life during the great depression essay

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The Great Depression Essay

The recession of the American economy led to the greatest depression that has never been experienced in the American economic history. The Great Depression, experienced between 1929 and 1932, was a period of extreme hardship in America as it forced Americans to experience an economic crisis which left many jobless and hopeless. It was the worst and longest difficult situation in the country’s economic history that threw many hardworking people into poverty. People lost their homes, farms as well as their businesses (Gunderson 4). The Great Depression led to economic stagnation and widespread unemployment and also the depression was experienced in virtually all in every major industrialized country (Hall and Ferguson 2). The impact of the Great Depression was devastating as many individuals lost their homes because they had no work and a steady income and as a result, most of them were forced to live in makeshift dwellings with poor condition and sanitation. Many children dropped out of school and married women were forced to carry a greater domestic burden. More so, the depression widened the gap between the rich and the poor (Freedman 14) because many poor individuals suffered the hardships during this period while the rich remained unaffected. This paper discusses the period of Great Depression and it covers the life during this time and how the city dwellers, farmers, children and minority groups were affected. The Great Depression started following the occurrence of the Wall Street crash and rapidly spread in different parts of the world; however, some have argued that it was triggered by mistakes in monetary policy and poor government policy (Evans 15). Different hardships and challenges were experience by individuals in different parts of the world with many people left with no work. More so, individuals especially farmers suffered from poverty and low profits, deflation and they had no opportunity for personal and economic growth. Notably, different people were affected differently, for instance, unemployment affected men and they were desperate for work while children were forced to leave school and search for something to do so as to earn money for their family. Farmers were greatly affected because this period led to decrease in price in the prices of their crops and livestock and they still worked hard to produce more so as to pay their debts, taxes and living expenses. The period before this economic crisis, farmers were already losing money due to industrialization in cities and so most of them were renting their land and machinery. When the depression started, prices on food produced by farmers deflated leaving them incapable of making profit and so they stopped selling their farm products and this in turn affected the city dwellers that were unable to produce their own food. Undoubtedly, after the stock market crash, many firms declined and many workers were forced out of their jobs because there were really no jobs. Moreover, many people had no money to purchase commodities and so the consumer demand for manufactured goods reduced significantly. Sadly, individuals had to learn to do without new clothing. The prices dropped significantly leaving farmers bankrupt and as a result most of them lost their farms. Some farmers were angry and desperate proposing that the government should intervene and ensure that farm families remain in their respective homes. But again, farmers were better off than city dwellers because they could produce much of their own food. Many farm families had large gardens with enough food crops and in some families, women made clothes from flour and feed sacks and generally, these farm families learned how to survive with what they have and little money.

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Furthermore, the town and cities suffered too, for instance, as the factories were shutting down following the depression many industrial workers were left jobless. The life in the city was not easy as many individuals lived in overcrowded and unheated houses with poor sanitation. In addition, many firms closed and many individuals lost their jobs and had to deal with the reality of living in poverty. Town families were unable to produce their own food and so many city dwellers often went hungry during this period. During winter, they had hard times overcoming the cold because they had no money to buy coal to warm their houses. During the depression, the known role of women was homemaking because they had a difficult time finding jobs and so the only thing they were supposedly good at was preparing meals for their families and keeping their families together. Some women who managed to have jobs supported their families in overcoming this difficult time. Accordingly, many children were deprived their right to have access to quality education because many societies had to close down their schools due to lack of money. Some of them managed to be in schools but majority dropped out. More so, they suffered from malnutrition and those in rural areas were worse off because with the family’s low income, they were unable to purchase adequate nutritional food for all family members. Many children and even adults died from diseases and malnutrition (Gunderson 4). The minority groups in America especially the African American population who lived in rural areas working on the farms of white owners. Even though they lived in poverty, the Depression made the situation worse as their lived changed completely and remained extremely poor because the farmers they were working for had lost their land. All in all, many families struggled to leave on low incomes or no jobs with many children starving; lacked shelter and clothing as well as medical attention (Freedman 4).

In conclusion, the Great Depression was a tragic time in American history that left many people poor, unemployed or little pay, and children forced to work at a younger age. The Great Depression affected everyone from children to adults, farmers to city dwellers and so everyone’s lives changed drastically by the events experienced during this period. Many individuals were unemployed and remained desperate searching for better lives. In addition, children had no access to quality education as most of them left school and sadly they accompanied their mothers to look for work and search for a new life. However, some people particularly the employers and the wealthy were not affected during this period because they were protected from the depression with their position in the society.

Works Cited

Evans, Paul. “What Caused the Great Depression in the United States?” Managerial Finance 23.2 (1997): 15-24.

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Freedman, Russell. Children of the Great Depression. New York: Clarion Books, 2005. Print.

Gunderson, Cory G. The Great Depression. Edina, Minn: ABDO Pub, 2004. Internet resource.

Hall, Thomas E, and Ferguson J D. The Great Depression: An International Disaster of Perverse Economic Policies. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998. Internet resource.

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Module 8: The Great Depression (1929-1932)

Everyday life during the great depression, learning objectives.

• Explain the impact of the Great Depression on family life, including on children and women
• Describe how people survived during the Great Depression despite the government’s initial unwillingness to provide assistance

Introduction

From industrial strongholds to the rural Great Plains, from factory workers to farmers, the Great Depression affected millions. In cities, as industry slowed, then sometimes stopped altogether, workers lost jobs and joined breadlines, or sought out other charitable efforts. With limited government relief available, private charities tried to help, but they were unable to match the scale of the demand. In rural areas, farmers suffered in ways unique to their livelihoods. In some parts of the country, prices for crops dropped so precipitously that farmers could not earn enough to pay their mortgages, losing their farms to foreclosure. In the Great Plains, one of the worst droughts in history left the land barren and unfit for growing even the most basic sustenance crops.

The country’s most vulnerable populations, such as children, the elderly, and those subject to discrimination, like Black Americans, were the hardest hit. Most White Americans felt entitled to what few jobs were available, leaving Black Americans unable to find work, even in the jobs once considered their domain. In all, the economic misery was unprecedented in the country’s history.

Due to the poverty families faced during the Great Depression, new clothes were unaffordable and many women began to make clothing out of cotton flour sacks. Flour companies saw this and they began creating the sacks with colorful patterns which often included instructions for sewing ideas on the package as well as how to remove the text from the bags.

Starvation and Homelessness

Figure 1.  U.S. Unemployment rates from 1910-1960. The highlighted portion shows the years of the Great Depression.

By the end of 1932, the Great Depression had affected some sixty million people, most of whom wealthier Americans perceived as the “deserving poor,” or those whose losses had occurred through no fault of their own. Yet, federal efforts to help those in need were extremely limited, and national charities had neither the capacity nor the will to elicit the large-scale response required. The American Red Cross did exist, but Chairman John Barton Payne contended that unemployment was not an “Act of God” but rather an “Act of Man,” and therefore refused to get involved in widespread direct relief efforts. Clubs like the Elks tried to provide food, as did small groups of individually organized college students. Religious organizations remained on the front lines, offering food and shelter. In larger cities, breadlines and soup lines became a common sight. At one count in 1932, there were as many as eighty-two breadlines in New York City.

Despite these efforts, however, people were destitute and ultimately starving. Families would first run through their savings, if they were lucky enough to have any. Then, the few who had insurance would cash out their policies. Cash payments for individual insurance policies tripled in the first three years of the Great Depression, with insurance companies issuing total payments in excess of $1.2 billion in 1932 alone. When those funds were depleted, people would borrow from family and friends, and when they could get no more, they would simply stop making rent or mortgage payments. When evicted, they would move in with relatives, whose situation was likely only a step or two behind their own. The burden of additional people in the household would speed along that family’s demise, and the cycle would continue. Even as late as 1939, a decade into the Great Depression, over 60 percent of rural households and 82 percent of farm families were classified as “impoverished.” In larger urban areas, unemployment levels exceeded the national average, with over half million unemployed workers in Chicago, and nearly a million in New York City. Breadlines and soup kitchens were packed, serving as many as eighty-five thousand meals daily in New York City alone. Over fifty thousand New York citizens were experiencing homelessness by the end of 1932. As one New York City official explained in 1932,

When the breadwinner is out of a job he usually exhausts his savings if he has any.… He borrows from his friends and from his relatives until they can stand the burden no longer. He gets credit from the corner grocery store and the butcher shop, and the landlord forgoes collecting the rent until interest and taxes have to be paid and something has to be done. All of these resources are finally exhausted over a period of time, and it becomes necessary for these people, who have never before been in want, to go on assistance. [1]

These most desperate Americans, the chronically unemployed, encamped on public or marginal lands in “Hoovervilles,” spontaneous shantytowns that dotted America’s cities, depending on bread lines and street-corner peddling. One doctor recalled that “every day … someone would faint on a streetcar. They’d bring him in, and they wouldn’t ask any questions.… they knew what it was. Hunger.” [2]

Figure 2. Because there was no infrastructure to support them should they become unemployed or destitute, the elderly were extremely vulnerable during the Great Depression. As the depression continued, the results of this tenuous situation became more evident, as shown in this photo of a vacant storefront in San Francisco, captured by Dorothea Lange in 1935.

