Herbert Hoover and his contributions to the great depression

President Hoover was the 31st president of the United States. He is often seen as one of the worst president. This is because some of his actions helped make the depression much more severe. One such example is him urging many employers not to fire people or cut wages. This resulted in wage rigidity, which many economists have said only worsened the depression. Another example is the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. This raised tariffs on imported items and was supposed to encourage Americans to buy American-made items and protect farmers. What actually happened was that other countries raised tariffs on American products, which worsened the depression.

Dictatorship in America?

Many republicans were against the New Deal because it gave more power to the government than was ever seen before. People were scared of having a dictatorship looming over them, especially as the Nazi Party was gaining traction in Germany. The Supreme Court was especially against the new deal since congress was basically just going along with whatever Franklin D. Roosevelt said. There was a lot of friction between the president and the Supreme Court that ended with the Supreme Court just agreeing with Roosevelt in the end.

Communist threats in the US

During WW2 the US was allies with the USSR to take out the greater evil Germany. After the war ended tensions between the nations increased almost instantaneously. The USSR hated capitalism and the US hated communism and both nations were the biggest and best examples of their economic systems. Both were the biggest world powers post world war two and had the military and nuclear power that could easily destroy each other. With the spread of communism, communist ideals had reached the minds of some american's. A small portion of the working class had wanted a communist revolution in the US to redistribute the wealth, there were rich people that owned most of the country's wealth. The small amount of communist in the US were considered extremists and were jailed for little or no reason because of Americas fear and hatred for communism.

Great Depression

This was considered one of the most damaging eras for the United States economy. It lasted ten years from, 1929 - 1939. The main reason for the dramatic downfall of the economy was because of the crash in Wall Street. Since Roosevelt was the President at the time, he was trying to do anything and everything to in his power to improve the devastation that was hitting his country at the time. During his reign, the Social Security Act was passed which was to help the citizens of the United States of America with unemployment. During this time, there were multiple “bank waves of panic”, which created more tension between the government and the bank association. On the day of Roosevelt's Inauguration, every state bank in the country ended up closing. The workers of the banks and residences did not get paid because of the lack of money that the government workers had.

Jim Crow Laws

The Jim Crow Laws were a set of law that segregated African-American's and White American's. The purpose of the of the Jim Crow Laws was said to treat African-American's "equally" by segregating them, but a man from Howard University documented the inequality of the laws. He showed the differences between a white school which was nicer by looking new and a school for African American's were shown to have been broken down. The laws restricted African-American's from going to places and doing things that white American's did. An example of one of the restrictions was that blacks were not allowed play checkers with whites. A lot of white Americans believed that they were better at things than African-American's. Propaganda of African-American's was used as a way of uniting white's and used to enforce stereotypes that exist still to this day. There were shows that showed African-American's being portrayed by actors who were white in makeup that made them look like African-American's. This was called blackface which is a white actor who was in makeup that made them look black. Lynchings were also something that was common back during the time of the Jim Crow laws. Lynchings were used as a way to show a message to other African-Americans. Whites would do this when a black business owner was getting a lot of business and the white market wouldn't get as much. This was the case for black business owner Thomas Moss. He would get his store burned and sent to jail and would die soon after. His last words were to his "people" to head west where it will be better for them than being in the South. The Jim Crow Laws did make things equal for African-American's, but the system of laws was shown to be against African-American's and favored white American's.

Prohibition in the US

Prohibition in the US was a ban on alcohol from 1920 to 1933. The movement was led by Protestants who believed alcoholism or just the consumption of it was poisoning society. Those for prohibition called themselves the "dry" crusaders. In 1920 the 18th Amendment was passed and the consumption of alcohol in the US was banned. However, not everyone supported the passing of this law, so they went around it. Secret bars called speakeasies started to pop up. Many times the police who were meant to enforce the law, took bribes from speakeasy owners or even joined in drinking. The way these speakeasies were getting their alcohol was from smugglers. Many began to join in the "business" of smuggling. It was easy and good money. Most famously there was Al Capone. He is one of America's notorious gangsters today. Because of him, there was a lot of violence. The biggest example would be the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre where 9 rival gang members were shot and killed in broad daylight. With the enormous amount of violence and lack of enforcement, in 1933 the ban on alcohol was repealed.

