The Great Depression was one of the hardest times for Americans and lasted for at least a decade, bringing hunger, poverty, and unemployment to millions of lives to a country which had been one of the richest and industrially advanced in the world.
Before the 1930’s there was an economic boom, but in 1929, the economy of the country began to decline. On October 1929 the share values on the New York Stock Exchange collapsed. The economic decline continued for several years with little signs of improvement. Production fell dramatically, factories closed, banks failed and the queues at labour exchanges, dole offices and soup kitchens grew even longer.
President Herbert Hoover was the President during the time of the Great Depression. He was elected in 1929 and entered the White House with a heroic image and a reputation as a miracle worker. When Hoover was running in the election, Franklin D. Roosevelt said himself, ” I wish that we (the democratic party, after Woodrow Wilson’s term ended) could make him President. There couldn’t be a better one.”
Hoover was optimistic that the country would shortly lift out of the depression that they had slipped into and didn’t have any foresight to see that perhaps this situation would not pass, therefore many blamed Hoover’s passive attitude for the Great Depression. When the stock market took a nosedive, Hoover said, “The fundamental business of this country, that is production and distribution of commodities, is on a sound and prosperous basis.” People did not like the fact that he was too optimistic and though he should be more down to earth.
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The Great Depression bought many problems. One main problem was that the American economy during this period was the uneven distribution of wealth. If the profits had been more evenly shared and industries had been helped then this great country could have coped with the crash of the stock market.
This led to a number of other problems. People became depressed, thousands of people went hungry and living conditions changed drastically. The Great Depression hit farmers especially hard. In addition to the usual challenges of agriculture, a great drought took place in 1931 and 1932 in the Midwest and the south, turning much of the Trans-Mississippi West into the Dust Bowl situation. It turned one hundred million acres of land to dust and contributed greatly to the hardship suffered during this time.
However, even as the situation grew more serious, Hoover’s optimism continued and his responses showed that he felt things would still improve. But after much disapproval from the American public, Hoover finally budged. He allowed state funds to provide relief for the unemployed but this effort came too late and he was not re-elected.
Instead, Franklin Delano Roosevelt became president in 1933, but unlike Hoover, he was ready to experiment. During the first 100 days of Roosevelt’s term of office, he pushed program after program through congress to provide relief, create jobs, and stimulate economic recovery. He also kept in contact with the people of America through the radio to let them know what he was doing to help them through that difficult time. Roosevelt did a number of things to try and lift America out of the depression. Eventually Roosevelt managed to restore confidence in the Federal Government.
