The Three Main Causes Of The Great Depression

As the 1920s advanced, serious problems threatened economic prosperity. Though some Americans became wealthy, many more could not earn a decent living (The Americas, page 464). The Great Depression is what people call the financial and industrial slump of 1929 and subsequent years. The main causes of the Great Depression were overproduction, a drought that lasted from 1933 to 1940, and struggles with employment. In response to debt and lack of food, some people referred to theft. Others went on strikes, trying to get aid from the government and the Red Cross. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the New Deal in 1933 to try and lift everyone’s debt. The three main causes of the Great Depression were overproduction, a drought, and unemployment.

Roosevelt, was to transform America’s economy which had been shattered by the Great Depression (“The New Deal” History Learning Site). The deal was enacted when FDR became President in 1933, and over the next eight years, the government instituted a series of projects and programs, such as: the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps), the WPA (Works Progress Administration), the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority), the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) and others, that aimed to restore some measure of dignity and prosperity to many Americans. On March 5, 1933, Roosevelt declared a four-day bank holiday to stop people from withdrawing their money from banks. On March 9, Congress passed Roosevelt’s Emergency Banking Act, which reorganized the banks and closed the ones that were insolvent (“New Deal.” History.com). Despite Roosevelt and his cabinet’s efforts, the Great Depression dragged on; for this reason, in the spring of 1935, Roosevelt launched a second, more aggressive series of federal programs known as the Second New Deal. The Farm Credit Administration (FCA), established in 1933, was created to help combat economic issues during the Great Depression due to farmers having problems maintaining their farmlands; consequently, 40,000 farmers applied for loans within the first months. Another program created due to the New Deal was the Social Security Board (SSB), established in 1935 under the Federal Security Agency, which was founded to head three major programs involving: public assistance, unemployment insurance, and old age pension (Encyclopædia Britannica). While some programs were successful, some brought people even more problems, the reason being that the nation’s debt more than doubled during Roosevelt’s two terms, and the gap between rich and poor was barely dented by the end of the decade. Another issue with the New Deal was that jobs that had been provided were only temporary. In 1939, unemployment had not