The Great Depression Essay

This paragraph is about the American dream, and if it was ever achievable. So first off, what is the American dream? The American dream is the opportunity to become successful. No matter what color you are, what your religion is, not even if you're poor or not. Also, the American dream can be different for everyone, someone might want a husband/wife and children, while others might want to become famous or rich. It depends on who you are. The American dream has always been achievable, back in the 1900's the ideal dream was to have a husband/wife, have children, and live in a quiet neighborhood and be happy. Now, it's grow up, go to school, get a job that pays a lot, and be known be everyone. The dream is still there it just takes a lot more...show more content...

The Great Depression was a major breakdown in the American economy, and it left about 13 million people unemployed. People in stocks, banks, the economic world, and millions of people were affected by the downfall, and for ten years. Over 200,000 people migrated to California during the Great Depression, and in the 1930's the dust bowl came. The dust bowl was a storm full of dirt and dust that happened because farmers were trying to farm quicker and this meant tilling, and turning the soil too much for the land. This meant a drought was on its way. In January 1932, 100,000 banks failed to do their jobs because the economy was doing so horrible. This paragraph is about John Steinbeck, the author of Of Mice and Men. He was an American novelist, he wrote 27 books. John was born on February 7, 1902 and died December 20, 1968. He decided to become a writer at the age of 14, and he used to lock himself in his room and just write. John had married three women, and the third one was still alive when he died. "John is an important author because he was working hard to make the books let the people know how life was like during the Great Depression. He was the voice of the people of the Great Depression." (Unknown/someone in Get more content

There is much debate as to what caused the Great Depression. There was certainly the short–term trigger of the Stock Market Crash of 1929, but there are also long–term causes that manifested itself during the 1920's. Whether it is the shift from coal to electricity that negatively affected those invested with the old technology, or a shift more to trucks and cars to transport goods instead of railroads, or perhaps that farmers were losing their farms because over over–investment during the late 1910's, many factors can be identified as a cause. But we can also look at the consumer as one of the root causes, as well. Consumer behavior contributed heavily to causing both the stock market crash and the Great Depression.

Consumerism and its accompanying advertising exacerbated the conditions that led to the Great Depression. First, consumers spent a lot of their income on new products and they were persuaded to do so through advertising. The 1920's brought about changes in American culture, like music, sports and literature. But in addition to those, cultural attitudes toward women also began to shift. The double standard that had plagued women was now being lifted and that opened up an entirely new market for businesses (Payne, 33). The advertising industry expanded their targets and utilized what they learned during World War I (from Creel's Committee for Public Information) in how to not only let customers know what products exist, but to entice and persuade Get

The Impact of the Great Depression

The stock market crash of 1929 sent the nation spiraling into a state of economic paralysis that became known as the Great Depression. As industries shrank and businesses collapsed or cut back, up to 25% of Americans were left unemployed. At the same time, the financial crisis destroyed the life savings of countless Americans (ModernAmerican Poetry). Food, housing and other consumable goods were in short supply for most people (Zinn 282). This widespread state of poverty had serious social repercussions for the country.

America's agricultural economy had already been suffering for a decade when nature conspired against the country to exacerbate the Great Depression. From 1931 through 1939,...show more content...

Everyone scrounged about for small, labor intensive jobs at low wages. Even women and children had to work to subsidize the family income. The recently homeless lived in shantytowns nicknamed "Hoovervilles" after President Hoover who was moving slowly and ineffectually to deal with the Depression (Wikipedia). Little food was available and many had to search garbage heaps and other such locations for any kind of sustenance. The economic crisis had ushered in a decade of unprecedented mass poverty and poor living conditions.

Herbert Hoover, the president in office when theGreat Depression hit the country, did very little to ameliorate the devastating situation. Hoover underestimated the seriousness of the crisis, misdiagnosed the causes of the problems, and clung to his beliefs in individual achievement and self–help. His corrective measures, aimed at inflation and the federal budget, were thus damaging themselves. Furthermore, he hesitated to mobilize government resources to aid Americans and instead appealed to private groups to lend a hand (Encarta). Thus Hoover's administration did little to mitigate the impact of the Depression.

