Urban Planning During The Great Depression

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s plan helped make the economy get stable through programs that he started, helping create more jobs for the unemployed. He passed bills that helped both the American people and its environment. For example, new roads and bridges were built. Another one of FDR’S efforts to get out of the depression was to enter WWII. Document 6 shows a cartoon of how much was produced for the war and shows Uncle Sam working, too. Overall, FDR’s decision to enter the war was the greatest impact on the Great Depression because they got out of it. Herbert Hoover was a terrible leader in many Americans’ views because they believed he did not do enough for the people and was more supportive toward big businesses. He gave money to the rich so that they would pass it down to the poor but instead the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. Another downfall of Hoover was Hoovervilles. These were a collection of poor people without homes. The name was given as a disgrace to Hoover. In result, FDR was a more favored president during the Great Depression than Hoover.

The America in the 1930s was drastically different from the luxurious 1920s. The stock market had crashed to an all time low, unemployment was the highest the country had ever seen, and all American citizens were affected by it in some way or another. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal was effective in addressing the issues of The Great Depression in the sense that it provided immediate relief to US citizens by lowering unemployment, increasing trust in the banks, getting Americans out of debt, and preventing future economic crisis from taking place through reform. Despite these efforts The New Deal failed to end the depression. In order for America to get out of this economic

The Depression was the biggest economic crash America had ever experienced previously. Thousands of people lost their jobs, hundreds of businesses went bankrupt, and even some banks had to close their doors. It was a disaster. People lost everything, their savings were gone and their homes were foreclosed. Life for Americans was drastically changed. As if the Depression wasn’t bad enough, then the Dust Bowl happened. The Dust Bowl was the result of drought and erosion of the top soil of the land. Huge dust clouds swept through the Great Plains, suffocating its inhabitants (History.com). There were political efforts to better those two events, most of those efforts were enacted by the New Deal policies. FDR was the president at the time, and he created and pushed for the use of the New Deal policies. The New Deal encompassed the programs enacted to save homes from foreclosure, create jobs and many other helpful programs. All in all, the 30’s was an era of economic insecurity and general upheaval. By the late 30’s people were looking to the government to get the nation out of these national

The rural depression was a primary component in the Great Depression, as bank advances turned sour, credit became scarce, and banks across the nation shut down. All through the 1930s, more than a million acres of land were influenced in the Dust Bowl, a large number of agriculturists lost their jobs and property, and mass relocation patterns started to arise as ranchers left rustic America looking for work in urban areas. This relocation, or migration, added to Great Depression unemployment hardships, stressed alleviation and advantages programs, and made in many vast American urban areas (The Great Depression Causes).

The journal article begins by introducing an African American couple who resided in Russellville, Kentucky. James Wright held an occupation as a corn cutter while his wife Gladys worked as a cook in a white home. The time span of their journey occurred at the beginning of the great depression all the way through World War II. Seeking better employment opportunities, James traveled to Louisville. Although, his first couple trips were in vain. His resilience and determination eventually lead to a job working for International Harvester. During an era of many trials and tribulations, James found a way to support himself and his family by migrating from a rural to an urban area. By sharing this anecdote the author establishes a mood of hardship

One of the most notable times during the late 19th century was the Gilded Age. This is a term often used to describe this time period since from the outside looking in urban life in America seemed perfect, but in reality, many citizens did not like the changes that were occurring. Since the verb gild means to cover with or as if with a thin coating of gold[1], historians often refer to this time period as “the Gilded Age”. New ideals about poverty, social reforms, different political approaches, and a new women’s culture brought forth political, economic, social, and cultural changes in urban growth during the

The starting of WWII gave people work. The U.S. needed warfare materials so the factories opened up and people were hired to work. Therefore helping us get out of the depression. Herbert Hoover was the 31st president who was trying to get the U.S. out of the depression. He believed that the government should not help the people but charities should. The problem with that was no one was donating to the charities because no one had anything to give or donate. Hoover used trickle down economics. Which meant he would help the businesses first and then it would eventually lead to the people, his idea was a long term plan and they needed a short term plan to help the people. Herbert Hoover believed helping the businesses would improve the economy. His plan did not