The Radio in the 1930s

In the 1930s, president Roosevelt changed the main communication tool to be the radio. At the time, it was a very new concept and people were not quite sure about what it was or how it worked. The first licensed radio came out in Pittsburg, and in 1920, it began to take off. Initially, nobody owned a radio, but on election night that year, people decided to tune in on the radio instead of having to wait for the news on the newspaper. The radio was a more direct, and faster way to become knowledgable about current issues and news. By the year 1930, almost half of American houses had a radio, and by the end of the 30s, about 80% of families owned a radio. Soon, the radio would expand to become something beyond just news. Sports events and music began to utilize the radio, and it soon developed a social aspect to it. People would gather around the radio with friends and family to take part in big sports events like the world series and listen to big things happening locally. However, the popularity of the radio went down dramatically when the internet came out in the 20th century. Overall, the radio was a huge social tie in America in the 1930s, and it served many purposes.

Great Depression vs. Great Recession

         The Great Depression and Great Recession are both very pivotal times in our nation's history. However, these two events carry many similarities and differences. For example, there were many events leading up to the Great Depression in the months and years prior to the actual event. One event that led up to this was the end of WWI. This led to more soldiers coming home, and there were less industrial jobs needed for things such as making bullets or weapons. This was one of the major events leading up to the Great Depression. Also, in the agricultural realm, there was a lot of change happening. During the year 1929, farmers were experiencing a drought, and on top of the food prices that were already failing, agricultural sales plummeted. Not only were the agricultural sales falling, but all sales were, and the reason for this was that there was simply not enough money for people to buy things with. This lead to an overproduction in most products, which lowered the value of them greatly. Even with lower prices, however, people were still not able to purchase any of these goods because there were not many sources of income for families. However, this lack of jobs did not only affect families, they also affected the GDP. The GDP decreased by half in a matter of 4 years, and it went from $103.6 billion to $56.4 billion in the year 1933. 

      Unfortunately, the Great Depression was not the U.S only economic crisis. In the years from 2007 to 2009, the United States fell into a Great Recession. Luckily, since the country had the ability to learn from its past mistakes, the Recession this time was not as bad. However, America did face similar issues in comparison to the Great Depression. One of these was lack of jobs. Nearly 30% of jobs were lost, and as a result there was less consumer spending. With so many jobs no longer there as an option, the economy took a longer time to recover. In both cases, the government was able to help make certain reforms to help better the economy. In the Depression, there was the New Deal which helped shape organizations to fix certain economical issues, such as the AAA which helped curve the surplus of crops, and in the recession, there was the TARP organization that helped with economic issues. In all, both economic crises were detrimental to the United States at the time, but luckily there have been laws and policies put in place to stop these from happening again.

Jazz During the 1930's

The United States was going through it's worse economic crisis it has ever been through. Poeples morals were at an all-time low, as they were all worried about how to get any income. During this time Jazz was born, many people finally started to have fun and go out to dance. The majority of the singers were African American men. Things changed greatly in 1935 marking the beginning of the "swing era." The most famous musicians during the time were Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. They were able to fill ballrooms with huge crowds, when the American people were out at these events they were able to forget all their problems to just have fun.

