Critchlow Book Summary

Instead, most money was in the hands of a few families and businesses who saved or invested rather than spent their money on American goods. Supply became greater than demand on products. Certain people profited, but many others did not. As a result of this, prices went up and Americans could not spare the money for many goods. While the wealth in America was not being distributed evenly, and overspeculation of the stock market led to a lack of confidence, the United States began to fall into a deep depression that would last until the beginning of World War II (Gupta).

The limitations in education meant pursuing high-skilled careers such as teachers, lawyers or doctors, required migration. According to this article, no one was “immune” to the hardships brought upon by the Great Depression. The word immune in this context in a sense compares the Great Depression to a virus or disease that eliminates all in its path with no one possessing an immunity. Education is usually the key to escaping poverty and provides hope for the future. Seeing that even education could not provide a sense of economic security demonstrates how truly desperate times were during the Great

After the Hoover years, however, a man portrayed as a father figure became some of the nation’s citizens’ only hope, Franklin D. Roosevelt. The middle-class, sometimes seen as hit the hardest by the Depression, pleaded with the Roosevelt administration for any help, but remained very proud in doing so. Many begged to remain anonymous. Also, like many other classes, the members of the middle-class didn’t want charity or handouts; they just wanted employment, or possibly a loan (pp. 53-4). No one took pride in having to write these letters. Many had to swallow their pride just to get pen to paper. “It is very humiliating for me to have to write to you” one Depression victim wrote (pp. 62). Middle-class citizens, like the rural citizens, wanted nothing less than the blacks to take their employment (pp. 94). The rural citizens also turned to the Roosevelt administration as a beacon of hope. The cherished the values of independence and hard work, so they asked only for employment or a loan (pp. 69). Their ideal solution to this economic terror was employment, as a result. They weren’t satisfied with the outcome of the relief though. They believed the relief was just creating ‘loafers’ out of the unemployed who choose not to work (pp. 125). They felt that Roosevelt should “give work to the needy ones, and not to the ones that have everything” (pp. 138). The rural citizens felt slightly forgotten, but not as forgotten as some

The great depression kept going on. Millions of Americans were homeless and jobless. Soup kitchens were popping up everywhere there were people. The people started to turn to the government for help. But America's 31st president, Herbert Hoover, didn't think so. While many people believed that relying on the government was the answer, Hoover thought that self-reliance and relying on each other would relieve them of this economic crisis, not government intervention. And as the people kept prying, Hoover kept refusing. Desperate for a place to call home, and knowing that the government wasn't going to do anything to help, Americans and their families started building shantytowns in cities and in different places around them. They soon became

Don Nardo, a renowned writer and historian, has written many books about American history. He is also the book editor of this publication. This book is compiled with various essays written by scholars regarding the Great Depression. Each essay relates to the next, and the book as a whole therefore aims to inform the reader of This source is valuable because it includes many accounts and viewpoints of several individuals, therefore the reader can see where the writer of the essay is basing their opinions on. One limitation is that since there are so many different viewpoints presented in this book, it may confuse the reader when it comes to searching for a definite answer.

”The Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s plays an important and complicated role in the way Americans talk about the history of poverty and public policy in their country.” (Gregory, James N.) The Great Depression and Dust Bowl caused wide spread poverty in the United States. Things were going well for farmers even though the Great Depression was going on; however, that quickly changed with the development of a substantial drought. This caused people to flee out west, find new land and an income. The Dust Bowl destroyed the subsistence of many and further divested the economy of the United States.

The United States encountered many ordeals during the Great Depression (1929-1939). Poverty, unemployment and despair clouded the “American Dream” and intensified the urgency for solutions to address and control the nationwide damage. President Franklin Roosevelt proposed the New Deal to detoxify the nation of its suffering. It can be argued that the New Deal was ineffective due to the inability to end the Great Depression with its short-term solutions and created more problems, however; it was successful in regards to providing direct relief for the needy, economic recovery and some structural reform for the majority of the general public in the severity of the Great Depression.

