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The Great Depression In The Mid-1900's

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During the mid-1900’s, the United States had experienced an era of extreme economic downfalls and social issues called the Great Depression. It was far more intense than previous depressions since it occurred after the first World War, when the country was at its all-time high in profits from selling food and supplies to Europe. After the U.S. exceeded in their time of prosperity, a surplus of crops and goods were overgrown and overproduced than the amount that was being sold. Also, banks were overspending other peoples savings in the stock market and to buy bonds. This lead to millions of Americans to lose their savings in the stock market and banks, become unemployed from businesses, and being kicked out of homes for being unable to pay bills. …show more content…

For example, Dr. Santos, interviewed in 1935, had described how the amount of “those who did not work, have multiplied to such an extent that if I should say 25,000,000 workers are without work at the present moment, I would not be mistaken” (Santos, 1935). Some of the effects of the Depression include the mass unemployment of Americans due to financial issues with the bank and economy in general. President Roosevelt created programs in public works which helped provide people jobs by constructing highways, bridges, hospitals, schools, theaters, libraries, city halls, houses, post offices, airports, and national parks (Walker, 2011). However, the sheer numbers of the rate of unemployment for workers was still considerably high with these programs in use, still ranges in the millions. Furthermore, “in 1939, the unemployment rate was still at 19%, and not until 1943 did it reach its pre-Depression levels ("An Evaluation of the New Deal," 2008). The work programs President Roosevelt created had failed its purpose in providing immediate support of jobs to American workers who were unemployed during the …show more content…

For example, Dr. Santos stated that “I believe that it has been a failure as it has protected the trusts more than the American people.” (Santos, 1935) . Some programs of the New Deal dealt with issues on the securities of people’s savings accounts to reinstate the confidence of banks in the country and regulated the stock market to avoid any serious disasters or crashes. The government relied on the act of people not withdrawing cash from the bank, but instead financing it with their own savings account. During his time as president, “Roosevelt more than doubled the national debt in two short terms” ("An Evaluation of the New Deal," 2008). He was too busy trying to put money into the banks and accounts that he was not conservative of the funds of national debt that would eventually accumulate beyond the reach of what Americans could actually repay. The financing programs created by President Roosevelt failed to provide economic relief to the

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The wealth during the 1920s left Americans unprepared for the economic depression they would face in the 1930s. The Great Depression occurred because of overproduction by farmers and factories, consumption of goods decreased, uneven distribution of wealth, and overexpansion of credit. Hoover was president when the depression first began, and he maintained the government’s laissez-faire attitude in the economy. However, after the election of FDR in 1932, his many alphabet soup programs in his first one hundred days in office addressed the nation’s need for change.

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On October 29th 1929, the United States of America fell into an all consuming state of fear. The crash of the stock market and the economic tribulations that rural United Statians were facing resulted in the Great Depression. No matter where one would he or she would encounter a plague of despair and people looking for the same jobs that no longer existed. People left their homes hungry for opportunities but would end up with starving for not only a small sum or money but a morsel of food as well.

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Acting this way led to the “double-dip Roosevelt depression,” when he cut the federal budget (Baker 301). To make matters worse for FDR, even his relief administrator knew his presidency was not a good one. He said “We shall tax and tax, and spend and spend, and elect and elect” (Garraty 63). In addition to his relief administrator, a well renowned psychiatrist described Roosevelt as ruthless man who is hard to figure out (Garraty 134). Despite Roosevelt’s obvious lack of planning, the majority of the population preferred him over Hoover.

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Roosevelt’s idea was almost the exact opposite he believed that it should be the government's responsibility to get the people out of this crisis. Today we are still reaping the benefits of Roosevelt's new deal such as social security act, National Youth Administration and many more that helped us get out of the deepest depression this country has ever

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Roosevelt was elected president, in 1932, things started to look up for all those who had been living in poverty for the past few year. In a short text about the New Deal it states; “During the first 100 days of his presidency, a never-ending stream of bills was passed, to relieve poverty, reduce unemployment, and speed economic recovery.” Within 100 days of Roosevelt being in office he had already started to fix the problems of the Great Depression because, unlike his precursor Herbert Hoover, he felt that it was the obligation of the federal government to help the people of America, and not vice versa. In 1933 the Civil Conservation Corps (CCC) sent three million single men from the age of seventeen to twenty-three to the nation’s forests to work, and paid these men $30 a month. Also the Works Progress Administration (WPA) employed more than 8.5 million people to build bridges, roads, public buildings, parks, and airports as claimed by the short text about the New