Meet Kit Kittredge an American Girl

American Girl dolls have been around before one could even remember, dating back all the way to the Great Depression Era. Kits story is based out of her hometown Cincinnati, one of the many places that were harshly affected during this time. The situation directly reflects the impacts the Depression had on families as her father loses his job and the Kittredge family is put at risk of losing the home they grew up in. Kit matures herself as her father is out working by helping around the house because her mom can no longer do so due to her sickness. The moral of the story comes when her aunt Mili teaches her morals to live by, and that is how to use things and protect things that can never be replaced. Kit is very warm-hearted as she stands up for the hobo children, writing an article for the newspaper in hopes of saving the youth. This doll works as a background story to teach to the children of modern-day society lessons.

Case Brief : West Coast vs. Parish

This case specifically overturned the decision that was made in the Adkins vs. Children's hospital. The repetitive question based off of this case was whether or not fixing the minimum wages for women and minors was constitutional or not. Ms. Parish was a woman who worked every so often at the Washington State hotel as a chambermaid for around 22-25 cents per hour, when she was discharged from her position she asked for a certain sum of money, the amount her employers offered was way lower than what she had proposed and she would not settle for it creating a case that would have to follow up investigation . The issue that was being examined and was highly debated was whether or not the minimum wage law violates the liberty of contract as stated in the fifth amendment and applied by the fourteenth? The fourteenth amendment certainly did protect freedom of contract, but passing legislation to the contrary of the problem could have only been justified by allowing the constitution to do so.

The New Deal

During the 1930's the United States was going through it's worst economic ever, many were left unemployed, leaving families out in the streets or just barely getting by. During the beginning of the Great Depression president at the time, Herbert Hoover did very little to improve the situation. Which paved the way for Franklin Roosevelt to run for president and promise a solution for the depression. He had convinced enough people to be elected President of the United States. During his first hundred days in office, President Roosevelt passed many laws and acts that would help the needy people. All the programs he helped build were part of his movement known as the New Deal, thanks to the new deal lots of unemployed men were able to get a job again, the government also helped those who had no source of income. Some of the programs that were created back then are still around today, most importantly the Social Security Act, which was formed to make sure the elderly didn't live in a life of poverty after leaving the workforce. With the elderly retiring, it also opened up new jobs for the younger workers. 

The Dawes Plan

In 1924, the Dawes Plan was made in order to arrange Germany's payments from World War I.  After World War I, Germany had to pay reparations to the Allies from the Treaty of Versailles.  It was a great amount of money that they had to pay, but by the Dawes Plan and the Young Plan, it brought it down.  Charles Dawes created a report which was presented to Germany and the Allies. The plan was to reorganize the Reichsbank and to give Germany a loan of money.  This helped the German economy and it gave them support to produce more in the future. Annually, the reparations were reduced until they were gone. This all became a system of loaning money to each other. As the United States loaned money to Germany to pay off their debt to the Allies, the Allies then payed the U.S.  This shows how the world was at a tough time in the economy where most of these countries were in debt. 

Hoovervilles and Homeless During the Great Depression

A common term for shacktowns and homeless encampments during the Great Depression was a “Hooverville.” With large quantities in the state of Washington and hundreds throughout the entire country, the housing crisis was present to be a result of the employment of the beginning of the 1930s.

The term Hooverville itself was a name specifically created with a name presenting something deliberate behind it. It was the emphasis of the blame being centered behind the Republican Party and President Herbert and Hoover. Seattle also had an extremely large Hooverville, one of the largest in fact, and longest to last. Standing for 10 years, the Hooverville existed between 1931 all the way through 1941.

In fact, until the brink of World War 2 when the area was needed for shipping facilities, the land grew to be covering nine acres of public land. It held a population of 1,200 and it was claimed to have its own “government” with an unofficial mayor and government.

Similarly, when the economy started to crumble in the early 1930’s, homeowners lost their property when they could not pay their mortgages and taxes resulting in unfortunate but inevitable homelessness. It was determined that by 1932, millions of Americans were living outside the normal rent paying housing market. Hundreds upon thousands of Americans roamed the streets looking for shelter. Bridges, alleys, abandoned shelters, and homemade small homes were just a fraction of the places people went to seek a place to stay. While this was going on, others relied on their family members with houses to shelter them. This lead to an overpopulation in houses throughout the country leading to unsafe living conditions within those houses.

