Graham: Great Depression and 3 - 3 Pg Essay

Submitted By GrahamGuffin
Words: 829
Pages: 4

The Great Depression
The Great Depression started prior to FDR. The Great Depression was a worldwide economic downturn starting in most places in 1929 and ending at different times in the 1930s or early 1940s for different countries. It was the largest and most important economic depression in the 20th century and is used in the 21st century as an example of how far the world’s economy can fall. The Great Depression originated in the United States; historians most often use as a starting date the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, known as Black Tuesday. After the crash Hoover announced that while he would keep the Federal budget balanced, he would cut taxes and expand public works spending (2-5 pg.1). After serving as secretary of commerce, Hoover became the Republican Presidential nominee (2-3 pg.1). Hoover was an engineer, administrator, and a humanitarian (2-2 pg.1).Hoover is from East, Iowa (3-4 pg 15). Hoover did every bit of his work with his hands (3-5 pg. 15). During this time Hoover had a girlfriend Hulda Minthorn (3-3 pg 15). They are both completely opposite from each other (3-3 pg 15). Herbert Hoover was the guy that most people enjoyed being around and his girlfriend was a very shy and quiet person (3-4 pg 15). Later on he married his Stanford sweetheart, Lou Henry, and they left for China, where he worked for a private corporation as Chinas leading engineer (2-1 pg.1). In 1928, Herbert Hoover became the president. “We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land”. Herbert Hoover source 2. With that being said, just a couple of months later, the United States were thrown into the biggest economical disaster of our history. Millions of people in the Unites States had lost everything they owned, barely had enough food to eat, one out of four workers was unemployed, several people were in the streets, and thousands of people had died (3-2 pg 8 and 9). Since the Great Depression was worldwide within just a few months after Hoover had became president, the Wickersham Commission was gone (1-2 pg 1). During Hoovers social problems, the Wickersham Commission had helped get rid of his accomplishments apart from the Great Depression (1-3 pg.1). Meaning that it helped him with being able to continue as a radical ongoing innovator (1-4 pg.1). Meanwhile, the presidential and business leaders tried to convince the citizenry that recovery was imminent but the nation’s economic health steadily worsened. In spite of widespread hardship, Hoover maintaining that federal relief was not necessary. Farm prices dropped to record lows and bitter farmers tried to ward off foreclosures with pitchforks. By the dawn of the next decade, 4,340,000 Americans were out of work. More than 8 million were on the street a year later. Lay off workers agitated for drastic government remedies. More than 32,000 other businesses went bankrupt and at least 5,000 banks failed. Wretched men, including veterans looked for work, hawked apples on sidewalks, dined in soup kitchens, passed the time in shantytowns dubbed “Hoovervilles”, and some moved between then in railroad boxcars. It was a desperate time for families, starvation stalked the land, and a great drought ruined numerous farms, forcing mass migration. Herbert Hoover has been accused of being a