The Great Depression’s influence on building the Empire State Building is astonishing because a wealthy man who desires to build a structure for competition can change someone’s life for the greater good (Empire State). Ever since the Great Depression occurred, many Americans lost their jobs, but when the time came to build the Empire State Building, 3,000 men had jobs to fulfill. The Great Depression had the same effects on the Hoover Dam as well. Since it took 5 years to build the Hoover Dam, the government hired an average of 3,500 to a maximum of 5,218 to build the great dam (Rogers 55). In which the average payroll was $5,000 giving the men who worked on it a very good benefit. Citizens in the Midwest were mainly farmers throughout the 30s, but when the Dust Bowl transpired, their lives changed forever. After the Dust Bowl hit the Midwest, houses, farms, animals, and even people were buried in red dirt, but the people who survived gathered their belongings and went west to find jobs (Owen). Some people who made it to the west states, who were called Okies, were banned from entering because life was already harsh enough due to the Great Depression (Owen). When the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge came to be, many men, including Okies, were granted jobs to work on the bridge (Owen). Many men had jobs and could feed their family again because of the construction of the

During the Great Depression of the 1929, people were out of work and could not take care of their families. There were “Hoovervilles” all across the country. They were named after President Hoover. President Hoover did not believe that the government should take care of the people. He felt that if the government stepped in it would take away the people had for themselves. In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Governor of New York, was elected President of the United States. He immediately started his first “New Deal”. The government stepped in and helped the people. That is when the Welfare System was born. It started as a way to get the country out of the depression. The depression lasted ten years and the country was changed forever.

The Great Depression was a time period when the US economy was in bad conditions. It lasted from 1929 to 1941, 12 years. The Great Depression was caused by over producing supplies and the stock market crash. Before the New Deal many Americans lived in makeshift communities called Hoovervilles because they couldn’t afford living in their houses any longer. Some people starved because they couldn’t pay for food or the food wasn’t able to get to their towns.

Hoover attempted many plans to end the Great Depression. Hoover rested on his belief of “volunteerism” which was a key concept of progressivism. Hoover believed private organized charities were sufficient to meet social welfare needs and was the “American Way”. Progressivism was when you displayed the wrong actions businesses were taking to the public in hopes that the public would make businesses reform their ways. This was a keen reason to why Hoover failed to solve the problems of the Great Depression. The first solution to the Great Depression attempted by Hoover came after the great crash. Hoover received a petition from the president of General Electric, Gerard Swoop, in 1929. It called for series of voluntary wage and price freezes of leading industries in the U.S. in exchange for freezing wages and prices. They asked in return for the government to cover the cost of welfare capitalism; which was an attempt to break the union, by providing benefits to make companies obsolete. They would pay workers 80% when laid off, but when the stock market crashed, they would only give them 20% salary. This was due partially to welfare capitalism. They

Cecchetti, Stephen G. "Understanding the Great Depression: Lessons for Current Policy ." Monetary Economics (1997): 1-26.

     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

With the public work programs, Hoover provided unemployed Americans with many different jobs in order to create some sort of income. The most famous of these programs was the Boulder Dam, which will be talked about later. Throughout the entire depression, Hoover stood on his belief of a hands-off government until late in his presidency. Under pressure from Americans and his fellow politicians, President Hoover eventually gave in and signed an act granting money and/or food to areas in dire need. That was the extent of his direct relief.

For example, when a good is scarce, the prices goes up, so consumers try to avoid buying and therefore conserving the resource. Then, the suppliers want to find more of the source as to get a better profit. The reasons behind their actions are selfish, yet they benefit all of society. Smith identified that the pursuit of profit and the power of self-interest would increase motivation and result in more advances in technology. His model of capitalism was on the basis of freedom and selfishness as a motivator for society. It was also on the basis that the economy would go through recessions and expansions but fix itself. Recessions are periods in the economy in which unemployment goes up, while profits and spending goes down; a slowdown of the economy. An expansion is essentially the exact opposite. The classical model of economics states that the economy will continue to go through these fluctuations over time and will fix itself with no help, thus not needing a government to give influence.