D O C U M E N T
Handout 2.1 The Great Depression
The following historical overview of the Great Depression was created for the American
Experience website for the film Surviving the Dust Bowl:
During the economic boom of the Roaring Twenties the traditional values
of rural America were challenged by the Jazz Age, symbolized by women
smoking, drinking, and wearing short skirts. The average American was busy
buying automobiles and household appliances, and speculating in the stock
market, where big money could be made. Those appliances were bought on
credit, however. Although businesses had made huge gains—65 percent—from
the mechanization of manufacturing, the average worker’s wages had only
increased 8 percent.
The imbalance between the rich and the poor, with 0.1 percent of society earning
the same total income as 42 percent, combined with production of more and
more goods and rising personal debt, could not be sustained. On Black Tuesday,
October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed, triggering the Great Depression,
the worst economic collapse in the history of the modern industrial world. It
spread from the United States to the rest of the world, lasting from the end of
1929 until the early 1940s. With banks failing and businesses closing, more
than 15 million Americans (one-quarter of the workforce) became unemployed.
President Herbert Hoover, underestimating the seriousness of the crisis, called
it “a passing incident in our national lives,” and assured Americans that it
would be over in 60 days. A strong believer in rugged individualism, Hoover
did not think the federal government should offer relief to the poverty-stricken
population. Focusing on a trickle-down economic program to help finance
businesses and banks, Hoover met with resistance from business executives who
preferred to lay off workers. Blamed by many for the Great Depression, Hoover
was widely ridiculed: an empty pocket turned inside out was called a “Hoover
flag”; the decrepit shantytowns springing up around the country were called
“Hoovervilles.” Franklin Delano Roosevelt offered Americans a New Deal, and
was elected in a landslide victory in 1932. He took quick action to attack the
Depression, declaring a four-day bank holiday, during which Congress passed
the Emergency Banking Relief Act to stabilize the banking system. During the
first 100 days of his administration, Roosevelt laid the groundwork for his New
Deal remedies that would rescue the country from the depths of despair.
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The New Deal programs created a liberal political alliance of labor unions,
blacks and other minorities, some farmers and others receiving government
relief, and intellectuals. The hardship brought on by the Depression affected
Americans deeply. Since the prevailing attitude of the 1920s was that success
was earned, it followed that failure was deserved. The unemployment brought
on by the Depression caused self-blame and self-doubt. Men were harder hit
psychologically than women were. Since men were expected to provide for
their families, it was humiliating to have to ask for assistance. Although some
argued that women should not be given jobs when many men were unemployed,
the percentage of women working increased slightly during the Depression.
Traditionally female fields of teaching and social services grew under New Deal
programs. Children took on more responsibilities, sometimes finding work
when their parents could not. As a result of living through the Depression, some
people developed habits of careful saving and frugality, others determined to
create a comfortable life for themselves.
African Americans suffered more than whites, since their jobs were often
taken away from them and given to whites. In 1930, 50 percent of blacks were
unemployed. However, Eleanor Roosevelt championed black rights, and New
Deal programs prohibited discrimination. Discrimination continued in the
South, however, [and] as a result a large number of black voters switched from
the Republican to the Democrat party during the Depression.
The Great Depression and the New Deal changed forever the relationship
between Americans and their government. Government involvement and
responsibility in caring for the needy and regulating the economy came to be
expected. 1
1 Reproduced from the American Experience website for the film Surviving the Dust Bowl, accessed April 17, 2014, http://
www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/dustbowl-great-depression/.
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