Family Life and Childhood

The hardships of the Great Depression threw family life into disarray. Both marriage and birth rates declined in the decade after the crash. The most vulnerable members of society—children, women, minorities, and the working class—struggled the most. Children, in particular, felt the brunt of poverty. Parents often sent children out to beg for food at restaurants and stores to save themselves from the disgrace of begging. Many children dropped out of school, and even fewer went to college. By one estimate, as many as 200,000 children moved about the country as vagrants due to familial disintegration. Childhood, as it had existed in the prosperous twenties, was over.

Many children in coastal cities would roam the docks in search of spoiled vegetables to bring home. Elsewhere, children begged at the doors of more well-off neighbors, hoping for stale bread, table scraps, or raw potato peelings. Said one childhood survivor of the Great Depression, “You get used to hunger. After the first few days it doesn’t even hurt; you just get weak.”

And yet, for many children living in rural areas where the affluence of the previous decade was not fully developed, the Depression was not viewed as a great challenge. School continued. Play was simple and enjoyable. Families adapted by growing their gardens, canning, and preserving, and wasting little food. Home-sewn clothing became the norm as the decade progressed, as did creative methods of shoe repair, often utilizing at-hand materials such as cardboard. Yet, one always knew of stories of the “other” families who suffered more, including those living in cardboard boxes or caves.

By the time Hoover left office in 1933, the poor survived not on relief efforts, but because they had learned to be poor. A family with little food would stay in bed to save fuel and avoid burning calories. People began eating parts of animals that had previously been considered waste. They scavenged for scrap wood to burn in the furnace, and when electricity was turned off, it was not uncommon to try and tap into a neighbor’s wire. Family members swapped clothes; sisters might take turns going to church in the one dress they owned. As one girl in a mountain town told her teacher, who had said to go home and get food, “I can’t. It’s my sister’s turn to eat.”

Link to learning

For his book on the Great Depression, Hard Times , author Studs Terkel interviewed hundreds of Americans from across the country. He subsequently selected over seventy interviews to air on a radio show that was based in Chicago. Visit Studs Terkel: Conversations with America to listen to those interviews, during which participants reflect on their personal hardships as well as on national events during the Great Depression.

Figure 3.  Unemployed, single women protest in New York in 1933 demanding job priority over married women who they claimed did not need the income because they had spousal support.

Women in the Workforce

American views about family structure meant that women suffered disproportionately from the Depression. Since the start of the twentieth century, single women had increasingly joined the workforce, but married women, Americans were likely to believe, only took a job because they wanted to and not because they had to. Once the Depression came, employers were therefore less likely to hire married women and more likely to dismiss those they already employed. [3]

In 1934 a woman from Humboldt County, California, wrote to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt seeking a job for her husband, a surveyor who had been out of work for nearly two years. The pair had survived on the meager income she received from working at the county courthouse. “My salary could keep us going,” she explained, “but—I am to have a baby.” The family needed temporary help, and, she explained, “after that I can go back to work and we can work out our own salvation. But to have this baby come to a home full of worry and despair, with no money for the things it needs, is not fair. It needs and deserves a happy start in life.” [4]

Women on their own and without regular work suffered a greater threat of sexual violence than their male counterparts; accounts of such women suggest they depended on each other for protection. [5] Some wives and mothers sought employment to make ends meet, an undertaking that was often met with strong resistance from husbands and potential employers. Many men derided and criticized women who worked, feeling that jobs should go to unemployed men. Some campaigned to keep companies from hiring married women, and an increasing number of school districts expanded the long-held practice of banning the hiring of married female teachers.

Despite the pushback, women entered the workforce in increasing numbers, from ten million at the start of the Depression to nearly thirteen million by the end of the 1930s. This increase took place in spite of the twenty-six states that passed a variety of laws to prohibit the employment of married women. Several women found employment in the emerging “ pink-collar” occupations, or those viewed as traditional women’s work, such as telephone operators, social workers, and secretaries. Others took jobs as maids and house cleaners, working for those fortunate few who had maintained their wealth.

In this video, two individuals, Dorothy Womble and William Hague, who survived the Great Depression as children recall the challenges their families faced and the extent of the widespread poverty they saw around them.

“The Deserving Poor” and Relief Efforts

As the effects of the Great Depression worsened, wealthier Americans had particular concern for the deserving poor —those who had lost their money due to no fault of their own and thereby deserved assistance. This concept gained greater attention beginning in the Progressive Era of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when early social reformers sought to improve the quality of life for all Americans by addressing the poverty that was becoming more prevalent, particularly in emerging urban areas. By the time of the Great Depression, social reformers and humanitarian agencies had determined that the “deserving poor” belonged to a different category from those who had speculated and lost. However, the sheer volume of Americans who fell into this group meant that charitable assistance could not begin to reach them all. Some fifteen million “deserving poor,” or a full one-third of the labor force, were struggling by 1932. The country had no mechanism or system in place to help so many; however, Hoover remained adamant that such relief should rest in the hands of private agencies and volunteers, not with the federal government.

Figure 4. In the early 1930s, without significant government relief programs, many people in urban centers relied on private agencies for assistance. In New York City, St. Peter’s Mission distributed bread, soup, and canned goods to large numbers of the unemployed and others in need.

Unable to receive aid from the federal government, Americans turned to private charities, churches, synagogues, and other religious organizations, as well as to state-level assistance. But these organizations were not prepared to deal with the scope of the problem. Like for-profit enterprises, private aid organizations also showed declining assets during the Depression, with fewer Americans possessing the ability to donate. Likewise, state governments were particularly ill-equipped. Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first to institute a Department of Welfare in New York in 1929. City governments had equally little to offer. In New York City in 1932, family allowances were $2.39 per week, and only one-half of the families who qualified actually received them. In Detroit, allowances fell to fifteen cents a day per person, and eventually ran out completely. As one Detroit city official put it in 1932,

Many essential public services have been reduced beyond the minimum point absolutely essential to the health and safety of the city.… The salaries of city employees have been twice reduced … and hundreds of faithful employees … have been furloughed. Thus has the city borrowed from its own future welfare to keep its unemployed on the barest subsistence levels.… A wage work plan which had supported 11,000 families collapsed last month because the city was unable to find funds to pay these unemployed—men who wished to earn their own support. For the coming year, Detroit can see no possibility of preventing wide-spread hunger and slow starvation through its own unaided resources. [6]

In most cases, relief was only in the form of food and fuel; organizations provided nothing in the way of rent, shelter, medical care, clothing, or other necessities. There was no infrastructure to support the elderly, who were the most vulnerable, and this population largely depended on their adult children to support them, adding to families’ burdens.

During this time, local community groups, such as police and teachers, worked to help the neediest. New York City police, for example, began contributing 1 percent of their salaries to start a food fund that was geared to help those found starving on the streets. In 1932, New York City schoolteachers also joined forces to try to help; they contributed as much as $250,000 per month from their own salaries to help needy children. Chicago teachers did the same, feeding some eleven thousand students out of their own pockets in 1931, despite the fact that many of them had not been paid a salary in months. These noble efforts, however, failed to fully address the level of desperation that the American public was facing.

the deserving poor : those who had lost their money through no fault of their own but were unable to work because of circumstances. They were considered more “deserving” of assistance than the “undeserving poor” who were seen by society as having behaved recklessly, perhaps overindulging in speculation, or who were considered simply lazy.