With no relief in sight from the government or anyone else, people's anger and resentment grew. The Communist party and other socialist groups saw a swell in their numbers. Labor strikes and protests against the government began to erupt. The most notable of these was the Bonus Army March on Washington. More than

Was the Great Depression inevitable? In the 20s of last centry, the American economy was developed so fast that became the top of all over the world, especially after the WWI. War is the best opportunity to develop economy. So as America, America's economy was emerge from other state, especially on industry. Thus, why did the Great Depression happened? There are reasons in below. Firstly, America was good at industry and America export a large number of goods to other country. And the inport tax was so hight that another nation didn't want sale cargo to the US. Therefore, America's export always higher than inport for a long time. And the Great Depression was began. Those cause the America's economic inbalances. Secondly, the worker's wages...show more content...

I am inclined to think that it was yes, the Great Depression was inevitable. The reasons why the Great Depression happened I wrote over this paragraph. We might as well think from another point and imagine some different situation from the originally. If the reasons I mention never happened in the real world, was the Great Depression arise? From the first point, America was good at industy and export a large number of cargo to another state. If American was not develop their country ability about industy, the US may not be the top of the world, and can not provide the goods to other country weak on the industy. And the inport tax was so low that the businessman come from other states could has opportunty to sale cargos in America and make the money circulates quickly. However like this, the America's economic also develop but slow and will come to the maximun finally. And you never know whether this financial storm is strong than the Great Depression. And too much inport and too fast money circulates will cause the country's inport more than the export, foreigen exchange reserve reduce, the commodity of America has no competitive and keep in a negative condition. It is adversely to a nation and also cause the financial slump. Thus, the first hypothetical is not establish. The second point, the worker's wages. In the first of last certry, factory began to use machine to replace worker. So the worker's salay increase a bit and did not hire more wokers, the productivity also rise substantial. If the machine did not use for factory rather than employ more worker, the productivity will increase slow and match the worker's production. And the distribution of income will balance. However, the tight money policy make the impairment of assets was occurred. If people's income increase a lot and the government would not enforce the tight money policy, was the Great Depression happened? The answer is yes, the Great Depression

Many people speculate that the stock market crash of 1929 was the main cause of The Great Depression. In fact, The Great Depression was caused by a series of factors, and the effects of the depression were felt for many years after the stock market crash of 1929. By looking at the stock market crash of 1929, bank failures, reduction of purchasing, American economic policy with Europe, and drought conditions, it becomes apparent that The Great Depression was caused by more than just the stock market crash. The effects were detrimental beyond the financial crisis experienced during this time period. The first and most obvious known factor in the development of The Great Depression is the stock market crash of 1929. The Money Alert website...show more content...

The banking industry as a whole after the stock market crashed was going bankrupt due to not being able to carry the "bad debt" that was created from using customer money to buy stock. Because the banks were out of money, they were unable to cover customer withdrawals from their bank, causing many bank customers to lose all of their savings. With the uncertainty of the future of the banking industry, many people withdrew all of their savings, which caused more than 9,000 banks to close their doors and go out of business (Kelly). Due to the effects of the Great Depression, and the collapse of the banking industry, the government created regulations to prevent similar failure in the future. For Example, the SEC, (or Securities Exchange Commission), which regulates the sell and trade of stocks, bonds and other investments was created as a result of The Great Depression. The FDIC (or Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), was created to insure bank accounts so that that the consumer would be protected if the bank were to go out of business (Kelly). The Great Depression's effect on the banking industry led to many useful changes to the banking industry and helped restore confidence in banks in the American people. The next major factor that contributed to the Great Depression was the reduction of goods being purchased during the time period. After the stock market crashed, consumers from

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What Is The Conclusion Of The Great Depression

In conclusion, The Great Depression is a time when the United States economy first went into an economic recession. Countless people suffered from the phenomenon; it's an incident numerous people consider to be the most devastating period of time the world has yet to witness. Alternatively, starvation has been a grave result of TheGreat Depression. The decline of personal income, together with the droughts and dwindling numbers of food supplies, formed a widespread wave of starvation. By the end of The Great Depression, tens of thousands were suffering from deficiencies, such as pellagra, anemia, and malnutrition. Many starved to death after proving unable to endure the torment much longer.