Why were Hoovervilles important?

When defined, a Hooverville was a place where a large sum of people that were unemployed and were feeling the effects of the great depression on them. Hundreds of thousands of people lived in hundredes of Hoovervilles that were spread out from each other. The living style of the people in these Hoovervilles were different since they were forced to live in a place that was worn down and the houses they had were more like tents or sheds with little to no room. Even if the Hoovervilles had bad living conditions it allowed thousands of people to get some kind of living style that would have been better than what they had before. The Hoovervilles were later destroyed after the Great Depression had ended and the unemployment rate had gone down.

Mass Production

Mass production became a common way that many goods in America were made. Optimized by Henry Ford, mass production allowed manufacturers to produce much more and at a lower cost. Since mass production is able to have unskilled workers assembling products, it helped America during the Depression because it got people working. One problem with mass production during the Great Depression was that consumers did not have the money to buy the products that were being produced. This led to the whole economy spiraling downward.

Henry Ford was able to maximize efficiency through mass production. He manufactured cars by using assembly lines. By using assembly lines, Ford could hire unskilled workers to repeat the same task over and over. This increased efficiency since each person only had to worry about a small amount of tasks. Mass production really influenced change in the manufacturing business and it still is very present in today's industry.

Red Scare/Palmer Raids

During the 1940s, the communists in the United States became known as the Red Scare. From the Cold War happening between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Americans feared the communists would take over them. Communism is where there are no social classes and people share the wealth produced in equal labor. Americans did not want this control of the government over the people. The communists were called the reds for the color of the Soviet flag was red.  Through the Cold War, there were U.S. citizen spies from the Soviet Union. This led to President Truman creating the Executive Order 9835 which determined if the federal employees were loyal to the government. This brought the palmer raids which were raids conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice that made an attempt to arrest communists, anarchists, and radicals. Led by attorney general Mitchell Palmer, they used weapons such as explosives and other devices for violent activity. Palmer believed that the only way to get rid of these radicals was to stop the immigrants from coming in to the U.S.. All of these raids were conducted under warrants from the court, so they would arrest as many people as possible in order to stop all of the communists they could.  Palmer still believed that there were over 300,000 communists still in the U.S., even after arresting so many.

Sarah Breedlove: An Innovative Woman

Born in Delta Lousiana on December 23 of 1867, Sarah Breedlove became America's first black female entrepreneur and later a philanthropist. Her hair business Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company's success had shifted her life. Sarah's endurance of being a single mom raising a child with only $1.50 earned a day, had eventually paid off when she became a billionaire. Despite her birth name being Sarah Breedlove, she was widely known as Madam C.J. Walker.

The process of success started when she began to lose hair due to a scalp disorder she had to which she reacted by creating "home remedies and store-bought hair care treatments in an attempt to improve her condition." Receiving help from her spouse Charles helped her promote her startup business since that was his profession. 

Result of the New Deal

When President Franklin Roosevelt took office in 1933, he had a set of ideals in mind that he felt could bring the US out of the Great Depression. This set of ideals was called the New Deal. The New Deal brought a lot of promise to the American people during a time when they needed it most. Roosevelt wanted to stimulate the economy once again by giving the unemployed jobs and setting a base for the financial system. Some of the acts he put into effect during his first hundred days in office were the Public Works Administration (PWA), Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), and the Banking Act of 1933. All of these New Deal programs helped pave the way for Americans to get back on the path of success.

Although many people were critical of the New Deal, the results proved to be beneficial to the country. The unemployment rate had gone down as a result of the New Deal from 40% in 1933 to 15% in 1940. The New Deal was successful because it was the beginning of the post-Depression era where people were able to start to remake themselves with the help of the New Deal.