• Lester V. Chandler, America’s Greatest Depression, 1929–1941 (New York: Harper & Row, 1970), 41. ↵
• Studs Terkel, Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression (New York: New Press, 2000), 20–21. ↵
• Claudia Dale Goldin, Understanding the Gender Gap: An Economic History of American Women, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), 34. ↵
• Mrs. M. H. A. to Eleanor Roosevelt, June 14, 1934, in Robert S. McElvaine, ed., Down and Out in the Great Depression: Letters from the Forgotten Man (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1983), 54–55. ↵
• William H. Chafe, The Paradox of Change: American Women in the 20th Century (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), 71. ↵
• Chandler, America’s Greatest Depression , 44. ↵
• Modification, adaptation, and original content. Authored by : Caileigh Abente for Lumen Learning. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
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• US Unemployment from 1910-1960. Authored by : Pharexia. Provided by : Wikimedia Commons. Located at : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Unemployment_from_1910-1960.svg . License : CC BY: Attribution
• The Great Depression. Provided by : The American Yawp. Located at : https://www.americanyawp.com/text/23-the-great-depression/ . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Why Flour Sacks During The Great Depression Were So Important. Authored by : Winkgo. Located at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDbtHeyIYtI&t=90s . License : All Rights Reserved . License Terms : Standard YouTube License
• Discussing the Great Depression. Provided by : The Wall Street Journal. Located at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPi9A07HqWg . License : Other . License Terms : Standard YouTube License
• Forgotten women: unemployed and single, in job demand parade. Provided by : Library of Congress. Located at : http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.58266/ . License : Public Domain: No Known Copyright

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Course: US history   >   Unit 7

• The presidency of Herbert Hoover

The Great Depression

• FDR and the Great Depression
• The New Deal
• The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in US history. It began in 1929 and did not abate until the end of the 1930s.
• The stock market crash of October 1929 signaled the beginning of the Great Depression. By 1933, unemployment was at 25 percent and more than 5,000 banks had gone out of business.
• Although President Herbert Hoover attempted to spark growth in the economy through measures like the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, these measures did little to solve the crisis.
• Franklin Roosevelt was elected president in November 1932. Inaugurated as president in March 1933, Roosevelt’s New Deal offered a new approach to the Great Depression.

The stock market crash of 1929

Hoover's response to the crisis, what do you think.

• David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 37-41, 49-50.
• T.H. Watkins, The Hungry Years: A Narrative History of the Great Depression in America (New York: Henry Holt, 1999), 44-45; Kennedy, Freedom from Fear , 87.
• Louise Armstrong, We Too Are the People (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1938), 10.
• On bank failures, see Kennedy, Freedom from Fear , 65.
• See Kennedy, Freedom from Fear , 87, 208; Robert S. McElvaine, ed., Down and Out in the Great Depression: Letters from the “Forgotten Man” (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1983), 81-94.
• John A. Garraty, The Great Depression: An Inquiry into the Causes, Course, and Consequences of the Worldwide Depression of the Nineteen-Thirties, as Seen by Contemporaries and in the Light of History (New York: Doubleday, 1987).
• Kennedy, Freedom from Fear , 83-85.
• On Hoovervilles and Hoover flags, Kennedy, Freedom from Fear , 91.

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Great Depression Project

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Everyday Life during the Depression

The Great Depression transformed American social and political institutions and the ways individual people thought about themselves and their relationship to the country and the world. Though no two people had the same understanding of the Depression, everyone felt challenged and changed by the experience.

By 1932, three years after the initial crash, near thirty million Americans had lost their source of income, from unemployment or loss of a family breadwinner. This included more than a quarter of the population of Washington State. Of those lucky enough to have consistent work, many, perhaps most, took pay cuts or worked reduced schedules. Though there had been devastating economic depressions before, the 1930s crisis encompassed both urban and rural regions and devastated middle-class and working-class people alike.

• Bellingham Families during the Depression: Changes in Everyday Life by Annie Morro

• Emerging Opportunities in Dark Times: Japanese Americans in the Northwest, 1933-1934 , by Yukio Maeda

• The 1932 Seattle Sports Scene: Helping the Emerald City through Hard Times, by Brian Harris

• Changing Advertising Trends in the Seattle Times During the Great Depression , by Yifeng Hua

• The Rainy City on the “Wet Coast”: The Failure of Prohibition in Seattle , by Kayta Katherine Samuels

Nevertheless, the pain was not equally distributed. Indeed some businesses did well even in the dark days of 1931 and 1932 and most families did not lose livelihoods or face privation. The impact varied according to industry, class, race, location, and luck. The construction trades and the lumber industry suffered greatly, and in the mill towns and lumber camps of Washington State, unemployment surged (see "Life in Raymond" ). Workers in other kinds of factories often lost their jobs but those with advanced skills were less likely to be hurt. White collar jobs fared better than blue collar jobs and those lucky enough to work for a city, county, state, or at one of the military facilities generally held on to jobs. Farm families were mostly well positioned (see "Kitsap County" ). Farm prices fell but not so drastically that many Washington farmers were forced to sell or abandon their homesteads. Indeed, the farm population grew during these hard times, as people who years before had left farmsteads for city jobs returned, moving in with relatives or friends.

Washington's tiny communities of color were hit especially hard. Employment discrimination doubled in intensity and African Americans and Asian Americans were pushed out of jobs, including domestic service and farm labor, that whites had previously shunned. Japanese Americans, the state's largest minority population, had built a thriving small business sector in Seattle in the decades before the Great Depression. Now many of those residential hotels and restaurants struggled for customers (see "Emerging Opportunities in Dark Times" ). The crisis encouraged some families to leave. Seattle's Japanese American population fell during the 1930s, with some moving to rural areas and others to Japan.

For Washington residents of all backgrounds who lost jobs, the challenges were daunting. With no unemployment insurance and typically with only one breadwinner, the loss of wages had an immediate and devastating effect on families, often leading to eviction and homelessness. People squeezed in with relatives when possible or begged landlords to stay on rent-free. Wives and teenage children joined unemployed husbands in the desperate search for work. Minimal help with food or rent was sometimes available from churches and charities, and in some counties, governments raised property taxes in an attempt to feed the hungry. The need far outstripped these local resources.

Sudden poverty produces psychological damage. Families broke apart under the strain. Divorces escalated, as did informal divorces as one partner or another (mostly husbands) abandoned their family. Young people also fled, quitting school and setting off on the road. Marriage rates and birth rates plummeted as people worried that they could not afford to start families. Acts of domestic violence multiplied and the suicide rate increased dramatically (see "Murders, Gambling Suicide" ).

New Deal period

When Franklin Roosevelt assumed office in March 1933, the economy was nearly stalled. Congress quickly passed a sequence of emergency measures to rescue the banking system, to send emergency aid to the states, and to begin to re-employ the millions who were out of work. Federal funds to Washington State were funneled through the Washington Emergency Relief Administration, a state agency that dispersed some money directly to the poor in the form of cash grants while also launching dozens of public works projects that created new jobs. Soon there would be more jobs coordinated with federal agencies. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) would employ thousands of young men in the forests and national parks of Washington State. The Civil Works Adminstration set up small public works jobs, while the Public Works Administration planned huge new infrastructure projects that included Bonneville and Grand Coulee dams on the Columbia River (see "Mason City, Grand Cooley Dam") . In 1935 many of the jobs and construction programs were consolidated under the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

With federal help, the state economy began a dramatic recovery, faster than many other states. By 1937, income payments in Washington (our best measure of economic activity) had returned to 93 percent of the 1929 level. Nationally, the level was 88 percent. Employment in the region's key industry, forest products, keyed the recovery. In 1937, there were almost as many workers employed in the woods, sawmills, paper mills, furniture, and wood products factories as in 1929, although wages remained well below normal. Other parts of the economy had rebounded, though not so dramatically (see "Economics and Poverty" ).

New concerns/ new possibilities

Gender expectations were changing. Massive unemployment disrupted the husband-as-sole-breadwinner ideal. Women entered the paid labor force at higher rates than ever before, including married women and mothers. And some women reworked their understandings of their role in communities, in the nation, and in the world. This included female students at the University of Washington (see "Challenging gender stereotypes" )

Copyright (c) 2019, James Gregory

Next: Culture and Arts During the Depression

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The Great Depression

“Regarding the Great Depression, … we did it. We’re very sorry. … We won’t do it again.” —Ben Bernanke, November 8, 2002, in a speech given at “A Conference to Honor Milton Friedman … On the Occasion of His 90th Birthday.”

In 2002, Ben Bernanke , then a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, acknowledged publicly what economists have long believed. The Federal Reserve’s mistakes contributed to the “worst economic disaster in American history” (Bernanke 2002).

Bernanke, like other economic historians, characterized the Great Depression as a disaster because of its length, depth, and consequences. The Depression lasted a decade, beginning in 1929 and ending during World War II. Industrial production plummeted. Unemployment soared. Families suffered. Marriage rates fell. The contraction began in the United States and spread around the globe. The Depression was the longest and deepest downturn in the history of the United States and the modern industrial economy.

The Great Depression began in August 1929, when the economic expansion of the Roaring Twenties came to an end. A series of financial crises punctuated the contraction. These crises included a stock market crash in 1929 , a series of regional banking panics in 1930 and 1931 , and a series of national and international financial crises from 1931 through 1933 . The downturn hit bottom in March 1933, when the commercial banking system collapsed and President Roosevelt declared a national banking holiday . 1    Sweeping reforms of the financial system accompanied the economic recovery, which was interrupted by a double-dip recession in 1937 . Return to full output and employment occurred during the Second World War.

To understand Bernanke’s statement, one needs to know what he meant by “we,” “did it,” and “won’t do it again.”

