Premium Essay

Great Depression Take Home

Submitted By
Words 1000
Pages 4
Great Depression Take Home Essay

Lasting from 1929 to 1941, a period of economic hard times is known as the Great depression. During the Great Depression, employment rates crashed, homeless littered the streets in desperation for a job and food, poverty rates have never been higher. Many looked up at different political figures for help, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Huey Newton were all examples of this, but each one had an entirely different plans for the country.
Herbert Hoover was the first president during the Great Depression. Although President Hoover was deeply concerned with the Great Depression, he did not believe that the government should intervene and plunge into greater debt. After a short while though, Hoover called on …show more content…
In the summer of 1921, he was affected by a severe case of polio, causing him lack of movement in his legs. FDR feared the people seeing this as a sign of weakness, so he hid this secret from the public, appearing only in public in metal braces that supported his weight. When he was running for president, he stated that he would have a “New Deal” for the American people, but did not really specify what he intended to do until after his inauguration. Until after he became a president, he told people that he was going to organize a “Brain Trust”, or a collection of experts on economic issues to help defeat the Great Depression. One of his first actions he did was to declare a Bank Holiday, where he closed every bank in the entire nation for four days. He did this to restore people’s confidence in banks, by ruling out which banks were safe and which were not. He also created many New Deal Programs, programs that were created to fix the Great Depression. It included the Civilian Conservation Corps (1933), that provided jobs for young men to plant trees, build bridges and parks, etc. The Tennessee Valley Authority (1933)m that built dams to provide cheap electrical power to seven southern states, and set up schools and health centers. The Federal Emergency Relief Act (1933), that gave relief to the unemployed and needy. Also the Agricultural Adjustment Act (1933), that paid farmers to not grow certain crops. With the National Recovery Administration (1933), that enforced codes that regulated wages, prices, and working conditions. Along with the Public Works Administration (1933), that built ports, schools, and aircraft carriers. Then the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (1933), where it insured savings accounts in banks approved by the government. He also created the Rural Electrification Administration (1935), where they loaned

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

How Did The Great Depression Affect Families

...The Great Depression During the great depression, the lives of most every American was disrupted. The effects of the depression sent waves throughout the world from women having to work with the economy being crippled. The life of many families was shattered which separated children from their families. Many banks were shut down due to the drop in the stock market. The thought of living the American dream was no a blur for people could not buy nor own deteriorating their lives. The Great Depression had an immense impact on the lives of families. The average family income was nearly fifty percent lower previous to the depression began. Millions of families were evicted from their home due to losing their savings. “Children of impoverished families, recalling memories of family life during the 1930s, often remembered their fathers as emotionally distant and indifferent”. Teens rode on freight trains or hiked on mountains and roads to look for work. Families with small children often did not have food so the children were...

Words: 775 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Government vs. Subprime Mortgage

...Abstract In history in 1929, there was a Great Depression where the stock market had crash. Wall Street has lost millions of investors it cause for unemployment, layoffs, and there were number foreclosure. Millions American were out of work. It nearly 10 years for America to regain from Depression after World War II brought jobs with industry regain recover. In 2007, there were loans were introduce it was part of economic factor. It had been 70 years since the last depression until the Second Depression (The Great Recession) hit for America in 2007 from a mortgage loan called subprime. The following will explain the background of the subprime loans. How the government had to intervene with subprime loan. Lastly, the policies taken place with primes and different programs. The Subprime loans beginnings started in 1992, where Congress wanted to affordable housing, work on plan with Fannie and Freddie. Congress wanted the Department of Housing and Urban Development to look at their regulations. The chairperson for Fannie had a trillion dollar commenting to finance affordable homes. Homeownership had become an economic factor over the years in the mortgage market. Majority of home have loan through financial institutes. Yet, these subprime mortgage loans were given to individuals who barley sustained income and had failed credit. The purpose of the loan was suppose have a better opportunity of have homeownership. It was unfortunate subprime loans were aim toward minorities...