Oscar Micheaux: Independent Filmmaker

Born in 1884 Oscar Michaeux became the first African-American to film a full length productions for the entertainment of his black audience, as well as being an author and director.  It was quite far-fetched seeing a black director "challenge racial segregation" including other controversial topics like rape, interracial couples including others that were reluctantly brought up in conversation. All real life issues were introduced in his works such a innovative way. 

He is estimated to have "written, produced and directed more than 40 films from 1919 to 1948." Some of his most notable works are Within Are Gates, Body and Soul and The Homesteader. His movie The Exile, became the last of his productions he had finished and had the opportunity to include sound and screen his movie to not just his black audience, but towards whites for a change.   It was a big accomplishment seeing as how he was able to cross the separation between the two races that coexisted through his films. 

National Youth Administration (NYA)

NYA, which stands for National Youth Adminstration, was part of the New Deal program proposed and sponsored by Franklin D Roosevelt. Its main goal was focusing on providing work and education to support the teens and adults around the ages 16-25. It ran from June 26 of 1935 til 1939, transferred to the War Manpower Commission, and discontinued in 1943. The head of NYA was Aubrey Willis Williams, whose goal was to get these people between the age of 16-25 the job and education that they needed. According to reliable sources, "By 1938, college youth were paid from $6 to $40 a month for "work study" projects at their schools. Another 155,000 boys and girls from relief families were paid $10 to $25 a month for part-time work that included job training." In total, the NYA helped over 4.5 millions of people find jobs, receive training, and education. Moreover, it helped to provide means for overcoming this economic crisis, along with the other programs of the New Deal, so that the future generations wouldn't have to suffer through the same things.

This is actually my personal favorite solely because of the acronym NYA (also because if this program was active today, I would be affected by this, therefore receiving education (but we kind of already get education as a given right now so I'm not really complaining) and also job opportunities regardless of education level (which is slightly more appealing because we have to all compete for jobs these days and employers only look for the best so not everyone gets a job that they want)). 

Work Progress Adminstration (WPA)

WPA, Work Progress Administration, was a part of the New Deal programs that provided relief to the Great Depression period. It was considered one of the largest and most ambitious of all the programs that were made. It also employed millions of unemployed men, mostly unskilled, to work on government projects, construction of public buildings or roads, and etc. Around 3 million people were employed for these jobs at first, and at the end of WPA, it had employed over 8.5 million people. The program employed many different people with different talents, such as skills in music, performing, arts, media, and etc. By the time WPA was nearing its end of use, almost every community in US had either a new park, bridge, or school that was constructed by WPA alone. This helped millions of people with their employment status, to remain in jobs, for 8 years, keeping them with stable enough incomes to help out their families. It was mainly divided into divisions, which included engineering and construction, professional and service projects, finance, information, investigation, statistics, project control, employment, management, safety, supply, and training and reemployment. 

Farm Credit Act of 1933

What was the Farm Credit Act of 1933? The FCA for short was an act that was created in 1933 and was passed on by the US Government as an Act. When the act was first introduced its main purpose was to provide short, intermediate, and long term loans that were focused on the agricultural side of business. The reason for the creation of the FCA was to help out agricultural business after what had happened during the Great Depression. During the Great Depression agricultural business was lowering down since people did not have the money to buy the recources and products the farmers and crop owners were trying to sell to them. Since people didn't have the money to pay for the crops or products the farmers were not able to keep producing the products during the depression. After the Depression ended the economy increased and the need for farm products increased so they decided to pass the FCA in order to have the products necessary for the peoples needs. The FCA was seen as a positive act passed by the Government since it allowed the production of goods to increase.

Different kinds of New Deal programs that were made

Recently, we've covered the different acts that were proposed by Franklin D. Roosevelt in order to alleviate the Great Depression's effect on the economy, if not remove it completely. There were a total of around 26 New Deal programs at the time of creation, some of which was temporary, some of which is still ongoing as of today. Below is the full list and a mini description of each program. 