By “we,” Bernanke meant the leaders of the Federal Reserve System. At the start of the Depression, the Federal Reserve’s decision-making structure was decentralized and often ineffective. Each district had a governor who set policies for his district, although some decisions required approval of the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, DC. The Board lacked the authority and tools to act on its own and struggled to coordinate policies across districts. The governors and the Board understood the need for coordination; frequently corresponded concerning important issues; and established procedures and programs, such as the Open Market Investment Committee, to institutionalize cooperation. When these efforts yielded consensus, monetary policy could be swift and effective. But when the governors disagreed, districts could and sometimes did pursue independent and occasionally contradictory courses of action.

The governors disagreed on many issues, because at the time and for decades thereafter, experts disagreed about the best course of action and even about the correct conceptual framework for determining optimal policy. Information about the economy became available with long and variable lags. Experts within the Federal Reserve, in the business community, and among policymakers in Washington, DC, had different perceptions of events and advocated different solutions to problems. Researchers debated these issues for decades. Consensus emerged gradually. The views in this essay reflect conclusions expressed in the writings of three recent chairmen, Paul Volcke r, Alan Greenspan , and Ben Bernanke .

By “did it,” Bernanke meant that the leaders of the Federal Reserve implemented policies that they thought were in the public interest. Unintentionally, some of their decisions hurt the economy. Other policies that would have helped were not adopted.

An example of the former is the Fed’s decision to raise interest rates in 1928 and 1929. The Fed did this in an attempt to limit speculation in securities markets. This action slowed economic activity in the United States. Because the international gold standard linked interest rates and monetary policies among participating nations, the Fed’s actions triggered recessions in nations around the globe. The Fed repeated this mistake when responding to the international financial crisis in the fall of 1931. This website explores these issues in greater depth in our entries on the stock market crash of 1929 and the financial crises of 1931 through 1933 .

An example of the latter is the Fed’s failure to act as a lender of last resort during the banking panics that began in the fall of 1930 and ended with the banking holiday in the winter of 1933. This website explores this issue in essays on the banking panics of 1930 to 1931 , the banking acts of 1932 , and the banking holiday of 1933 .

One reason that Congress created the Federal Reserve, of course, was to act as a lender of last resort. Why did the Federal Reserve fail in this fundamental task? The Federal Reserve’s leaders disagreed about the best response to banking crises. Some governors subscribed to a doctrine similar to Bagehot’s dictum, which says that during financial panics, central banks should loan funds to solvent financial institutions beset by runs. Other governors subscribed to a doctrine known as real bills. This doctrine indicated that central banks should supply more funds to commercial banks during economic expansions, when individuals and firms demanded additional credit to finance production and commerce, and less during economic contractions, when demand for credit contracted. The real bills doctrine did not definitively describe what to do during banking panics, but many of its adherents considered panics to be symptoms of contractions, when central bank lending should contract. A few governors subscribed to an extreme version of the real bills doctrine labeled “liquidationist.” This doctrine indicated that during financial panics, central banks should stand aside so that troubled financial institutions would fail. This pruning of weak institutions would accelerate the evolution of a healthier economic system. Herbert Hoover’s secretary of treasury, Andrew Mellon, who served on the Federal Reserve Board, advocated this approach. These intellectual tensions and the Federal Reserve’s ineffective decision-making structure made it difficult, and at times impossible, for the Fed’s leaders to take effective action.

Among leaders of the Federal Reserve, differences of opinion also existed about whether to help and how much assistance to extend to financial institutions that did not belong to the Federal Reserve. Some leaders thought aid should only be extended to commercial banks that were members of the Federal Reserve System. Others thought member banks should receive assistance substantial enough to enable them to help their customers, including financial institutions that did not belong to the Federal Reserve, but the advisability and legality of this pass-through assistance was the subject of debate. Only a handful of leaders thought the Federal Reserve (or federal government) should directly aid commercial banks (or other financial institutions) that did not belong to the Federal Reserve. One advocate of widespread direct assistance was  Eugene Meyer , governor of the Federal Reserve Board, who was instrumental in the creation of the  Reconstruction Finance Corporation .

These differences of opinion contributed to the Federal Reserve’s most serious sin of omission: failure to stem the decline in the supply of money. From the fall of 1930 through the winter of 1933, the money supply fell by nearly 30 percent. The declining supply of funds reduced average prices by an equivalent amount. This deflation increased debt burdens; distorted economic decision-making; reduced consumption; increased unemployment; and forced banks, firms, and individuals into bankruptcy. The deflation stemmed from the collapse of the banking system, as explained in the essay on the  banking panics of 1930 and 1931 .

The Federal Reserve could have prevented deflation by preventing the collapse of the banking system or by counteracting the collapse with an expansion of the monetary base, but it failed to do so for several reasons. The economic collapse was unforeseen and unprecedented. Decision makers lacked effective mechanisms for determining what went wrong and lacked the authority to take actions sufficient to cure the economy. Some decision makers misinterpreted signals about the state of the economy, such as the nominal interest rate, because of their adherence to the real bills philosophy. Others deemed defending the gold standard by raising interests and reducing the supply of money and credit to be better for the economy than aiding ailing banks with the opposite actions.

On several occasions, the Federal Reserve did implement policies that modern monetary scholars believe could have stemmed the contraction. In the spring of 1931, the Federal Reserve began to expand the monetary base, but the expansion was insufficient to offset the deflationary effects of the banking crises. In the spring of 1932, after Congress provided the Federal Reserve with the necessary authority, the Federal Reserve expanded the monetary base aggressively. The policy appeared effective initially, but after a few months the Federal Reserve changed course. A series of political and international shocks hit the economy, and the contraction resumed. Overall, the Fed’s efforts to end the deflation and resuscitate the financial system, while well intentioned and based on the best available information, appear to have been too little and too late.

The flaws in the Federal Reserve’s structure became apparent during the initial years of the Great Depression. Congress responded by reforming the Federal Reserve and the entire financial system. Under the Hoover administration, congressional reforms culminated in the  Reconstruction Finance Corporation Act and the Banking Act of 1932 . Under the Roosevelt administration, reforms culminated in the  Emergency Banking Act of 1933 , the  Banking Act of 1933 (commonly called Glass-Steagall) , the  Gold Reserve Act of 1934 , and the  Banking Act of 1935 . This legislation shifted some of the Federal Reserve’s responsibilities to the Treasury Department and to new federal agencies such as the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. These agencies dominated monetary and banking policy until the 1950s.

The reforms of the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s turned the Federal Reserve into a modern central bank. The creation of the modern intellectual framework underlying economic policy took longer and continues today. The Fed’s combination of a well-designed central bank and an effective conceptual framework enabled Bernanke to state confidently that “we won’t do it again.”

• 1  These business cycle dates come from the National Bureau of Economic Research . Additional materials on the Federal Reserve can be found at the website of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Bibliography

Bernanke, Ben. Essays on the Great Depression . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.

Bernanke, Ben, “ On Milton Friedman's Ninetieth Birthday ," Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke at the Conference to Honor Milton Friedman, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, November 8, 2002.

Chandler, Lester V. American Monetary Policy, 1928 to 1941 . New York: Harper and Row, 1971.

Chandler, Lester V. American’s Greatest Depression, 1929-1941 . New York: Harper Collins, 1970.

Eichengreen, Barry. “The Origins and Nature of the Great Slump Revisited.” Economic History Review 45, no. 2 (May 1992): 213–239.

Friedman, Milton and Anna Schwartz. A Monetary History of the United States: 1867-1960 . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963.

Kindleberger, Charles P. The World in Depression, 1929-1939 : Revised and Enlarged Edition. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.

Meltzer, Allan. A History of the Federal Reserve: Volume 1, 1913 to 1951 . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.

Romer, Christina D. “The Nation in Depression.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 7, no. 2 (1993): 19-39.

Temin, Peter. Lessons from the Great Depression (Lionel Robbins Lectures) . Cambridge: MIT Press, 1989.

Written as of November 22, 2013. See disclaimer .

Essays in this Time Period

• Bank Holiday of 1933
• Banking Act of 1933 (Glass-Steagall)
• Banking Act of 1935
• Banking Acts of 1932
• Banking Panics of 1930-31
• Banking Panics of 1931-33
• Stock Market Crash of 1929
• Emergency Banking Act of 1933
• Gold Reserve Act of 1934
• Recession of 1937–38
• Roosevelt's Gold Program

Federal Reserve History

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Great Depression History

By: History.com Editors

Updated: October 20, 2023 | Original: October 29, 2009

The Great Depression was the worst economic crisis in modern history, lasting from 1929 until the beginning of World War II in 1939. The causes of the Great Depression included slowing consumer demand, mounting consumer debt, decreased industrial production and the rapid and reckless expansion of the U.S. stock market. When the stock market crashed in October 1929, it triggered a crisis in the international economy, which was linked via the gold standard. A rash of bank failures followed in 1930, and as the Dust Bowl increased the number of farm foreclosures, unemployment topped 20 percent by 1933. Presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to stimulate the economy with a range of incentives including Roosevelt’s New Deal programs, but ultimately it took the manufacturing production increases of World War II to end the Great Depression.