Words: 1469 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

The Great Depression

...time to find work. I went to school three days a week and the other two I worked around my neighbors’ homes, I only had two blouses and a skirt in my possession. I didn’t understand the severity of what was going on at the time, all I knew was I couldn’t have things.” This was how Fran Suddath explained her experience as a six year old girl living during the Great Depression and the sacrifices her family had to make in order to survive during the economic low. The Great Depression was the longest and most devastating decade in American history and caused the loss of thousands of jobs due to a sudden crash in the economy. Generally, depressions last about one to two years; prices and credit drop suddenly, professions that are unable to keep up with the poor economy begin to to diminish, a wave of unemployment washes over the country. In time, a quick recovery will follow. However, the Great Depression of 1929 ignited and burned like a wildfire over the majority of the industrialized world for eleven years without any remorse. Many individuals were left jobless, penniless, and worst of all homeless. Parents were forced to leave their children without returning home to work downtown for any paying job they could find. Some children, like Fran Suddath, were taken out of school to work. As months passed everything went from bad to worse. Credit was used for the purchase of homes, cars, furniture and household appliances, but when people were unable to repay the debts repossessions...

Words: 766 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Facing the Economic Crisis

... Prepared by Katherine M. Moore Student September 22, 2011 Contents Executive Summary……………………………………………………… 3 Introduction …………………………………………………………………. 3 Background……………………………………………………………………. 3 Potential Problems and Solutions ………………………………………………. 5 Conclusion and Recommendation ……………………………………………… 7 References ……………………………………………………………………. 7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The purpose of this research proposal is to take a look at the economic crisis in the United States. Our country is currently facing one of the worst crises since the Great Depression. Because of this financial crisis many people are facing many anxieties today. In order to work on a solution for this dilemma, we must first admit that we are in a dreadful predicament. This is not the time to disregard the economic setback. We must take a look at our financial situation not only in the United States but globally as well. When a nation is in a crisis there is a tendency to shift the responsibility on just one person. In this research proposal we will look at the economy as a whole. We will tackle the many hard questions that arise when a crisis hit. Some of the hard questions that we will embark upon are the unemployment rate, foreclosures and federal deficit. INTRODUCTION As I began my research, I first took a personal look at my own situation. Although I have a good...

Words: 2115 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Great Depression

...November 20, 2015 History 106 The Great Depression The Great Depression was a world wide economic depression that occurred amid the 1930s. The timing of the Great Depression was different throughout other countries,yet in many nations it began in 1929 and endured until the late 1930s. It was the longest, most profound, and one of the worst economic depression of the twentieth century. Overall GDP fell by 15% from 1929 to 1932. In the 21st century, the Great Depression is usually seen as an illustration of how far the world's economy can decay. The depression started in the United States, after a fall in stock costs that started around September 4, 1929, and got to be overall news with the stock market crash of October 29, 1929 . The Great Depression had bad impacts in nations both rich and poor. Individual pay, taxes, benefits and costs dropped, while foreign exchange dove by more than 50%. Unemployment in the U.S. rose to 25% and in few nations ascended as high as 33%. Urban areas all around the globe were hit hard, particularly those subject to heavy industry. Development was for all intents and purposes stopped in numerous nations. Urban groups and country zones struggled as yield costs fell by around 60%. As jobs became hard to find, areas dependent on primary sector industries such as mining and logging suffered the most. The start of The Great Depression. Historians more often than not say that the Great Depression started due to the sudden decimating...

Words: 2758 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Grapes of Wrath

...America was trapped in the worst economic era ever—The Great Depression. The Joad family is struggling to find salvation during this tough time period. Because of this, they must travel from Oklahoma to California in order to start a new life. The Great Depression affected everyone in the United States, some people worse than others. Steinbeck uses several different strategies to interpret the social issue during this time period. By using the literary techniques of setting, tone/mood, and dialogue/language, Steinbeck composes a creative commentary on the Great Depression and how it affected the lives of Americans. One way Steinbeck produces creative commentary is through the use of different settings. The setting is where the story takes place, and in this story, the setting shifts several times as the family travels across the country to California. The story opens with an illustrious description of the setting. Through the description, “A day went by and the wind increased, steady, unbroken by the gusts. The dust from the roads fluffed up and spread out and fell on the weeds beside the fields, and fell into the fields a little way…” (Steinbeck 2), it reveals a horrible event. It sends the Joads and other tenant farmers into despair and into poverty. With their crops ruined, and their entire world covered in dust, farmers like the Joads cannot make do. From the start, the setting reveals the effects of the Great Depression on society. Droughts and lack of production crippled...