-National Youth Administration: A program that focused on providing work and education between the ages 16-25.
-Reconstruction Finance Corporation: A Hoover agency that helped to make larger loans to businesses.
-Federal Emergency Relief Administration: A Hoover programs to create jobs that could be done by anyone, mainly for relief. It was replaced by the WPA in 1935.
-US bank holiday: All banks became closed until they were certified by federal reviewers
-Abandonment of gold standard: Gold reserves no longer backed currency
-Civilian Conservation Corps: Employing young men to work in rural areas under US Army supervision. Had a separate program for the Native Americans
-Homeowners Loan Corporation: Helped people keep their homes. Government bought properties from banks, which allowed the people to pay government instead of the bank in installments, also so that the people are able to pay their bills without going into deep poverty levels
-Tennessee Valley Authority: An act to help modernize the poor regions in US, mainly Tennessee. It centered on dams that generated electricity on the Tennessee River
-Agricultural Adjustment Act:Was ruled unconstitutional. It raised farm prices by cutting total farm output of major crops and livestock.
-National Industrial Recovery Act:Increased wages and prices. Industries set up codes to reduce unfair competitions. Was also ruled unconstitutional
-Public Works Administration: Built large public works projects, used private contractors (didn't hire the unemployed)
-Federal Deposit Insurance Corps: Insures bank deposits and supervises state banks
-Glass-Steagall Act: Helps to regulate investment banking
-Securities Act of 1933:Created standards for sale and purchase of stocks, required awareness of investments to be accurately disclosed
-Civil Works Administration: Provided temporary jobs to millions of unemployed
-Indian Reorganization Act: Moved away from assimilation
-Social Security Act: Provided financial assistance to: elderly, handicapped, paid for by employee and employer payroll contributions; required 7 years contributions, so first payouts were in 1942
-Works Progressed Administration: National labor program for more than 2 million unemployed; created useful construction work for unskilled men; also sewing projects for women and arts projects for unemployed artists, musicians and writers
-National Labor Relations Act (aka Wagner Act): Set up National Labor Relations Board to supervise labor-management relations; In the 1930s, it strongly favored labor unions
-Judicial Reorganization Bill of 1937: Gave the President power to appoint a new Supreme Court judge for every judge 70 years or older; failed to pass Congress
-Federal Crop Insurance Corps: Insures crops and livestock against loss of production or revenue. Was restructured during the creation of the Risk Management Agency in 1996 but continues to exist.
-Surplus Commodities: Gives away food to poor
-Fair Labor Standards Act: Established a maximum normal work week of 44 hours and a minimum wage of 40 cents/hour and outlawed most forms of child labor; still exists, hours have been lowered to 40 hours over the years
-Rural Electrification Administration: One of the federal executive departments of the United States government charged with providing public utilities (electricity, telephone, water, sewer) to rural areas in the U.S. via public-private partnerships. still exists.
-Resettlement Administration: Helped resettled the poor tenant farms, was replaced by Farm Security Administration in 1935.
-Farm Security Administration: An evolved version of the previous, giving a variety of economic and educational programs, some still exist today

The significance of the Radio during the 1920's

During the 1920's the radio had become a huge part of american life. By the end of the the 20's 60% of american households had purchased and use a radio in their home. This started a new era of entertainment and advertising. Many forms of entertainment during the 20's required you to pay and or travel to the location where the entertainment would be held. If you wanted to listen to music you would have to travel to a place that happened to have live performers and if you wanted to watch the baseball game you would have to buy tickets. With the radio you could listen to music or the game from your home. It also sparked a new wave of advertising, companies could advertise their product in a new way, they could write jingles or slogans and make their product memorable. The news was also a thing changed by radio, news could be spreader faster and to a wider range of people. People would learn about important events much quicker and politicians could make speeches via radio to reach people at their homes and people that would not want to attend a live speech. in what other ways was radio significant during the 20's?

