The Great Depression
When the Great Depression began in 1929, millions of Americans soon became unemployed and poverty-stricken. The Stock market crash, caused by over-speculation, cost many Americans all their money and savings and soon even those not involved in the Stock market began to suffer. Not long after, the Dust Bowl, a series of powerful dust storms caused by drought and bad farming techniques, soon decimated the farming economy in the Midwest. In response to the Great Depression, which lasted from 1929 to 1941, Franklin Roosevelt experimented with many plans to assuage the economic panic. These plans, known as the "New Deal", were highly successful and greatly improved the government's role in citizens' lives by creating jobs for the unemployed and agencies to aid the impoverished. When Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) took the office of President in 1932, he inescapably inherited former President Hoover's problems. During the first hundred days of FDR's presidency he pushed hundreds of programs through Congress to p
Because of the Great Depression, the government began to get involved with helping the unemployed find jobs and aid the impoverished as depicted in Document H. These programs came to be known as the "New Deal". This basically meant that businesses were left to their concerns to which the government would not interfere. Soon strikes began to break out everywhere and many employees began to complain about the work hours and wage cuts as shown in Documents F and G. rovide relief, create jobs and try to mend the economy. However, when FDR took the office of President in 1932, he inevitably changed the role of the government in the economy. Eventually Hoover tried to assuage the economy by creating the Hawley-Smoot tariff, which became the highest import tax in history and did nothing more than heave the economy further into depression as shown in Document B. In conclusion, FDR was highly successful in his attempts to restore the American economy when the Stock market crashed and economic cataclysm overtook the nation. Even the Supreme Court began to criticize the new programs by stating that the NIRA (National Industrial Recovery Act) gave the President too much power. So in 1935 FDR, in an effort to appease his critics and ensure the effectiveness of his plans, created the "Second New Deal. Several examples of these programs were the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Civil Works Administration, and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. Soon Americans began to mock Hoover by calling the shanty towns they lived in Hoovervilles, nicknaming the old newspapers, which they used for blankets, Hoover blankets and their empty pockets became known as Hoover flags. As a result, FDR extended the government's role to support the economy for future generations. The political cartoon in Document C depicts the hundreds of programs and agencies FDR created to combat unemployment and widespread poverty.
Common topics in this essay:
Document FDR,
Fiasco Soon,
President Hoover's,
Franklin Roosevelt,
,
Depression Deal,
Dust Bowl,
Social Security,
Soon Americans,
Eventually Hoover,
hundreds programs,
stock market,
fdr office president,
social security,
unemployment rate,
economy depression,
aid impoverished,
fdr office,
economic cataclysm,
president 1932,
office president,
office president 1932,
|
Acceptance Essays