The 1920s seemed to promise a future of a new and wonderful way of life for America and its citizens . Modern science, evolving cultural norms, industrialization, and even jazz music heralded exciting opportunities and a future that only pointed up toward a better life. However, cracks in the facade started to show, and beginning with the stock market crash of 1929 the wealth of the country, and with it the hopes and expectations of its people, began to slip away. The Great Depression left a quarter of the population unemployed and much of the rest destitute and uncertain of what the future held. Wealth vanished, people took their money out of banks, and plans were put on hold. The most significant way in which the Great Depression affected Americans’ everyday lives was through poverty because it tore relationships apart and damaged the spirit of society while unexpectedly bringing families together in unity.

57). Before the Great Depression of the thirties, the popular opinion was that the federal government should not be heavily involved in providing social welfare. However, the urbanization and industrialization of the early twentieth century, as well as the economic pressure of the 1930s, proved to be more than what state and local governments or private organizations could provide for. These pressures gave way for President Franklin D. Roosevelt to lead America into the New Deal. This included the creation of the U.S. Social Security Program, unemployment assistance, and needs-tested assistance (Salamon 1999, p.58). Roosevelt’s New Deal still left limited coverage, limited funding, and left much of the delivery of social service to state and local governments. Even with all the changes that have occurred in federal programs and policy over the years, Salamon shows that combined state and local governments continued to nearly match the amount of federal spending from 1950 through 1994 (p.59). This again reflects the tension and nature of the American system, which was intended to lean on the strength of the public to innovate and provide for itself. The debate over the amount of government involvement in providing assistance for Americans is still a very important issue as it relates to the role of nonprofit organizations in American society.

The decaying state of the American economy and the onset of the Great Depression in the 1930s brought about the necessity for the United States to reconsider its attitudes and examine the long term effects of its policies concerning wide-scale socioeconomic problems that were constantly growing bigger. The Great Depression led to the creation of many new and innovative government policies and programs, along with revisions to older economic systems. However, these cost the government billions of dollars in a country that had consistently been stretching the gap between the rich and poor. This continued as the Great Depression began to change everything people had grown old knowing,

American life prior to World War II may have not been the best from 1931-1939. Already in the Great Depression that started in 1929 people were left very discouraged and hopeless. In 1932 the economy was the worst it had ever been, it had hit rock bottom (p. 850). Many had lost their jobs and over 11 million Americans could not find work (p. 850). America was at its worst and people were hungry, suicide rates had risen and people were having less children than ever before. People’s reaction to the

The Great Depression was a very influential era in American history, affecting many future generations. One of the most prevalent impacts it had on society was the extreme poverty that swept across the nation, affecting both people in cities and in the country. The main cause for this poverty was the mass loss of jobs among the middle class. Millions lost their jobs and consequently their homes. Families lived out of tents and cars in shanty towns or Hoovervilles. In these camps, many people didn’t have their basic human needs met, children and adults alike starved. They lived in clothes that were caked in dirt and tattered, too small for growing children and too cold for the frail elderly. Government relief programs attempted to help but offered little support to the now impoverished families of the millions that lost everything.

The late 1930s were a time of great suffering and uncertainty in the United States. The country was crippled by effects of the Great Depression; the result was a massive decline in jobs and economic stability that dramatically impacted both rural and urban communities. Millions of Americans were out of work, unable to support their families. State organizations and charities were unable to meet the growing needs of the people and many were left to fend for themselves. The Great Depression brought with it a legitimate, tangible fear about the future of America and its citizens. Upon the outcry of the American people a “New Deal” was struck giving the citizens of America a lifeline of hope in the ever-growing State. The New Deal was a succession of programs, organizations and laws, enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, directly addressing the issues of jobs, welfare and uncertainty through direct federal involvement. The creators of the New Deal worked across party lines to reshape the norms of state involvement whilst making a great legislative effort to turn the declining economy around. The New Deal reshaped the federal government’s relationship with its citizens in a time of economic uncertainty helping to grow the State in a time of peace.

After the Great Depression, many Americans were left disheveled. They needed some form of financial assistance to help them get their lives back to normal. Many government officials such as Hurbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt helped to enact bills and programs that would assist Americans in rehabilitating their lives. The amount of unemployed workers, the economic relief for retired workers, and the creation of legislature directed towards financial stability all illustrate that the most important effects that the New Deal legislation had on the American government was a liberal one..

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 (Modern American 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.