Great Depression Dbq

693 Words3 Pages

The Great Depression was a worldwide economic slump that affected people of all sorts. In the United States, the unemployment rose to an all time high of 25% in 1933. These were desperate times, and desperate measures were taken just so you could get by. Because of these desperate measures, the culture of the country changed. As Lawrence Friedman put it, “Poverty and social disorganization were eating away at the country’s social fabric.”. These changes in society from the Great Depression were what caused the american public to romanticize bank robbers to the point that they were thought of as heroes. As you will see, there were many different reasons bank robbers were thought of so highly, and the Great Depression contributed to all of them. …show more content…

Since many people could not withdraw their money from the bank, they viewed the banks to be at fault. Thousands of banks closed, going from 25,000 to 14,000 (1929-1939), and many people were out of jobs directly or indirectly because of that. Before the Great Depression, banks encouraged farmers to take out loans to buy new farming equipment, but during the depression the banks wanted every cent out of the farmers and they had no way to pay them. Even though the banks were doing poorly as well, things like these made the public grow a hatred for the banks. The bank robbers then were seen as heroes, like a modern day “Robin Hood”. This idea was further helped by stories of some bandits stealing from the banks and giving the money to the poor. This made the public feel more empowered; like someone was getting back at the banks for all the harm they did. Most of the time though, these bandits were out for …show more content…

They had a mysterious background, were good looking, had cool nicknames, made daring escapes, and were making a lot of money. They were viewed as rebelling against the government, and since people were beginning to turn away from individualism, they were supportive of their rebellion. With labels such as “Modern day Robin Hoods” and “Outlaws” bank robbers popularity was clearly shown. Instead of being viewed as law-breakers who were hurting the economy even more and killing anyone who got in their way, they were viewed as the symbol of the American