Talk About Hard Times

The Great Depression was one of the hardest times Americans have ever faced. Many men and women lost their jobs. It was also extremely hard for families to find a source of income. In such a challenging time as the Great Depression, there where things that helped our country stay strong and not fall apart. Many of them are thanks to President Hoover and President Roosevelt dealing with the situation.

To better understand the Great Depression, we need to know and understand what its causes where. The 1920s brought the country great prosperity. Under President Calvin Coolidge, the Republicans took full credit for the economic boom. In 1928, after Coolidge declined to run for reelection, the Republicans nominated Herbert Hoover and the Democrats nominated Alfred E. Smith to run for president. Thanks to the great prosperity in the 1920s, Hoover won the election in a landslide.

The new President had great optimism of the future. Along with his optimism, many people invested in stocks due to a long bull market. This caused prices to soar. The bull market however, would soon come to an end as professional investors started to sell their holdings. As a result, the prices fell causing a monumental crash in the stock market.

On Monday, October 21, 1929, the stock market plunged. Later that week the market fell even further. Finally on October 29, over 16 million share of stock where sold. The stock market lost up to $15 billion in value. A total of $30 billion was lost.

Due to the stock market crashing, the nation's banks began to close. When the market crashed, the banks lost a surmountable amount of money on their investments. The banks then cut back on the number of loans they made. This put the economy into a great recession.

Since people did not have the money to buy crops and other items, there was a mass overproduction of many products. People's income was decreasing, and so their spending had to decrease.

There was also a loss of export trades. The Hawley-Smoot Tariff made the tariff rate the highest in American history. This hurt both farmers, and American companies.

All of these issues combined made life during the Great Depression for an extremely difficult situation. People with families who had lost their job struggled to get by. They would, at times, go hungry. They would stand in bread lines for hours to receive some type of food. Many people became homeless. Some would often jump onto moving trains and become hobos.

The Dust Bowl was another problem Americans faced. The wind would blow dust from the earth into the air. When the air settled, people would breathe it in along with of the dust. Some animals and humans died of suffocation. Many farms where withered and farmers had to give them away to the banks.

One way that Americans escaped from the outside world's problems was to find refuge in entertainment such as books, art, movies, and the radio. Among these, the radio and movies where most popular. Many Americans enjoyed going to the movies to get away from their problems. Meanwhile, tens of millions of Americans listened to the radio each day to stay informed of the different happenings occurring. Both of these things brought communities closer and helped them to grow stronger. Through great perseverance and willpower,Americans where able to make the best of their situations however bad they may have been.

While we may think that the economic struggles facing us today are troubling, they are nothing like the ones of the Great Depression. The problems that we have are actually quite small so far. As long as we can come together as Americans and stand United, I believe we will be able to overcome any issue that may arise just as we did during the Great Depression.