great depression
In the 1930's the entire world economy was in a slump. It was one of the worst depressions the world had known. America, a world leader, was suffering right along with everywhere else. The depression had devastating effects on the country. The stock market was in shambles. Banks everywhere went under. Businesses couldn't continue to operate. Farmers fell into bankruptcy. A quarter of the working force, or 13 million people, were unemployed in 1932, and this was only the beginning. During the previous decade, the nation had enjoyed a seemingly endless period of prosperity. The Great War ended in 1918 and then, following a brief post-war depression in 1920-21, the economy took off. Under the "bloviating" leadership of President Harding, taxes were cut and so was federal spending. The President then retreated to his closet with his mistress, leaving the economy to its own devices. Unfortunately for Harding, the strain of keeping his wife, "the Duchess," away from his mistresses became too much for him. Harding died in 1923 and his Vice President Calvin "Silent Cal" Coolidge took the wheel. Coolidge was a tight-lipped but popular president. And it was a good thing, too, for, unfortunately for Coolidge, there was a lot more going on
The policies of the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations served to intensify the depression rather than alleviate it. This act chopped taxes on high incomes with very little cuts for middle incomes. He appointed William Humphrey to the Federal Trade Commission, who systematically refused to investigate various monopolies. He threatened business to get his way. However, the economy would have eventually recovered by itself if there had been no more tomfoolery with the economy. Hoover was anything but a laissez-faire president. He also created price stabilization policies for the struggling farming community. His first AAA made farmers happy by paying them not to plant crops. On October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed. This decreased the surpluses and therefore raised the prices. All this after a failed attempt to do the same thing in 1928. When the farmers ran into trouble, the rural banks were not far behind. In the election campaign of 1928, Coolidge had stated that he would not run again. When the Federal Reserve Board tossed its policy of easy money, it was only a short time before the stock market followed suit.
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,
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Acceptance Essays
