Different Approaches During The Great Depression

After the crash, many business failed, banks closed, and because of that, lots of workers were out of job. Homes and farms had been lost to foreclosure. In 1933, the government finally decided to do something, congress passed the Securities Act of 1933, which required companies that sold stocks and other securities to communicate important information to consumers and set up systems to prevent fraud. The law was strengthened in 1934 when congress created the Securities and Exchange commission (“Black Tuesday”). Herbert Hoover, the president of US during this event, thought the stock market would get better within 60 days (Stock). The crash also helped lead to the onset of the Great Depression by undermining confidence in the economy, but it

When the market crashed “[a] record 12.9 million shares were traded that day, known as ‘Black Thursday.’” With that only being Thursday and only five days later being ‘Black Tuesday,’ some 16 million shares were traded” (“The Great Depression”). Having the market crash made people plunge into despair as they did not have any source of income for their family. Furthermore, “so many people had sold stocks that it caused a massive drop in the stock market” (Cobb). Proving how the stock market crash can help explain why it caused such a big uproar for America.

students should discuss how the government did many things to try to help the economy, which emphasizes the critical state of the country during the Great Depression. For example, students should discuss that the text describes President Roosevelt as “immediately” addressing the issues of the Great Depression when he took office. Additionally, his policies extended from “rules for how investors on the stock market could buy and sell stocks more responsibly” to “employment programs” (Paragraphs 16-17). The variety of President Roosevelt’s policies shows that there were many different causes and effects of the Great Depression. For instance, McBirney states that “President Roosevelt started dozens of programs during his time in the White House”

After Black Tuesday, people who entrusted their money to the bank, began to grow anxious and demand their money from the bank. A wave of “bank runs,” when large numbers of people withdrew their deposits in cash, were starting to occur (“Bank Runs”). Since the stock market crashed, it was inevitable that people would start rushing to the banks to demand their money. These people acted out of fear and were petrified of how the stock market crash would affect the economy as a whole. When the people arrived at the banks they were devastated because their money was not there for them to collect due to the bank being backed by the stock market.

The Great Depression was a time of great economic tragedy during the 1930’s. October 24, 1929 was the day of the stock market crash, causing economical shortage everywhere, even globally, and this scared everyone, including the rich. This day was/ is known as “Black Thursday”, where over 2.9 million shares were traded. On “Black Tuesday”, five days later, more than 16 million more shares were traded in another wave of panic. Many investors then lost confidence in their banks and demanded deposits in cash which forced the banks to liquidate loans in order to supplement their on hand cash reserves. By 1933, around 15 million Americans were unemployed and nearly half of the country’s banks had failed. This stopped Americans from purchasing which then led to less production of goods and decreased the amount of needed human labor. In the end, millions of shares ended up worthless, and those investors who had bought stocks with borrowed money were wiped out completely.

In 1929 the Stock Market crashed was said to have “ushered in” the Great Depression. After Wall Street and the Stock Market crash of 1929, the banks began to fail. By 1933 over half of the banks in the United States had failed and went out of business. The economy came to a full stop as businesses could no longer access credit lines to purchase inventory, checks were no longer accepted as currency due to the multitude of failing financial institutions which led to an unemployment rate reported to be as much as 30 percent of the available workforce. (“First measured century: Timeline,” n.d.)

In summation, we can accurately conclude that the policies of the President Herbert Hoover administration were insufficient to the recovery of the failing American economy during the Great Depression. He had a lack of success due to the ineffectiveness of his programs (as they did nothing to help the country), the untimeliness of the programs (being too deep into the years of credit contraction), and the failure to establish welfare and relief to those in

During the Great Depression era, many presidents found themselves sliding between political ideologies. They would identify with one, but also enact policies that fall unto the other side. They slid back and forth between being Liberal (or more Democratic) and being Conservative (or more Republican). The ideologies for each side bore a massive difference. The Democrats would favor help from the government while the Republicans chose to go with the attitude of it’s up to the people to make a difference - hard work and no help. The two presidents of this era, Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, had different policies abiding to their different sides. While these policies differed from the expected ideologies, they fall closely into what one would expect from today’s political parties.

Nations like the U.S and Germany choose to combat the Great Depression through their respective political ideologies and nations like U.S and Britain countered the Great Depression through the creation of public works. Unlike other nations that found internal solutions to the Great Depression, Japan combated the Great Depression externally by expansion. Japan and Britain both counter the Great Depression by placing an emphasis on the development of resources. Unlike other nations, U.S funded governmental organizations and used banking reforms. Both U.S and Germany are combating the Great Depression through their own respective political ideology.

In conclusion, the Great Depression was a downside of America’s history. But, in the dark times, one of our nation’s best presidents came into light. Franklin D. Roosevelt once said “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. This meant in those times that Americans were doing more harm than good. When they withdrew their stocks and money from the banks, they were causing more damage to the economy. With shutting down the banks and getting congress together, they were able to solve the dilemmas of the Great Depression through actions taken by federal and state

Cecchetti, Stephen G. "Understanding the Great Depression: Lessons for Current Policy ." Monetary Economics (1997): 1-26.

The social security act was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt so that he could put in place provisions in order to help the elderly. The social security act a document that helps impoverished citizens, such as the elderly and physically impaired receive benefits after retirement. Citizens’ in America during the great depression where expected to work weather elderly or physically disabled. These citizens weren’t afforded the financial stability to retire so work was a necessity to acquire money. “Prior to social security, the elderly routinely faced the prospect of poverty upon retirement” (U.S SSA). This effect of the great depression led to a lot death and homes turning into singled parent homes with no income. “The widespread

A landmark change in providing for the elderly came in 1935 with Franklin D. Roosevelt 's Social Security Act. While this provided aid to people with disabilities and mothers with children, aid was also mainly intended for the elderly. The premise of the act was that an individual would pay into the government through the years that they worked and upon retiring that person would receive benefits. Elderly Americans relied on this system to help pay for expenses that they might incur after they reached an age where they could no

The America in the 1930s was drastically different from the luxurious 1920s. The stock market had crashed to an all time low, unemployment was the highest the country had ever seen, and all American citizens were affected by it in some way or another. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal was effective in addressing the issues of The Great Depression in the sense that it provided immediate relief to US citizens by lowering unemployment, increasing trust in the banks, getting Americans out of debt, and preventing future economic crisis from taking place through reform. Despite these efforts The New Deal failed to end the depression. In order for America to get out of this economic

Herbert Hoover, the president in office when the Great 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.