If you think times are tough now, you should think Get

Depression has a voice, a dark and entrancing voice, luring you into its pain. It tells you how terrible you are, grows and grows, replays every mistake in your life, and humiliates you daily; it makes happiness impossible and friends a difficulty. It's the darkest, ugliest shade of colors, that permanent paint that won't come out. Once this color finds its way onto your canvas, it will unravel over your beautiful art. Cover up who you really are and you'll hurt inside. There are people in this world that have known darkness for so long that they know how to hide it, they've had their 3AM thoughts of pain and torture. People can cover it up with a smile and positivity and you'll never see them break down. They refuse to feel, they don't connect

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Sleepless nights, drowning debt, suicide attempts, and the inevitable fall towards unemployment. These are the things that not only make up but almost define the title "The Great Depression." The Great Depression was a collapsing disaster. One after another, the government along with society fell to their knees. Stock markets crashed leaving most Americans bankrupt and on their own to support themselves and their families off of loose change. Jobs were as rare as ever, people went unemployed left and right. People were left to fend for themselves on the streets with no roof over their heads. This along with everything else, took a tremendous, emotional toll on society. Some even saw no other options than ending their lives. The Great Depression had an emotion drenching and ground breaking effect on the generation to go through it.

One of the first things that led to a crashing course of events was the people financial tragedies. According to one person who had lived through that time, "We weren't hungry but we were penniless" (Hastings). The use of the word "penniless" really represented how people had zero money. This was not the type of poverty where society was not able to afford self wants. This was the type of poverty that people could barely afford their own needs and necessities. It's very important how stressed this topic must be. Another quote says "With no dependable income we cut back on everything possible." (Hastings). That means even the simplest things such as toothpaste and towels. This time period,1930s, was the greatest stock market crash. Stock markets crashed simply because of many economic failures, and when this happened many people were left with nothing. "Most Americans, of course, owned no stocks at all, so they were not in danger of going bankrupt overnight" (Hayes). This quote from the text was brought up to show how mostAmericans did not even own stocks because it was a perfectly common thing for someone to end up with nothing in less than 24 hours, "overnight." Althoug h, stocks were not the only reason people had no money. Credit and banks failing had a huge part in that as well. "Banks stopped lending money. In 1930 and 1931, many banks failed, and customers lost all their Get more content

The Great Depression: A Narrative Analysis

The main thing we need to learn from the great depression is that we can't put all our trust in big banks like this. Everyone put all their money and trust into the stock markets and they lost everything. If people had been more wary of what they're doing they're doing with their money this might not have happened. The first picture shows a boy with a presumably unemployed father. The worst part about the depression is that it wasn't just affecting the people who made the mistakes, it was affecting the younger generation as well. These people's children needed to live in poverty because of a stupid mistake made by their parents. The second picture shows a group of men who unemployed and can't even take care of their families. These men were