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Herbert Hoover, the previous president, had stubbornly refused to help the unemployed and homeless, since he assumed that individual self-reliance and charitable organizations would be sufficient. The Roosevelt administration, however, knew that the numbers of people in need far exceeded the capacity for charity to cover it. To compensate, Roosevelt’s team provided over 4 million federal jobs through new worker programs such as “The Federal Emergency Relief Administration” and “the Civil Works Administration (CWA)” and organized a variety of similarly useful projects. However, by 1934, after the program’s budget became too costly, Roosevelt ordered the CWA’s dissolvement and 4 million workers, whose jobs were cut, were left unemployed once again. Shi 1148-1150.

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Roosevelt’s responses to the Great Depression was effective mainly due to the fact that the percent of unemployment decreased during his time as president. For instance, in document F, the diagram explores how in the following years from 1929- 1943 there is an increase and decrease in unemployment. The diagram highlights how after the year of 1938, the percent of unemployment decreased more than fifty percent.(Doc. F). Therefore, the greatest percent of unemployment being decreased occurred right after “Fair Labor, Standard Act of 1938”.

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In the 1930’s, the United States was faced with the Great Depression which caused unemployment and poverty to skyrocket. To implement change, Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) was elected with his plan of the New Deal. An organization created by FDR was the Civil Works Administration. Their main goal was to provide work relief to unemployed Americans. The arts program struggled during the Great Depression and debatably needed financial backing to stay in business.

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The Great Depression of the 1930s severely crippled the United States economy, leading to widespread unemployment, business failures, and poverty. Thousands of banks around America went bankrupt, and millions of people lost their livelihoods and fell into poverty. The Roosevelt administration, in particular, was tasked with managing the economic crisis. He attempted to manage it through the New Deal. The New Deal programs aim to revive the economy and reduce unemployment.

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Through the formation of numerous potent solutions, or agencies, the New Deal proved to be effective in solving the economic hardships caused by the Great Depression. This is evident in Document 1, where it states, "More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil [hard work] with little return. " This quote highlights how the Great Depression led to extreme unemployment rates and inadequate pay for workers. As a result, Roosevelt proposed the New Deal in which the creation of numerous programs and government involvement could support millions of Americans. Therefore, the New Deal could combat these issues and alleviate the suffering of the people to restore the economy back to what it was like in the Roaring 20s, prosperous and flourishing.

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Zaid Mehmood Professor Brucher Paper 2, Draft 1 3 April 2024 A Time of Economic Disparity The Great Depression’s impact on society for the working-class was profound. Sharp economic downfall has resulted in families across the country experiencing financial hardships. Farmers faced challenges with the agricultural economy declining, leading to falling crop prices, which ultimately led to many losing their farms, because they were unable to make enough money to pay their mortgage and debt.

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All of these programs seemed to help and Americans were better off, but the Great Depression was over. Roosevelt continued to push for more reform, but in 1937 business slowed and another recession hit the nation. Now Roosevelt is being blamed for the nation’s problems. He was now at a

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Mr. Roosevelt created work by having men from ages 17 to 23 work on things such as digging ditches, building reservoirs, and planting trees. Roosevelt created a program called The Works Progress Administration. This program employment 8.5 million people to build things like bridges, roads, public buildings, parks and airports. Roosevelt fixed the unemployment. He didn’t end the Great depression though.

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Those jobs were created for a span of 10 years but after that families were forced into poverty because of the short term solution that was, The Public Works act. Another attempted solution to this problem was, The National Recovery Administration. The NRA was put into place in 1933 as well, it was meant to even out the playing field amongst companies. If one company had too much competition it would be forced to shut down so, this administration was in place so that there was healthy competition and not destructive competition so to say. It was a good idea but poorly executed leading to its failure and only being a short term

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During the early 1930s, the United States witnessed one of the great presidencies in its history. This was the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. During his time in office, Roosevelt did whatever he could to save millions of Americans from going broke because of the recent Stock Market crash of 1929. One action in particular the he took was the creation of New Deal programs. The “New Deal” programs were designed to help those that needed financial support, like the Civil Works Administration (CWA), which provided at public work jobs, such as sanitation worker, 15 dollars week, which helped four million people.

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