What Caused the Great Depression?

Throughout the 1920s, the U.S. economy expanded rapidly, and the nation’s total wealth more than doubled between 1920 and 1929, a period dubbed “ the Roaring Twenties .”

The stock market, centered at the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street in New York City , was the scene of reckless speculation, where everyone from millionaire tycoons to cooks and janitors poured their savings into stocks. As a result, the stock market underwent rapid expansion, reaching its peak in August 1929.

By then, production had already declined and unemployment had risen, leaving stock prices much higher than their actual value. Additionally, wages at that time were low, consumer debt was proliferating, the agricultural sector of the economy was struggling due to drought and falling food prices and banks had an excess of large loans that could not be liquidated.

The American economy entered a mild recession during the summer of 1929, as consumer spending slowed and unsold goods began to pile up, which in turn slowed factory production. Nonetheless, stock prices continued to rise, and by the fall of that year had reached stratospheric levels that could not be justified by expected future earnings.

Stock Market Crash of 1929

On October 24, 1929, as nervous investors began selling overpriced shares en masse, the stock market crash that some had feared happened at last. A record 12.9 million shares were traded that day, known as “Black Thursday.”

Five days later, on October 29, or “Black Tuesday,” some 16 million shares were traded after another wave of panic swept Wall Street. Millions of shares ended up worthless, and those investors who had bought stocks “on margin” (with borrowed money) were wiped out completely.

As consumer confidence vanished in the wake of the stock market crash, the downturn in spending and investment led factories and other businesses to slow down production and begin firing their workers. For those who were lucky enough to remain employed, wages fell and buying power decreased.

Many Americans forced to buy on credit fell into debt, and the number of foreclosures and repossessions climbed steadily. The global adherence to the gold standard , which joined countries around the world in fixed currency exchange, helped spread economic woes from the United States throughout the world, especially in Europe.

Bank Runs and the Hoover Administration

Despite assurances from President Herbert Hoover and other leaders that the crisis would run its course, matters continued to get worse over the next three years. By 1930, 4 million Americans looking for work could not find it; that number had risen to 6 million in 1931.

Meanwhile, the country’s industrial production had dropped by half. Bread lines, soup kitchens and rising numbers of homeless people became more and more common in America’s towns and cities. Farmers couldn’t afford to harvest their crops and were forced to leave them rotting in the fields while people elsewhere starved. In 1930, severe droughts in the Southern Plains brought high winds and dust from Texas to Nebraska, killing people, livestock and crops. The “ Dust Bowl ” inspired a mass migration of people from farmland to cities in search of work.

In the fall of 1930, the first of four waves of banking panics began, as large numbers of investors lost confidence in the solvency of their banks and demanded deposits in cash, forcing banks to liquidate loans in order to supplement their insufficient cash reserves on hand.

Bank runs swept the United States again in the spring and fall of 1931 and the fall of 1932, and by early 1933 thousands of banks had closed their doors.

In the face of this dire situation, Hoover’s administration tried supporting failing banks and other institutions with government loans; the idea was that the banks in turn would loan to businesses, which would be able to hire back their employees.

FDR and the Great Depression

Hoover, a Republican who had formerly served as U.S. secretary of commerce, believed that government should not directly intervene in the economy and that it did not have the responsibility to create jobs or provide economic relief for its citizens.

In 1932, however, with the country mired in the depths of the Great Depression and some 15 million people unemployed, Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt won an overwhelming victory in the presidential election.

By Inauguration Day (March 4, 1933), every U.S. state had ordered all remaining banks to close at the end of the fourth wave of banking panics, and the U.S. Treasury didn’t have enough cash to pay all government workers. Nonetheless, FDR (as he was known) projected a calm energy and optimism, famously declaring "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

Roosevelt took immediate action to address the country’s economic woes, first announcing a four-day “bank holiday” during which all banks would close so that Congress could pass reform legislation and reopen those banks determined to be sound. He also began addressing the public directly over the radio in a series of talks, and these so-called “ fireside chats ” went a long way toward restoring public confidence.

During Roosevelt’s first 100 days in office, his administration passed legislation that aimed to stabilize industrial and agricultural production, create jobs and stimulate recovery.

In addition, Roosevelt sought to reform the financial system, creating the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ( FDIC ) to protect depositors’ accounts and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to regulate the stock market and prevent abuses of the kind that led to the 1929 crash.

The New Deal: A Road to Recovery

Among the programs and institutions of the New Deal that aided in recovery from the Great Depression was the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) , which built dams and hydroelectric projects to control flooding and provide electric power to the impoverished Tennessee Valley region, and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) , a permanent jobs program that employed 8.5 million people from 1935 to 1943.

When the Great Depression began, the United States was the only industrialized country in the world without some form of unemployment insurance or social security. In 1935, Congress passed the Social Security Act , which for the first time provided Americans with unemployment, disability and pensions for old age.

After showing early signs of recovery beginning in the spring of 1933, the economy continued to improve throughout the next three years, during which real GDP (adjusted for inflation) grew at an average rate of 9 percent per year.

A sharp recession hit in 1937, caused in part by the Federal Reserve’s decision to increase its requirements for money in reserve. Though the economy began improving again in 1938, this second severe contraction reversed many of the gains in production and employment and prolonged the effects of the Great Depression through the end of the decade.

Depression-era hardships fueled the rise of extremist political movements in various European countries, most notably that of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime in Germany. German aggression led war to break out in Europe in 1939, and the WPA turned its attention to strengthening the military infrastructure of the United States, even as the country maintained its neutrality.

African Americans in the Great Depression

One-fifth of all Americans receiving federal relief during the Great Depression were Black, most in the rural South. But farm and domestic work, two major sectors in which Black workers were employed, were not included in the 1935 Social Security Act, meaning there was no safety net in times of uncertainty. Rather than fire domestic help, private employers could simply pay them less without legal repercussions. And those relief programs for which African Americans were eligible on paper were rife with discrimination in practice since all relief programs were administered locally.

Despite these obstacles, Roosevelt’s “Black Cabinet,” led by Mary McLeod Bethune , ensured nearly every New Deal agency had a Black advisor. The number of African Americans working in government tripled .

Women in the Great Depression

There was one group of Americans who actually gained jobs during the Great Depression: Women. From 1930 to 1940, the number of employed women in the United States rose 24 percent from 10.5 million to 13 million Though they’d been steadily entering the workforce for decades, the financial pressures of the Great Depression drove women to seek employment in ever greater numbers as male breadwinners lost their jobs. The 22 percent decline in marriage rates between 1929 and 1939 also created an increase in single women in search of employment.

Women during the Great Depression had a strong advocate in First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt , who lobbied her husband for more women in office—like Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins , the first woman to ever hold a cabinet position.

Jobs available to women paid less but were more stable during the banking crisis: nursing, teaching and domestic work. They were supplanted by an increase in secretarial roles in FDR’s rapidly-expanding government. But there was a catch: over 25 percent of the National Recovery Administration’s wage codes set lower wages for women, and jobs created under the WPA confined women to fields like sewing and nursing that paid less than roles reserved for men.

Married women faced an additional hurdle: By 1940, 26 states had placed restrictions known as marriage bars on their employment, as working wives were perceived as taking away jobs from able-bodied men—even if, in practice, they were occupying jobs men would not want and doing them for far less pay.

Great Depression Ends and World War II Begins

With Roosevelt’s decision to support Britain and France in the struggle against Germany and the other Axis Powers, defense manufacturing geared up, producing more and more private-sector jobs.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 led to America’s entry into World War II, and the nation’s factories went back into full production mode.

This expanding industrial production, as well as widespread conscription beginning in 1942, reduced the unemployment rate to below its pre-Depression level. The Great Depression had ended at last, and the United States turned its attention to the global conflict of World War II.

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American Social History Project  ·    Center for Media and Learning

"growing up in down times: children of the great depression".

This essay provides historical perspective on the social, political, and economic circumstances of the Great Depression. It suggests some ways the hard times of the 1930s affected young people and left their mark on them as adults.