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The Great Depression can be a tough subject for most people, but still inspiring to others. The Great Depression was a very difficult time for America as well as women. The women of the Great Depression struggled through many trials, as did many others in the United States, but they were able to get through it all. The women of the Great Depression worked their hardest to stay true to themselves, and their family, as well as, to keep a job, a stable household, and for some, a strong marriage. Women primarily worked as teachers, nurses, and telephone workers, but when the Great Depression hit, women began to be fired from their jobs. Plus many men disagreed with women working during the Depression, especially if they were married to working...show more content... The fortunate middle class Americans unexpectedly, during the Great Depression, didn't even look twice at the luxuries of the world. Just as any American during that time, they had their focus on the necessities of life such as food and shelter. Many worried about losing their home because they could barely keep up with the paying bills. As a result, the Homeowners Loan Corporation (HOLC) helped refinance home loans supporting Americans and allowing them to stay within their homes. Many middle class and upper class women began writing their own personal budgeting accounts to help them pay bills as well as food. They also taught other women how to properly budget their own small sum of money. They budgeted to help them keep control of the money they had and make sure that they had the right amount of money with them all the time. In an article written by Richard C. and Sharon M. Hanes told a little bit about a lady and how she and other women handled money for the food for their family and others saying, "...prided herself on "making do" when feeding her family. If very careful, a woman could feed a family of six on five dollars a week...Mothers could make a pot roast last an entire week...Vegetable gardens sprang up in backyards and vacant city lots. Women did their own canning, pickling, and preserving..." (Hanes). These women were inspiring and thought of the most interesting Get more content

The Depression was a period of time after the economic boom of the 1920's in America, when the economy went downhill. People lost money, jobs, shares, businusses went bankrupt and the farming industry suffered greatly. The Republic Government at the time lead by Hoover was still following policies of Lassez Faire so business was not getting the support it needed to get it back on track.

The Republic Governments Protectionist policies were one of the causes of the great depression. There were trade problems associated with their protectionist policies. The Republic Government made high tarrifs on imported goods. This was to make sure that the Americans were buying their own products. Buying American products meant that they would be...show more content...

The Farmers found that they could not payy of their mortgage debts and got evicted from their residences and farms as a result. Workers lost their jobs because the employees were no longer in control as they had been evicted because they couldnt pay off debts.

International Debt was another cause of the depression in the United States. The United States was still being effected by International trends. Even though the US was going through a stage of prosperity, the International economy was still recovering from war. There were war debts that needed to be repayed to other nations. There were reparation repayments that needed to be payed because of the effects of the war. Also the depression and inflation of Germany which was Europe's largest economy had an impact on the economy of the United States.

The Wall Street Crash was a trigger for the collapse of the United States economy.On Tuesday the 24th of October lots of inverstors tried to sell their shares at once. this made share prices drop very fast. by the end of the day the stock exchange had lost four billion dollars. Many of the stock brokers sold shares on margin. To buy shares to begin with they had to borrow money from the banks. when the stock prices began falling the brokers needed to repay their debts to the banks. the only way to do that was if their customers payed them back. the customers had to sell their shares to pay the brokers back and they

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Effects of the Great Depression The introduction of the discussion will focus on the origins of the Great Depression and the escalating events that led to it. This will provide adequate foundations to bring up questions and attempt to answer them in an objective fashion as to why and how the Depression affected different industrialized countries in different ways.

The core of the debate will consist of detailed comparable analyses of the consequences of the Depression with an emphasis on the economic aspects. The conclusion will provide a brief overview of the ways used by the different governments to get out of that dark episode of world economic history.

When studying the Great Depression and...show more content...

Clearly, the U.S. was going from being a traditional debtor of Europe before World War I to becoming its creditor: America had financed the war and it was issuing loans for its reconstruction. However, the attitudes in the U.S. were evolving in an unusual direction: an increasing number of American financiers were starting to literally seek ut potential borrowers which led to competition among U.S. banks and the spreading of unsound lending.2 The main object was to "do the most business", even at the expense of essential caution. What seemed like a beginning of recovery from the Great War, was in fact an immense accumulation of debts, which made the international economic order vulnerable to depression. Analyzing these events with the insight we have today, they seem even more unbelievably audacious given the high instability of the borrowing nation. (i.e., Europe)

The triggering event was the crash of the Wall Street stock market in October of 1929. The stock market collapsed after steady declines in production, prices and incomes over three previous months which forced the speculators to revise their expectations. Anxiety soon gave place to panic which led to the crash. However, the depression affected the different industrialized countries in various ways and degrees of intensity.

