The Great Depression
The Wall Street stock-market crash of 1929 precipitated the Great Depression,
the worst economic downturn in the history of the United States.
The depression lasted over a decade, with hundreds of thousands of Americans
losing their jobs, businesses failing, and financial institutions collapsing.
It had devastating effects on the country: The stock market was in shambles, with stock prices falling 40%. 9000 banks couldn't continue to operate and 9 million savings accounts were wiped out. Farmers fell into bankruptcy, forcing them to give up their land and become migrant workers or drifters. The unemployment rate went from 9% all the way to 25% -- a quarter of the working force, or 15 million
people, were jobless in 1932 as 86,000 businesses failed. Wages fell by an average of 60%. And this was only the beginning.
This is probably the most famous photo
from the Great Depression. Taken by photographer Dorothea Lange,
it captures the feeling of a nation facing a
seemingly insurmountable problem.
Reaching Deep Into the Soul of Americans
These are the facts that surround the Great Depression. But what was the impact, the long-term effect on the nation? To understand this question, we need to look at what was happening in the country right before, during and right after. BEFORE
Going back in time just a little bit, to the "Roaring 20's", you see a surge in economic growth and the positive, spend-money attitude that accompanies a strong economy. There were good times and opportunity abounded. There were daring new hair hairstyles, voting for women and prosperity for just about everyone. The "War to end all wars" was over, the boys were back home and working hard. Crops were growing, Big Industry was booming, there were new inventions every day, such as the radio, mass-production of affordable cars, and indoor plumbing. There was a new music, if you dared, a wild and exciting music to listen to and dance to: the hot and steamy sound of jazz.DURING
The sudden collapse of the economic system meant that all that optimism was cut short. Overnight, the American people saw thier lives abruptly change for the worse. Fear replacing frivolity. Pinching pennies replacing prosperity. Their dreams were stolen away, thier beliefs proven wrong. What was taken for granted became unatainable. And their fun and laughter quickly became replaced by a terrible fear in the pit of the stomach. Grim faces. Hard life. Despair. All that stretched ahead was hard times followed by hard times. Read for yourself what people have to say
about thier lives during the depression.
This web site, We Made Do, contians photos and interviews
and letters from people who experineced it firsthand. Take a moment to look at this site about the history of The Great Depression, the section
entitledImages of the Depression. You'll need to scroll all the way to the bottom,
where it says "Images of the Depression". With the collapse of the banks, people's savings were gone in an instant. All the money they had saved for retirement -- gone. All the money saved for a car -- gone. All the money to buy a house or a farm (there were no mortgages then) -- gone. The money saved for one's children's education -- gone. It simply wasn't there anymore. It had vanished, and there was no way these folks would ever see it again. There was no FDIC. There were no laws to protect these hard-working folks who had diligently saved for their future. Now there were only breadlines and soup kitchens.With the collapse of businesses, jobs were gone. One day, gainfully employed, able to put food on the table; the next day, out pounding the sidewalk, competing with every other unemployed person for a job; any job. Day afer day. Week after week. The weeks turn into months. The months turn into years. But there were no jobs. And the jobs that existed weren't paying any more. Think about what it would mean to loose 60% of your income. "Will work for food"
Signs like the ones
these men are wearing
were commonplace.
 Skyrocketing Unemployment
Any time there was word of a job,
there would be hundreds of applicants for it --
no matter how little it paid, it was work,
the opportunity to hold your head up
and not be on the dole.
The radio experienced continued popularity in the 30's. It was affordable. It was captivating. And it was in almost every home. You could relax in the evening to a serial drama, laugh away your cares to a comedy. Families listened together, creating a closeness that would see them through the tough times. And radio legends were born, whose names we still know today, names like Fibber McGee and Molly, and Amos 'n' Andy.In another escape from the burdens of everyday life, people flocked to the movies. The Silent Screen was soon replaced by The Talkies. The Silver Screen. In the anonymous darkness and relative cool of the movie theater, glamour, romance and heroism provided something else to think about, something to dream about. It provided a welcomed diversion from ones worries. In the cool dark theatres, you could watch beautiful, graceful people enjoy themselves, and pretend for an hour or so that it was you up there on the screen, you with no cares and no worries.AFTER
The recovery and rebuilding took more than a decade. Some folks will tell you it didn't end until World War II started, providing ample employment opportunities in building war machines. Some folks will tell you that although it was technically over, it would never really be over for them. The emotional scars would never be erased. The misery and fear would be carved deep into thier minds forever, influencing the way they lived their lives (some people would never again trust banks, refusing to put money in them ever again) and the way they raised their children (children of Depression Era parents can readily tell you the stories of hardships they heard again and again while growing up -- the Depression was a story to frighten children into behaving, like the Boogy Man). Because of the Depression, people learned to be frugal, frugal, frugal. Never waste anything. Reuse, reuse, reuse. Hand-me-downs. Make do. As one person put it, "The one thing folks fear the most, after another war, is another Great Depression." Other changes were the creation of Social Security, Welfare, Child Labor Laws, FDIC, stricter banking laws and consumer laws. Roosevelt inactment of the WPA (Work Program Assocaion???) created public works that still stand today; the creation of the WSA??? captured images and voices of the times for us to see and learn from today. The New Deal created a system and and expectation that the government would step in and prevent economic disaster -- an new idea at the time. Today, most of the people who lived through the Depression are gone. Children born during that time are still around, and tell of thier childhoods, how poor they were, how scarce things were. Take a look here at a personal recount by one of those children who born and grew up in that time, that people still argue over. Today's generation only knows of the Great Depression from history books or when Grandpa tells his worn-out story of how he "had to walk five miles to school in the deep snow with no shoes." We only see the grainy black and white images staring blankly from the pages of a magazine or from a TV special. The stark images are too real. The grim faces tell us more clearly than Grandpa ever could. It was a hard time. A real hard time.
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