The United States’ dynamic capitalist economy has been a rollercoaster of booms and busts, sparing no generation from its astonishing dips and climbs. New markets, products, and efficiencies have enabled many Americans to live comfortably and sometimes acquire great wealth, yet the nation has also suffered severe economic downturns throughout its history. Depressions were regular occurrences in the industrializing nineteenth century, striking at least once every decade except for the 1860s (which was visited by civil war). Generally understood as prolonged business slumps causing widespread unemployment, depressions are no less devastating for being so common. And most devastating of all in terms of its length and depth was the Great Depression of the 1930s. It began just before the stock market crash of 1929 and ended with the outbreak of World War II in 1941. In between, fifteen million Americans, a quarter of the work force, lost their jobs. Millions more lost their homes, farms, businesses, and life savings. 

Historians still disagree about the causes of the depression, or rather about which combination of causes was most critical. Contributing factors generally include the overproduction of crops and manufactured goods, or their under-consumption due to low wages and the limited purchasing power of ordinary families. At the same time easy credit and overconfidence born of the prosperous 1920s prompted investors large and small to play the stock market like a carnival game and carry more personal debt than was prudent. Additionally, high tariffs and mismanagement of foreign debts stemming from the First World War stifled international trade. And an environmental crisis – partly natural and partly man-made – ravaged the Great Plains, stirring up droughts and dust storms that drove thousands of tenant farmers off their land. The resulting hardships can be glimpsed in iconic photographs of the period showing gaunt-faced migrant families driving west in over-packed jalopies; gangs of boys hopping freight trains in search of work; endless breadlines wrapped around city blocks, somber picketers demanding food, jobs, or housing; and angry strikers clashing with police. 

An inability to reassure a battered public, let alone turn the economy around, led to the defeat of an immensely popular president, Herbert Hoover, and an end to the Republican Party’s twelve-year reign in the White House. In his first hundred days in office in 1933, Hoover’s successor, New York Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, launched a host of programs to aid farmers, workers, homeowners, and the unemployed. He repealed Prohibition, reformed the monetary system, and restored people’s confidence in banks. Aided by a formidable first lady – Eleanor Roosevelt, economic advisers nicknamed “the brain trust,” and a powerful new medium – radio, which enabled him to speak directly to the public, Roosevelt offered a route to recovery. Conservatives still argue that his liberal “New Deal” policies and support for labor unions actually delayed recovery, but without a doubt his actions helped keep millions of Americans and their hopes alive. 

There are two schools of thought about the impact of the Great Depression on children. One school holds that the hard times left young people physically damaged and psychologically scarred. The other insists that the decade of dire want and desperate wandering served to strengthen their character and forge what became America’s “greatest generation” of the World War II era. In fact, children’s experience of the depression varied widely, depending on their age, race, sex, region, and individual family circumstances. Nevertheless, certain patterns have emerged. Demographically, birthrates fell during the decade to a low of 18 births per 1,000 population, and children’s health declined due to the poorer nutrition and health care available. 

Economically, many children worked both inside and outside the home; girls babysat or cleaned house, boys hustled papers or shined shoes, and both ran errands and picked crops. Yet the scarcity of jobs led record numbers of children to remain in school longer. Socially, high school became a typical teenage experience for the first time. A record 65 percent of teens attended high school in 1936; they spent the better part of their days together, forming their own cliques and looking to each other for advice and approval. Thus arose the idea of a separate, teenage generation. 

Politically, the state began to play a larger role in children’s lives. The federal government established day-care centers, supplied school lunches, built playgrounds, swimming pools, and ball fields. The 1935 Social Security Act provided aid for rural, disabled, and dependent children, while the Civilian Conservation Corps and National Youth Administration created jobs and educational opportunities for teens. Culturally, young people became a distinct market for comic books featuring Superman and other superheroes, movies starring child stars like Shirley Temple and Mickey Rooney, and Disney cartoons introducing Mickey Mouse and the Three Little Pigs, whose theme song, “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf” became an anthem of the era.

Historical Era

Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945)

Great Depression , Young America

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The Great Depression: Causes, Effects, and Lessons Learned

• Categories: Great Depression

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Published: Jan 29, 2024

Words: 763 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Causes of the great depression, effects of the great depression, references:, stock market crash of 1929, overproduction and underconsumption, bank failures and the collapse of the banking system, economic effects, social effects, political effects.

• Worster, D. (1979) Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s
• Klein, M. (2003). The Defining Moment: The Great Depression and the American Economy in the Twentieth Century.
• Soule, G. (1996). The Greatest American Bank Robbery: The Collapse of the Savings and Loan Industry.

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How the Great Depression Changed Americans Essay

Introduction, works cited.

America’s Great Depression took place between 1929 and 1939 and was part of a worldwide economic recession in which the world experienced a reduction in business activity, and subsequent skyrocketing rates of unemployment. Notable about the event is that, it was not the result of some uncontrollable natural disaster but rather a result of misguided economic policies, whose authors only intended good but instead reaped disaster. During the depression, the population experienced intense pain and extensive misery and the event has been blamed for leading to calamities such as World War II and the rising to power of Adolf Hitler (Hall & Ferguson 2).

According to economists, a stiff monetary policy initiated by the Federal Reserve at the beginning of 1928 led to the initial recession in United States of America. Stock prices were taking an upward trend and Federal Reserve officials intervened with a string of actions designed at tightening credit conditions for member banks (Hall & Ferguson 64). In October 929, the very foundations of a presumably vibrant American society were vigorously shaken when the once strong stock market came crashing down and for nearly 10 years, the once booming industrial expansion that followed the Civil War almost came to a standstill (Jillson 406).

During the 1920s, American farmers had incurred heavy debts through farm mechanization and expanded production, resulting in mountainous surpluses that could not be marketed. As business got lower, marketing of livestock and farm produce got more difficult. A government intervention to buy surpluses from the farmers did not achieve positive results and many land owners lost their properties to unpaid debts. When the depression came, farmers were worst hit and the rural population slowly started dwindling as people moved to the cities in search of a better life. Suffering had changed people’s attitude towards work and they could now do whatever kind of work that would bring daily bread (Kennedy 17, 85).

Over a decade, Americans experienced an era of joblessness that was so harsh that, for some time, the population was exposed to abject poverty; the worst being the immigrants, blacks and Mexican-Americans. By the beginning of 1932, close to 20 per cent of the American labor force had lost their jobs, a situation that got worse in large cities like Detroit and Chicago where joblessness had hit the 50 per cent mark (Kennedy 85-8, 164). Most of the major industries like General Motors were forced to lay off roughly half of their labor force, while those lucky to remain had to be content with shorter working hours and smaller paychecks. America was for the first time experiencing unemployment of such high magnitude (Kennedy 166).

While farm produce rotted in the rural farms, the population in such big cities as New York, Seattle, Chicago and others scavenged for food in garbage cans (Kennedy 165). America’s outlook to life changed as more Americans had to rely on the detested relief food and used clothing. Millions of Americans fell victim to malnutrition and to the common American, such kind of life was degrading. Charities and government institutions could no longer cope with the responsibility of providing relief to the needy. Even the banks that served the immigrants were the first to close down within the first rounds of panic (Kennedy 86-88). As a result of the untold suffering, some immigrants started losing hope in this presumed land of plenty and chose to return to their countries of origin. America was slowly losing its citizens and losing precious labor force as well (Kennedy 164).

Due to un-employment, Americans lost their homes to failed mortgages while others were kicked out of apartments for default of rent, resulting in the creation of shanty settlements especially in the major towns. Families broke as unproductive fathers lost respect as family heads due to joblessness and left home. Children also left to ease the suffering in the homes while women, who previously stayed at home entered the labor force, and took up the role of breadwinners (Kennedy 164-166).

Declining economic outputs resulting from the depression led to a public outcry for help that necessitated government intervention in what has popularly been referred to as the New Deal. Under this New Deal, the government initiated a variety of intervention programs, making the government an important participant in the nation’s economy. The New Deal has also been attributed to creation of more socialism and free enterprise while putting a check to capitalism. The Federal government got more involved in such areas as social security, welfare, electricity generation and securities regulation among others. This government was now growing bigger in size (Hall & Ferguson 3). There was also a change in the dominant political party as most Americans lost confidence in the government and Republicans lost to the Democrats. New laws came into being that increased the power of government and a welfare state came into being with the creation of welfare associations and unions to look into the unemployment issue. Such associations as Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Public Works Administration (PWA) were formed during this time (Jillson 327, 382).

The depression in America cannot pass off as just another crisis but rather as an episode that served to reveal the extensive structural inequities that existed within the American Society. Most Americans were now more aware that any economic policy was subject to failure and realized the need for government intervention in the management of the economy (Kennedy 168).

Hall, Thomas E, and Ferguson J. David. The Great Depression: An International Disaster of Perverse Economic Policies . Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1998.

Jillson, Cal. American Government: Political Change and Institutional Development. London: Routledge, 2007.

Kennedy, David M. Freedom from Fear. The American People in Depression and War 1929 – 1945. New York: Oxford University Press US, 2001.