The depression was of especially great magnitude in the U.S. because there were not any welfare

The Great Depression Research Paper

Putting the Great in The Great Depression The stock market crash in 1929 had a devastating effect on the American citizens and people around the world. Thousands of men and women were out of work, banks were being closed, people lost all their hard–earned savings, families were being evicted from their homes, food was hard to attain, the world was in a dismal and desperate state. In one form or another the Great Depression troubled everyone. However, there was a lot of good and success that occurred during this dark time. As author and English professor Marianna Torgovnick states " the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, King Kong... Fred Astaire, Shirley Temple... Joe DiMaggio, Amelia Earhart, Dracula Films, the Lone Ranger, Superman,...show more content...

Many of the beloved, classic films that are still watched and cherished today, were released during the Depression era. King Kong(1933), Gone with the Wind (1939), The Wizard of Oz (1939), are all movies that were released during the height of the Depression and reflect the country's attitude. Hollywood was luckily to be able to survive the economic downturn and continued to create movies. Iconic actors and actresses such as Fred Astaire and Shirley Temple made their debut during this time and they quickly became popular and well loved by all of their viewers. Gigi Cortese a survivor of the Great Depression said "Do you know how I survived those days? It was going to the show every Sunday to see Shirley Temple, but I tell you, she was my inspiration to go on living" (Survivors of the Great Depression). The movies were an inspiration to all, no matter a person's trouble, it could be escaped by running to the movie theater for a few hours and partaking of the moving art on the

Franklin D. Roosevelt was a man who besides his intelligence, charm and strong confidence, he was able to sustain the nation through the most overbearing crisis know as the Great Depression as well as World War II. While managing to stay optimistic, Franklin Roosevelt helped people regain faith in themselves. Despite all the chaos going on at the time, "he was met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory (pg. 90)." He was praised for pushing the government to help those who were underprivileged. This was a new beginning in time for Americans known as theNew Deal. He told the country to live by; "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself (pg 90)."

Franklin Roosevelt made a very...show more content...

FDR begged for people not to take their money out of the banks and to just trust him. "So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself (pg. 90). "This Nation asks for action; and action now" (pg.92). Referring to the New Deal, included was living standards and to prevent future crisis. A goal was to get people back to work. One of the groups that were hit the hardest due to theGreat Depression was Farmers. There was an overproduction of products and not enough people consuming or buying their products. Around World War I, prices of crops were very low and the farmers were not making any income, leaving the farmers in trouble when the depression rolled around. With the New Deal, FDR established Agricultural Adjustment Act and prices of crops were raised. "There must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments; there must be an end to people's speculation with other money (pg 92)." The SEC was designed to keep security on Wall Street. In Franklin Roosevelt's message to the Congress, he brought up many ideas to fix the issues going on in the world. He founded the four human freedoms. The first is "of speech and expression for everywhere in the world. Second is freedom of every person to worship god in his own way. Next is Freedom from want. It will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for Get

The Great Depression lasted from 1929 to mid 1940s. It was a time of misery and suffering for everyone around the world. The stock market crash caused millions of people to end up without a job and hungry. Up to 7 million people worldwide lost their lives. This devastation made many families start over and begin again.

Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929 was the official beginning of TheGreat Depression, the day the stock market crashed. The stock market business was the way of getting rich, now was a way to go bankrupt. The government determined people invested in stocks lost $40 billion. People were so far in debt that they could not pay back the banks. 13 to 18 million people across the world had no work...show more content... After that people had no money in their bank accounts, or in their pockets. Many people traveled on foot looking for a place to work, not being very successful. These people were mostly teenagers, but you could also find groups of families and friends traveling together.

The Great Plains had become a home for 2.5 million people by 1940. 200,000 others had fled to California. Thousands of people had also set up camps at the Great Lawn at Central Park in New York. Most of these people dined in soup kitchens after a day of looking for a workplace.