Words: 1273 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Negativity Gone Research Paper

...What would it take if my world was perfect? Well, let's start with all negativity gone, in my world, I would absolutely want no negativity there. Another thing would be to eliminate money because if we have money it could cause negativity, also people would want power and control and that clearly causes big problems. One other thing is to have every child have parents and a home. Negativity is not only an attitude but can cause long-term damage to the environment. Negativity would have to be gone because it causes a lot of pain and long term damage. I believe this because everything that causes negativity in the world affects a lot of people around us for a very long time. For instance, 9/11 caused great damage for a lot of people the family's...

Words: 995 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

How Did The Great Depression Affect Women

...How the Great Depression Affected Women The Great Depression was one of the most devastating hits to the economy of the United States of America. When the stock market crashed, a huge portion of the USA was at risk of unemployment. Families lost their homes, workers lost their income, and it seemed as if the dream of living in the land of the free was not so rewarding after all. Very few companies were able to pull through the entire period of the Great Depression, as companies shut down workers lost jobs left and right. However most people do not realize that this economic blow affected women differently. During the Great Depression, the average woman’s life became very difficult, while some inspiring woman rose up to make their mark on the...

Words: 1041 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

New Deal Dbq Research Paper

...foreign affairs. On September 5, 1939, the United States government declares its neutrality in the European conflict. They would only supply and sale military goods. This help creates more jobs to American struggling from the effects of the great depression. In some ways, the war was beneficial to the United States but for majority it was destructive, many lives were lost during the war. The war helps by taking the United states out of the Great Depression period. There were other effects that helped relief American from the great depression, like president franklin Roosevelt new deal programs. Although Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal did not end the Great Depression it reduced people's suffering and changed many of the problems that contributed to the depression by providing relief, recovery, and reform while essentially changing the role of the federal government. Shortly after President Franklin Roosevelt took office he started to pass legislation to...

Words: 487 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

U.S. History

...Notes * U.S. Diplomacy and Russia In 1923, President Calvin Coolidge addressed the issue of Russian war debts. The President noted that the United States was resuming diplomatic relations with nations that had been cut off during World War I. The Russians, however, presented a problem for Coolidge because their communist form of government opposed democracy. * Italy Italy was a democracy when World War I began in 1914. The country's army fought alongside Allied forces. Unfortunately, the war left the government and economy of Italy unstable and a fertile ground for revolutionaries. Decisions made at the Paris Peace Conference denied the large territorial gains the Italian government expected after the war. In 1921, Benito Mussolini founded the National Fascist Party and rose up as a revolutionary leader. * Fascism was based on a foundation of authoritarianism and nationalism. For Mussolini, the most important aspect of a nation or state was the unity and survival of that state. Mussolini rejected democracy because he thought different political views and political parties weakened the unity of the state. * Taking Fascism on the Road Fascists disagreed with the communist belief that private property and businesses should belong to the state. The Fascists also believed that the nationalism of a state must be aggressively exported to other countries. In other words, the Fascists maintained that a nation had a right to invade and conquer a weaker nation...

Words: 2821 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

The Great Depression

...The Great Depression The Great Depression was an extremely severe worldwide economic downturn that left many homeless and even more jobless. The depression originated in the U.S., but affected many countries throughout the world. The time period of The Great Depression varied depending on the country, but first began in the late 1920’s. It ended in the late 1930’s or early 1940’s when the Second World War began. It devastated virtually everyone, rich and poor, people of all occupations. The term was first coined by British economist Lionel Robbins who wrote a book in 1934 called “The Great Depression” but popularized by President Herbert Hoover in a statement: “I need not recount to you that the world is passing through a great depression.” The cause of The Great Depression is still an open debate amongst economists and historians. Theorists can be split into two major categories: classical economists and Keynesian economists. When classical economists theorize The Great Depression, they focus on how central banking decisions lead to overinvestment and an economic bubble, or on the supply of gold which backed many currencies at that time. Keynesian economists, on the other hand, blame underconsumption and overinvestment or government and banking incompetence. Many agreed that the main event which spurred The Great Depression was the crash of the stock market in 1929. Known to most as Black Tuesday: the most famous stock market downturn in American history, October 29, 1929...