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What is the Great Depression?

Key factors that caused the great depression, government response and policy failures.

• Lessons learned from the Great Depression
• Could the Great Depression happen again? 

Unraveling the Causes of the Great Depression

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• While the October 1929 stock market crash triggered the Great Depression, multiple factors turned it into a decade-long economic catastrophe.
• Overproduction, executive inaction, ill-timed tariffs, and an inexperienced Federal Reserve all contributed to the Great Depression.
• The Great Depression’s legacy includes social programs, regulatory agencies, and government efforts to influence the economy and money supply. 

Periods of economic downturn are a normal part of the business cycle, with the average US recession lasting around 10 months. But the Great Depression was a catastrophe, lasting nearly a decade and ushering in a new era of government regulations still seen today. 

Following the exorbitant economic growth of the 1920s, poor policy decisions based on stock market speculation and overproduction by businesses resulted in a large-scale economic crisis known as the Great Depression. Its causes aren't entirely dissimilar to those of recession, though compounded on a grander scale. 

Yet, if the causes of the Great Depression can be seen in other recessions, can the economy fall into another depression? 

Let's explore the economic policies leading to the Great Depression, the impact of the 1929 stock market crash, and the impact of the crisis on global economies. 

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The Great Depression was the worst economic period in US history. Starting in 1929, when the stock market crashed, it lasted until 1939 when the US began mobilizing for World War II. Industrial production fell by nearly 47%, and gross domestic production (GDP) declined by 30%. Almost half of US banks collapsed, stock shares traded at a third of their previous value, and nearly one-quarter of the population was jobless.

Despite popular belief, the stock market crash of 1929 was only the start of the crisis, not the sole perpetrator. The Great Depression resulted from a multitude of different complex policy and economic factors, including ill-timed tariffs and misguided moves by the young Federal Reserve. 

"The crash was not a cause, but a triggering event," says Barry M. Mitnick, a professor of business administration and public and international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh's Katz Graduate School of Business .

The average US recession between WWII and today is 10 months, according to data from the National Bureau of Economic Research . However, the Great Depression ravaged the economy for roughly a decade.

Economic landscape preceding the Depression

The lavish economy of the "Roaring Twenties" preceded the crash of the Great Depression. Between 1922 and 1929 was a time of exorbitant economic growth.

The gross national product grew at an average annual rate of 4.7%, while the unemployment rate dropped from 6.7% to 3.2%. Total wealth in the US more than doubled, though most of that growth was experienced by the wealthiest Americans. Individual Americans also started investing in the market in a big way. 

But all was not as roaring as it seemed. Consumers were spending more than they could afford, and companies over-produced to keep up with the demand. Financial institutions became heavily involved in stock market speculation. In some cases, they created subsidiaries that offered their own securities. Brokers secretly sold their own stocks — what would be a clear conflict of interest today.

Still, the stock market stubbornly kept on climbing. That is, until October 1929, when it all came tumbling down.

The stock market crash of 1929

The stock market crash of 1929 wasn't a one-day event but rather a week of escalating panic. On October 24 — a day now known as Black Thursday — the markets opened a staggering 11% lower than the previous day. Investors who had caught on to the market's overheated situation had begun rapidly selling their shares, sending a shockwave through Wall Street. 

The market rallied briefly, but share prices plunged another 13% the following Monday (aka Black Monday). Many investors couldn't make their margin calls. Panic caused more investors to sell, further accelerating the crash. 

"The system fell back on itself like a house of cards," says Mitnick.

The stock market lost more than 85% of its value from 1929 to July 1932. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank from a 381.17 high in 1929 to a 41.22 low in 1932. 

Oversupply and overproduction problems

Mass production sparked the consumption boom of the 1920s, leading businesses to overproduce products. Even before the crash, businesses had to start selling goods at a loss. 

A similar crisis was occurring in agriculture. Farmers were in debt during World War I after buying more machinery to boost production. However, in the post-war economy, they produced more supply than consumer needs. Land and crop values plummeted. 

In turn, the price of agricultural and industrial products dropped, which decimated profits and hurt already over-extended enterprises. 

Low demand, high unemployment

During periods of economic recession, consumers stop spending, which forces companies to cut production. With less output, companies start laying people off, raising unemployment.

A healthy unemployment rate in the US hovers between 3% to 5%. During the peak of the Great Depression, the unemployment rate peaked at 24.9% in 1933 — 12.8 million Americans out of a population of 125.6 million — and it was still as high as 17.2% in 1939 . 

Banking failures and financial panic

Weak regulations had opened the way for wild speculation on stock exchanges. Being "in the market" was the "in" thing, but many investors weren't making choices based on research or fundamentals. Rather, they were just gambling that the stock would keep going up.

Even worse, many people bought shares on margin not realizing they'd be on the hook for the whole amount if the price fell. The result was inflated prices, with shares selling for more money than justified by their companies' actual earnings.

Moreover, the Fed followed the " liquidationist " policy of then-Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, in which the central bank stands aside and lets troubled banks collapse. Theoretically, a stronger, sounder banking system would emerge. The policy ended up taking out smaller banks, not necessarily bad banks. By 1933, 11,000 of them had failed, wiping out the savings of millions.

Ultimately, the decrease in the money supply led to deflation. That, in turn, caused sky-high increases in real interest rates, which choked off any chances of companies investing or expanding.

International trade and tariff policies

As demand declined, big business and agriculture, feeling the effect of cheap goods from abroad, lobbied for protection. The role of trade tariffs in the Great Depression negatively impacted the interconnectedness of global financial systems. Congress obliged with the United States Tariff Act of 1930, aka the Smoot-Hawley bill , which raised tariffs on foreign products by about 20%. 

Multiple countries retaliated with their own tariffs on US goods. The inevitable result was a trade meltdown. In the next two years, US imports fell 40%. 

No markets abroad. No demand at home. Small wonder that economic activity ground to a standstill. 

The role of monetary policy

During the Great Depression and years after, blame initially fell on the private sector, with accusations that banks had recklessly depleted their reserves. However, a groundbreaking 1963 study by economists Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz revealed that the Fed's monetary policy was largely to blame. 

In 2002, Ben Bernanke, a Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve member, said as much . "I would like to say to Milton and Anna: Regarding the Great Depression. You're right; we did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again," Bernanke said in an address during Friedman's 90th birthday. 

Federal Reserve's mistakes during the Great Depression contributed to the heady expansion. Interest rates were kept low in the early to mid-1920s, then increased after the crash, doubling in 1931 from their pre-crash levels. The idea was to discourage lending and borrowing by stopping the "wild speculating" that encouraged the market to bubble and burst.

Fiscal policies and unemployment

President Herbert Hoover's response to the economic crisis was tardy. A believer in minimal government intervention, which he called "rugged individualism," Hoover considered direct public relief character-weakening. He did eventually start spending and launched lending and public works projects. Still, according to many economists, it was too little, too late.

The severity of the Depression forced the government to take a more hands-on relief effort. Increased government spending through direct relief programs and infrastructure projects provided more jobs, while simultaneously helping struggling families access unemployment benefits and welfare. However, these programs were funded by controversial budget deficits aimed at re-stimulating the economy. 

Banking reforms were also enacted to regulate financial institutions and prevent further reckless practices. Prior to the crash, bank deposits lacked protection and led to folks withdrawal ing their savings in a panic. Thus, policymakers created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to reduce bank runs and restore trust in the banking system. 

Concluding analysis: Lessons learned from the Great Depression

The new deal.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt became president in 1933, he quickly began pushing through Congress a series of programs and projects called the New Deal . How much the New Deal actually alleviated the depression is a matter of some debate, as production remained low and unemployment high throughout the decade. 

But the New Deal did more than attempt to stabilize the economy, relieve jobless Americans, create previously unheard of safety net programs, and regulate the private sector. It also reshaped the role of government with programs that are now part of the fabric of American society. 

Among the New Deal's accomplishments:

• Worker protections , like the National Labor Relations Act, which legitimized unions, collective bargaining, and other employee rights
• Public works programs , aimed at providing employment via construction projects — a win-win for society and individuals 
• Individual safety nets , such as the Social Security Act of 1935, which created the pension system still with us today, and unemployment insurance

A legacy of government regulation

New Deal legislation ushered in a new era of government regulations — and the underlying concept that even a free-enterprise system can use some federal oversight. Milestone measures include:

• The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 , which separated investment banking from commercial banking to prevent conflicts of interest and the sort of speculation that led to the 1929 crash (it was repealed in 1999, though some of its regulations remain in the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010) 
• The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) oversees banks and protects consumer accounts, via FDIC deposit insurance
• The establishment of the Securities and Exchange Commission  (SEC) to oversee the stock market, create securities legislation, and protect investors from fraudulent practices

"The biggest legacy is a change in the view of government's responsibilities — that it should take an active part in addressing economic and social problems," says Aleksandar Tomic, program director of Master of Science in Applied Economics at Boston College .