The presidential election took place in 1932 with Franklin D. Roosevelt against Herbert Hoover for reelection. Hoover didn't stand a chance against Roosevelt. The people had hopes that Roosevelt would help solve their problems and end the depression faster. In fact, they disliked Hoover so much people who lost their homes had to move into what they called "Hoovervilles", which were crummy places. Roosevelt after becoming president spoke this to the people of America "Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself– needless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." After Roosevelt was elected people started to realise they had to start doing something to get back to their normal

The Great Depression Thesis Paper

The Great Depression: A Brief Summary

By the beginning of the Great War in 1914 to the final year of the Great Depression in 1939, history has been made to the progression and the advancement of the American society. From 1914 to 1918, the country battled its enemies alongside its allies in the Great War. By 1920, it jumped up in the musical and economical boom of the Roaring Twenties. However, in 1929, America had fallen to the knees of the Great Depression; suffering for 10 years. These fifteen years will forever be documented as American and world history. On July 28, 1914, the Great War was declared between Austria–Hungary and Serbia. Prior to this date, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist, causing extreme tension between the two countries....show more content...

One of the most iconic symbols of the Roaring Twenties is the flapper. These are women who defied society by smoking, dancing, having short hair, and listening to music that was thought otherwise as a more masculine role in society. However, perhaps the biggest thing to impact women during these times were the right to vote. In 1920, the Constitution guaranteed women the right to vote in the 19th Amendment; a huge impact on society itself for the rest of its years. While Americans boomed with spending its money in it new progressed society, the country began to feel the effects. Beginning in 1929, the United States faced the worst economic crisis in history. It was the result of the Stock Market Crash in October 1929 which caused a mass panic between the public and millions of investors. Quickly after, unemployment began to rise after employers could no longer pay their workers, and in response, production went down. This long and intensive time of economic downturn was called the Great Get more content

A Response to the Great Depression

The Great Depression of the 1930s was the economic event of the 20th century. The Great Depression began in 1929 when the entire world suffered an enormous drop in output and an unprecedented rise in unemployment. World economic output continued to decline until 1932 when it clinked bottom at 50% of its 1929 level. Unemployment soared, in the United States it peaked at 24.9% in 1933. Real economic output (real GDP) fell by 29% from 1929 to 1933 and the US stock market lost 89.5% of its value. Another unusual aspect of the GreatDepression was deflation. Prices fell 25%, 30%, 30%, and 40% in the UK, Germany, the US, and France respectively from 1929 to 1933. These were the four largest economies in...show more content... Many children had to quit school in order to help support their families, even if they only sold apples and pencils on the city streets – every little bit helped. In response to this tragedy, whenPresident Roosevelt took office in 1933, he feverishly created program after program, known as the "New Deal." These programs were created to give relief, create jobs, and stimulate economic recovery for the United States.

In Germany the economy was especially vulnerable since it was built out of foreign capital, mostly loans from America and was very dependent on foreign trade. When those loans suddenly came due and when the world market for German exports dried up, the well–oiled German industrial machine quickly ground to a halt. As production levels fell, German workers were laid off. Along with this, banks failed throughout Germany. Savings accounts, the result of years of hard work, were instantly wiped out. Inflation soon followed making it hard for families to purchase expensive necessities with devalued money. Overnight, the middle class standard of living so many German families enjoyed was ruined by events outside of Germany, beyond their control. The Great Depression began and they were cast into poverty and deep misery and began looking for a solution, any solution. By mid–1930, amid the economic pressures of the Great Depression, the German democratic government was beginning to unravel. The crisis of the Great Depression

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Prior to the Great Depression, Germany was already in a poor economic and political state. More than 6 million Germans were out of work. Germany also had to pay massive reparations for supposedly being solely responsible for all the destruction that WWI caused, and the government was unstable, with several parties vying for power. The current government, theWeimar Republic, was losing support and there was no clear successor to be the new government of Germany. How did the Great Depression affect an already gloomy Germany? How did Hitler and the Nazis take advantage of the economic crisis? In 1920–1923, the inflation of the German mark led to the decrease of private capital in German merchant banks. These banks had no choice but to take the...show more content...

