Social Reform: The Great Depression In America

The Great Depression

The United States fell into a growing hole of financial problems, called The Great Depression. As a country, we became poor because of the stock market crashing. Millions of Americans were losing jobs, and the leader of our country was facing more problems by the second. “By the 1930’s over 13 million Americans lost their jobs. The United States lost so much money that incomes were reduced by 40%,” (Degrace). Overall, The Great Depression had many effects on society, including the day to day struggle of the American people, the effect of the Dust Bowl on agriculture and the economy, and the evolution of the role of the President.

The Depression grew increasingly worse during Herbert Hoover’s time in office. Herbert

Roosevelt not only gave Americans hope for the future, but he also made several efforts to rebuild America into the strong country it was before (Franklin D. Roosevelt). Immediately after he was put into office, FDR was faced with 13 million people already unemployed; because of this, he declared a four day bank holiday to prevent people from taking money out of the bank. Another one of the efforts that Roosevelt made was “The New Deal”. The New Deal introduced many acts and administrations, such as the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, National Industrial Recovery Act, Public Works Administration, Works Progress Administration, and many more that were all included in Roosevelt’s plan. These different acts helped employ people, rebuild the economy, protect social security, and reserve parks and land (The New Deal). Many argued that the New Deal was a setback in the efforts to stop the Great Depression, however it was proven to be the plan that led to the end of the Depression. Roosevelt himself stated, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”, which later was proved true when Roosevelt eventually lead America back into the strong country it was before the Great Depression (Franklin D.

While the Great Depression was still happening, another complication hit the United States. This complication only affected a small region of America, and caused almost 40 dust storms. “The Dust Bowl was given the name to the great plains region devastated by the drought in the 1930’s depression ridden America,” (Foner and Garraty). The plains region thought the drought was the worst part of their issue, only to find out there was more coming. The land in the region was getting dry without any water, and all the farmlands became dusty fields. “The 150,000 square mile area, encompassing the Oklahoma and Texas panhandlers…. and sections of Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico had little rainfall, light soil, and high winds,” ( Foner and Garraty). Since the light soil was easily moved by the heavy winds, the open land became big dust storms. Without having rain, the land was becoming more and more dry and the soil was getting into the air, creating dust storms. Making it hard for people and animals to live. “.. topsoil swirled into dust clouds, that they called black blizzards. KIlling animals, pasture lands, and driving 60% of the population out of the region,” (Foner and Garraty). Since all of the farmland got destroyed and people were moving, the farmers were facing problems with money. Farmer’s went into foreclosure and got help with the Emergency Farm Mortgage Act and the New Law. But