Words: 2667 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

The New Deal

...Kayla Carter Period 1 1/12/2014 The New Deal In the early 1900’s, America faced a period of time of complete and utter turmoil, commonly known as the Great Depression. The effects of this depression were apparent throughout the entire country, and the American people were desperately searching for change. With the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, the idea of a solution for relief of the needy, economic recovery, and financial reform came into play. This proposal was introduced by Roosevelt as the New Deal and shook the entire nation for the hope that they were looking for. Although not all of the plans for this proposal were accomplished, it took great part in lowering the unemployment rate, it created acts and legislations that helped bring back the economy, and impacted our outlook and actions towards the environment. Roosevelt quickly took over as he began his term to work to put the New Deal into effect. In just the beginning of his time in office, he had initiated 15 big pieces of legislation. One of the first acts that he started was the Emergency Banking Relief Act of 1933. At the time, banks had been closing far and wide throughout the nation due to terrified citizens that were withdrawing all the money that they had. The Emergency Relief Act regulated banking and foreign exchange, and also reopened closed banks. This helped gain some of the Americans trust back, but not all of it. To help the...

Words: 1098 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Unemployment in the Us

...beginning with October 29th, 1929, the start of the great depression, all the way until modern day. It has been an interesting few weeks and I’m excited to analyze everything that I have discovered. The Great Depression is considered to be the largest and longest lasting crash that the American economy has taken to date. The Great Depression really began during the summer of 1929. That summer American consumer spending began to fall, and this caused unsold product to gather. While this was occurring the prices of stock kept rising, and by October of 1929 the stock prices were unreasonably high. October 24th is known as black Thursday; on this day nearly 13 million shares were trades which scared the people of Wall Street. October 29th 1929 fell on a Tuesday that year. This was the day that the great depression truly started. Almost 16 million shares were traded on this day. It created a panic on Wall Street and soon after millions of investors lost all of their money. The loss of money in circulation caused consumer spending to drop, and this caused the supply of products to drop. Many companies went out of business, and those who didn’t lay off many of their workers. The great depression peaked around 1933. At this time there were around 15 million Americans that were out of work, and almost fifty percent of America’s banks had failed. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first person to really help the great depression. He announced a bank holiday which lasted four days...

Words: 1391 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Causes of the Great Depression

...Brieal McClung Watson U.S. History 10 October 3, 2014 After the Roaring 20’s, came the long-lasting, terrifying, Great Depression. The Great Depression lasted from 1929-39. A decade of economic downfall, stock market collapses, and bank failures. The Depression is well-known to this day, and has changed how the U.S. Federal Reserves system works also. The stock market had a huge role in causing the Great Depression. It all started on a day, called Black Tuesday. On that Tuesday, October 29th, 1929, the steepest drop in the stock market happened. The stock market lost $15 billion. During that month, Americans lost a total of $30 billion, averaging up to each american working a year for free. When stock markets have a decrease in price, it is called a Bear market, which is what was going on during the depression. Before that, the roaring 20s, the markets were having a Bull market, meaning prices of the stocks were increasing, and people were gaining money. People were buying on the margin, meaning that they were paying the margin and borrowing the balance from a bank. Another cause of the Great Depression was the banks. They were making poor investments. All during the 1930’s there were over 9,000 banks that closed. They had a bank run, meaning that they panicked and ended up closing because they had no more money. People went to the banks to take out all of their money they had in the banks because of the stock markets crashing and they needed/wanted all of their cash...

Words: 517 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Examples Of Struggles In Cinderella Man

...A Boxer’s Struggles In the movie Cinderella Man, directed by Ron Howard, James J. Braddock and his family go through some hard times. The movie takes place in the 1920’s during the great depression. Braddock is an up and coming boxer who struggles to keep his family fed and kept warm. After a bad loss in the ring, and a broken hand, he is then forced to go to the docks every day in hopes of getting a job. Work is hard to obtain although with a bad hand, and there are hundreds of other men in the same boat as him trying to get a job. The hardship James endures to try to keep his family together really shows the effects the great depression had on so many people. Once Braddock gets his boxing game back however, he wins against the undefeatable...

Words: 417 - Pages: 2