed. Jobs were lost, businesses were shut down and people were left with nothing. In 1930 there was a drought which caused the Agricultural Depression. Along with the stock market crash this was a major factor in the Great Depression.

With the effects of the Great Depression, people had to live with no money. With the stocks crashing and no blue collar jobs, soup kitchens opened up and they had to do odd jobs to have any money or even free food but that was likely not even possible. The banks closed and people lost everything they had. the people couldn’t go into their houses because the banks took them back.

A significant effect of the Great Depression on Germany was the economic impact. Initially, the Wall Street Crash affected the USA the hardest, and they withdrew their loans from Germany. These loans were what made the economy in Germany recover after the war and with the reparations they were facing. Industries that had been heavily relying on the loans started to go bust and unemployment rose from 2-3 million in the Spring of 1929 to 8.5 million, with a third of the entire workforce being laid off by 1932. Those still employed had shorter work days from an average of 7.5 hours a day to 6, which resulted in wage cuts. 800,000 white collar workers were fired and shopkeepers’ incomes fell by 50% and many were living in poverty. Industrial production was now 40% of the pre-1929 levels. In 1931 the Austrian Bank Creditanstalt collapsed, declaring losses of $20 million, followed by many major German banks collapsing. Foreign trade slowed to a halt and all of Germany’s overseas markets were lost. In order to stabilise the economy, the new chancellor Heinrich Bruning introduced austerity policies. This included a 30% cutback in welfare and raising taxes, which was very unpopular amongst the German people. A cut in public spending lead to social misery in all classes.