PRESENT
U.S. History
August 2, 2004
The Great Depression was one of the times to ever cast its shadow on the U.S. The Depression was so devastating that the economy needed years to recover.
Millions of Americans were left homeless, jobless, and foodless. There was little to no hope in the country and many felt that the Depression was going to last forever.
It is a fact of economics that all recessions are preceded by a excess of goods on the market, and this was especially true before the stock market crash of ’29. Supply was everywhere; demand nowhere. This was simply caused by the huge amount of people without jobs. These people would save all of their money instead of spend it and this caused industries to fail because of the lack of consumers and the oversupply of goods.
Many try to blame the worsening of the Depression on Hoover, for supposedly betraying the laissez-faire ideology. Lassiez-Faire was a term used to describe hands off based government concerning the industry. But This didnt last long in the great depression as we soon realized government needed a more hands- on style of government over industry, this is where the welfare state came in. This provided relief to families and industries failing in America.
Another form of help the government provided was the New Deal..
The forgotten Americans were the ones who needed the new deal to benefit them. These people were the blacks, women, immigrants, and the many people who suffered from poverty. Unemployment was one of the biggest issues to strike the forgotten Americans. The new deal provided helping programs such as the Social securities act, WPA, and the federal emergency relief act to lower the unemployment and help those who couldn’t work. Checks could be received to those who were poor because of the Soc. Securities act.
The WPA, which was led by Harry Hopkins, was built to help the artists and musicians obtain a steady job that would help lift the nations spirit. The federal Emergency relief act provided relief money for a limited time to those workers who had been laid off. This would also help during the industrial revolution which took jobs away from skilled workers because of the introduction of machinery which would do the work and increase productivity.
The great society was Lyndon Johnsons idea to end the poverty and racial injustice in society, This great society brought a new idea with it, called MEDICARE this provided medical insurance for people over the age of 65. The great society also introduced the HUD or The department of Housing and urban development. This organization would help beautify the cities and helped provide public transportation and helped to repair housing.
The Great depression no doubt was a horrendous time for many living during that time. They faced hunger, unemployment, and at time death. But America prevailed through it and weve fixed the problems that we found evident in the times leading to the depression. .