Unemployment was on the rise and personal income on the fall. The government's budget was in the negatives and industrialists were insisting on lower taxes for employers and capital, while also insisting on higher taxes on the working class. It was this new tax that led to the dissolve of the coalition of the parties of the Weimar Republic. The Reichstag was dissolved soon after. The new head of the Weimar Republic enacted more taxes to push the working class further into poverty. The election in 1930 show the correlation between economic crisis and political radicalism. The right–wing parties, with their traditional voter base of Protestants and the middle class, no longer had sufficient support and their voters went to Hitler's party, the National Socialists. This sudden rise of support for National socialism was the result of the radicalization of the middle class (Frey, Bruno S. Effect of the Great Depression, 410). The unemployed, and the employed who felt their jobs were not secure, in a last–ditch effort to save their social status, took to supporting radical parties. There was also a large number of first–time voters without party affiliations who were easy targets for the

The Great Depression was a time of sadness and poverty for many. It became an unforgettable historical time in American history. The author of the book The Great Depression, Pierre Berton gives a clear view of what happened from 1929–1941. He basically outlines the Depression event by event, explaining what happened where and who was involved. Although many books can tell stories of the depression, I think the author of this book did a good job getting all the facts and letting the reader know exactly what happened.      It is easily shown that the author, Pierre Berton, didn't show much opinion in this book. He mainly focused on just the facts. He would however give some personal views of reasons for certain...show more content...

The sluggish economy drastically reduced the quantity of goods and services bought and sold. The industrial and financial urban centers suffered from large numbers of business failures, which came about in 1932 with over 30,000 failures world wide. Almost 2500 banks were forced to close their doors because of lack of liquid assets. Because of these massive closings and shut downs, it led to massive unemployment. Unemployment was at an unheard high of 25 percent in 1933. As a result of this, children received inadequate nutrition and healthcare. Starvation had become an everyday occurrence. Some unemployed were evicted from their homes and left in search of jobs or charity. Between 1928 and 1932, the suicide rate in the US rose 30 percent because many people who had lost everything had committed suicide in shame of their losses.      According to Pierre Berton, the depression in both rural and urban areas demonstrated the inability of the US economy to cope with the impact of the of the stock market crash. Everything that could go wrong did for the citizens living in America in the 1930's. The author explains three main ideas of why the economy took so long to recover for the market crash according to economists. One being that inequality of wealth and income lead to instability and set the stage for the big impact the depression had on those at the bottom of the economic world. Secondly the industrial Get more content

Life During The Great Depression

Great Depression

The great depression was a period of unpredicted decline in the economy. It occurred between 1929–1939 when the stock market crashed. During this period prices skyrocketed so high that many were forced out of business or had to sell to make a profit to provide for their families. As well as many farmers faced harsh times due to the weather being so dry they were unable to harvest crops to make profit to sell to support their families. The biggest cause of the Great Depression was the banks which played a huge role in the depression because they oversaw the money and interest rates.

Many say the banks were the main reason for the unraveling events of the Great Depression. Making risky loans that barrowers could not pay back, due to the amount of money going out and not enough coming in. When the economy slowed people went back to the banks to get their money they invested to save for a harsh period like the Great Depression to find out its been drained which forced the banks to begin calling back loans and foreclosing on people. Even after recalling all the loans the bank still was short the cash to reimburse the hundreds who lost their hard–earned cash. Which devastatingly led to many banks failing leaving them to shut their doors. Life during the Great depression was...show more content...

The Great Depression broke Americans trust they held within the government which took recovery to instill the trust back into the hands of the government. I do not believe the Great Depression could have been avoided, we do not live in a world where we can know what's going to happen every second. But, I do believe if the government would have worked together from the beginning the Great Depression would not have ended the way it did, we simply don't know how long the Great Depression could have lasted if the World War II never came to