The Great Depression — Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Many economists and historians believe that the Great Depression could have been avoided, or at least mitigated, with better policy decisions and quicker government actions. Some economic downturns were inevitable due to excessive stock market speculation and consumer overspending. 

The Great Depression lasted until 1939 when the US began mobilizing for World War II. The enactment of the New Deal and the increased wartime spending helped the US economy to recover as countries abandoned the gold standard and initiated more aggressive fiscal and monetary policies. 

The Great Depression had a significant and lasting impact on global economies. The US raised tariffs on foreign products by about 20%, causing some countries to implement their own tariffs on US goods. The trade meltdown, severe deflation, and high unemployment affected not only the US but other countries, including Europe, Japan, and Latin America. The interconnectedness of global financial systems suffered a major blow, leading to significant political changes in many countries. 

The social consequences of the Great Depression devastated everyday people who faced widespread panic amidst increased homelessness, poverty, and a loss of savings due to bank failures. Families struggled to afford basic necessities like food and shelter. Soup kitchens and bread lines were common as economic hardship led to significant unemployment and financial insecurity. 

Could the Great Depression happen again? 

"The highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression" screamed headlines in April 2020, when the jobless level hit 14.7% of the US population. Since the initial spike, unemployment rates have dropped back to healthy rates, sitting at 3.9% as of February 2024 . 

January 2024, the S&P 500 reached its first record high in two years and officially became a bull market after its low point in October 2022. Amidst the AI boom, mega-cap tech stocks like Nvidia have surged more than 264% and are expected to keep growing. 

The Feds raised interest rates back in 2022 to stem rising inflation . But with inflation receding and after its December 2023 meeting, the US Federal Reserve will likely be cutting interest multiple times by the end of 2024.

Though there's by no means a consensus, many economists argue that another such catastrophe, at least one caused by internal factors, is unlikely. That's largely because the contemporary federal government can draw on many more policy and monetary tools, ranging from unemployment compensation to easing the money supply.

As, indeed, it has done. Take the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009, for example. It, too was kicked into high gear by a financial-market crisis, the subprime loan meltdown. But the Fed quickly slashed interest rates. And thanks largely to a massive government bailout of the banking, insurance, and automobile industries and an $800 billion-plus stimulus package, the downturn officially lasted less than two years. The economy recovered — albeit sluggishly — and eventually sparked a record-breaking bull market.

Though economic downturns may trigger memories of the Great Depression, nowadays, says Brad Cornell, managing director of Berkeley Research Group, "we know enough and can respond quickly enough so that these sorts of endogenous downward spirals are not going to happen again."

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The Great Depression Essay

The students learn about the events that led to the stock market crash, the concerns of the Depression, and the effects of the New Deal programs on the American people and the American economy. While reading and discussing these important issues in American History, the students choose an original Depression photograph [primary source] and create a story using historical facts. The project is one week in duration. A scoring guide and handout are utilized.

1. The student will conduct research using primary and secondary sources. 2. The student will write an essay using the provided format and criteria. 3. The student will present his/her work to class an an oral presentation.

Missouri Standards

Goal 1.2 Conduct research to answer questions and evaluate information and ideas. Goal 1.4 Use technological tools and other resources to locate, select, and organize information. Goal 2.1 Plan and make written, oral and visual presentations for a variety of purposes and audiences.

Kansas Standards

Benchmark 2: The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of individuals, groups, ideas, developments, and turning points in the era of the Great Depression through World War II in United States history (1930-1945).

The student:

1. (A) analyzes the causes and impact of the Great Depression (e.g., overproduction, consumer debt, banking regulation, unequal distribution of wealth).

2. (A) analyzes the costs and benefits of New Deal programs. (e.g., budget deficits vs. creating employment, expanding government: CCC, WPA, Social Security, TVA, community infrastructure improved, dependence on subsides).

3. (A) analyzes the debate over expansion of federal government programs during the Depression (e.g., Herbert Hoover, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Alf Landon, Huey Long, Father Charles Coughlin).

Benchmark 3: The student writes technical text using the writing process.

1. Develops a technical text focused on one main purpose. (Ideas and Content: prewriting, drafting, revising: N,E,T,P)

2. Clearly defines the main idea with selection of concise, logical details that meet the reader’s informational needs. (Ideas and Content: prewriting, drafting, revising: N,E,T,P)

3. Analyzes and understands implications and consequences of plagiarism (e.g. ethical, legal, professional). (Ideas and Content: prewriting, drafting, revising: N,E,T,P)

4. Cites references for all sources of information and includes summarized and paraphrased ideas from other authors. (Ideas and Content: prewriting, drafting, revising: N,E,T,P)

5. Constructs a bibliography with a standard style of format (e.g. MLA, APA, etc.). (Ideas and Content: prewriting, drafting, revising: N,E,T,P)

6. Applies appropriate strategies to generate technical text (e.g. brainstorming, listing, webbing, working in pairs or cooperative groups, identifying information from print sources). (Organization:prewriting, drafting, revising: N,E,T,P)

7. Organizes information within each section, paragraph, list, or graphic in a logical and effective sequence to meet the reader’s informational needs. (Organization: prewriting, drafting, revising: N,E,T,P)

8. Composes a comprehensive piece with a constructive introduction, a relevant or sequential body, and a suitable conclusion. Organization: prewriting, drafting, revising: N,E,T,P)

9. Uses appropriate transitions to connect ideas within the piece (e.g. enumerated lists, bullets, headings, subheadings, complex outlining elements). (Organization: prewriting, drafting, revising: N,E,T,P

• http://www.infoplease.com/
• http://www.yahoo.com
• http://www.yahooligans.com
• Images in the Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information Collection (Library of Congress) America at the Crossroads - Great Photographs From the Thirties, Edited by Jerome Prescott, Smithmark, New York, 1995. American Odyssey, Gary Nash, Glencoe, New York, 1994. Highlights in American History, Grace Kachaturoff, Schaffer Publications, Torrance, California, 1995. Life During the Great Depression, Dennis Nishi, Lucent Books, San Diego, 1998.

The students will study the chapters on the Great Depression and Roosevelt’s New Deal using the school text American Odyssey. The class will read the text, complete guided readings, and study these issues while reading articles from Roosevelt’s Presidency and readings from Highlights in American History. The Depression Essay Project will be introduced during this unit. The use of primary sources and the need to access various Internet sources will enhance the learning process. Each student will choose a photograph from sources to include the KC Public Librarv Special Collection. The students can chose a photograph from the collections of Margaret Bourke-White or Dorothea Lange. Government archives have numerous photographs from the Depression. Additional historical information will be found by accessing Yahoo , Searchopolis , and Information Please Almanac. The students will gain additional knowledge about FDR by using the Project WhistleStop Web Site. After completing the research, the student will follow the format of the essay. The time frame will be distributed in order for the student to organize his/her time and information. A class period in the computer lab will be made available to the class. Each student will have the opportunity to share his/her insights in the form of an oral presentation.

DEPRESSION ESSAY

MAKE YOUR PHOTOGRAPH COME ALIVE!

In this project students will describe the life of a person or persons who suffered hardship and desperation during the Great Depression. The students will choose an authentic photograph from the Great Depression, which can be found using various resources. Students will describe the picture and give an identity to the person(s) in the picture and explain how the depression affected their life/lives. If a photograph is chosen without people, the students will create a person or family who lives [had lived] at the site. [The teacher will show several examples.] In addition, the student will explain how FDR’s New Deal helped restore, or did not restore, the lives of the individuals. A picture of the photograph must accompany the essay and its source documented. It is required that the students use proper mechanics and a five-paragraph essay format to tell this story. The format is as follows: Paragraph 1 This is a general paragraph that is interesting and captures the reader’s attention. Paragraph 2 This is the time to introduce the person [sl in the photo. Who is this? Where do/did they live? What was their life[s] like before the Depression? Paragraph 3 What was the Great Depression? Why did it occur? Explain how this person [s] was affected, and how the individual[s] came to be in the state as shown in the photograph. Paragraph 4 Explain what the New Deal was and how specific programs helped the person[s] in your photo. If there were negative aspects discuss and be specific. Paragraph 5 This is the conclusion of the essay. Describe what happened to the person[s] in the photograph. Describe lessons learned and/or how life[s] changed for this person[s].  

THIS IS THE TIME TO SHOW YOUR CREATIVE REPORTING TALENTS!

A scoring guide will be used to assess each student. The student will receive a copy of the scoring guide at the beginning of the project and a detailed explanation of the requirements of the project.

DEPRESSION ESSAY SCORING GUIDE