Herbert Hoover's Life During The Great Depression

The Great Depression

The 1930s were marked by the Great Depression. The Great Depression started on October 18, 1929. Herbert Hoover was president at the time. The Great Depression lasted for ten years. When the stock market crashed people lost sixteen million shares worth of stock. When World War I ended in 1918, people started spending more money than they used to and buying things on credit. The 1920s were called “a prosperous boom time.” A new thing to Americans was credit, which we had never had before. A popular saying was “Buy now, pay later!” Now cars and other goods were available that hadn’t been during the war. People went crazy buying things. Then they used too much credit, which they could not pay for. Pretty much everyone was

Horseracing was very popular, and so was a horse named Seabiscuit. Seabiscuit was an underdog horse who had an awkward looking gait. When he was young he was whipped and mistreated immensely. When he got into the bigger races, his jockey’s name was Red Pollard. He and Red won the Santa Anita and were the world’s leading money winners. Many celebrities came to see Seabiscuit, such as Bing Crosby, Barbara Stanwyck, and Frank Sinatra. In baseball, George Herman Ruth, also known as Babe, played during the depression. He played from 1914 until 1935. One of his many sayings was, “You just can’t beat the person who never gives up.” He played for three different teams, the Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, and the New York Yankees. His number was always three. In races, (on foot) Jesse Owens won gold medals for the hundred and two hundred meter races. Boxing was also popular. A movie called Cinderella Man, made in 2005 tells about a boxing hero who lived during the Great Depression. The biggest hit song in the 1930s was “Brother, Can you spare a dime?” by Bing Crosby. Gone with the Wind, was a movie based on a book by Margret Michells. Other popular movies were the Wizard of Oz, King Kong, and Snow White. When the radio came out, programs like the Lone Ranger and Little Orphan Annie were loved by people of all ages. Lone Ranger started out with “High ho Silver away!” Annie was about a little girl who had a dog named Sandy. She went around solving mysteries and blowing up German submarines. In the 1930s, you could buy comic books for less than a dime. Among the many, Superman and Batman were both sought after. These small sporting victories and small forms of entertainment brought hope and temporal relief to the suffering