Cartoons in the 1930's

The 1930's were a time of desperation, and as a result, people turned to new forms of entertainment. One of the biggest new innovations was the creation of animated cartoons with the use of sound. In the past, black and white movies had been popular. But at this time, people had never seen cartoons animated, and cartoons were sometimes even in color. This invention and era began what would be known as the "Golden Age" of animation, which would continue from the late 1920's and early 1930's all the way to the mid 1980's. In the 1930's, popular cartoons included Flip the Frog, Looney Tunes (an early version), Toby the Pup, and Betty Boop, and these short films were usually located in theaters (because televisions hadn't become available in America yet) for anyone to enjoy for a low price. Along with the radio and the eruption of popularity of professional sports, cartoons were a significant form of entertainment for the average person in America. Also, 1930's animations paved the way for future cartoons and games that have been inspired by the classic style of cartoons; this year Cuphead, a platformer based on 1930's cartoons, has gone platinum worldwide, selling over a million copies since launch.


Cuphead was inspired by 1930's cartoons.

To What Extent do Checks and Balances Work?

         When studying the New Deal, one of the biggest things that stood in between President Roosevelt and his goals of bringing the country out of the depression were Supreme Court Rulings that deemed many of his bills to be unconstitutional. For example, they ruled NIFA, AAA, and a minimum wage law in New York to all be unconstitutional. In the case of NIFA, it ended up being replaced with the similar Wagner Act as part of the second New Deal anyway. Today, we have multiple minimum wage laws that are not deemed unconstitutional. Roosevelt's frustration with this was seen when he tried to, albeit by violating a core American institution and value of equality and fairness, add more seats to the Supreme Court in 1937. I started to think about how this check by the supreme court on the power of congress and the president might have actually limited the liberties of the American people by not providing them with what we believe to be basic rights today of economic security and stability. To what extent did this work? If this same logic is expanded to current political scandals, if it is one branch of the government's responsibility to check the power of another and they do not uphold this responsibility, should another assume this responsibly? Today we have the press acting as this final check, but if this too failed, would we have a constitutional crisis? Where do we draw the line between prioritizing a political agenda and upholding American values, say for the head of the justice department prioritizing an agenda that legally and constitutionally allows for the specific ignorance of an otherwise illegal act?

The Legacy of The New Deal

          The New Deal was revolutionary for its time for its progressive measures and for pushing the bounds of what government could do. Its effects are not isolated to the 1930's and subsequent decades but rather the legislation passed during the worst economic turmoil of our nation's history presented ground breaking ideas that still resonate today and will continue to for generations to come.
          Legislatively wise, there are many laws passed as part of the New Deal that still exist today or have adaptations still in use. We still have welfare today and benefit programs that help those unemployed, retired, and disabled. Social Security still exists today with the idea of preventatively helping people for the future.
        Since many of the problems that caused the stock market crash in 1929 were similar to the problems we had in 2008, we have a version of the Glass-Steagall Act today to make sure that banks don't do high risk investments with depositor money. Also, companies today still have to give basic information about earnings and losses that was introduced as part of the New Deal.
          The New Deal not only was groundbreaking in terms of the sheer amount of legislation being passed, but it changed the attitude of Americans. They saw that their wishes as voters could be heard and turn into real change for their everyday lives. The idea also that government could manage banking and business was at the time controversial, but the free market today relies on a lot of the ideas first presented in the New Deal. Even though FDR might was a self declared middle ground man, the democratic party's image as promoting the rights of racial and religious minorities, unions, and the poor has continued to today. Many of the projects of the new deal with infrastructure building and conservation can still be seen today with state parks, limited deforestation, highways, and public structures. How would we be different today if not for the Great Depression? It might have been a horrible time of suffering and economic turmoil, but did the extreme nature of the situation push politics where it wouldn't have gone otherwise?



Corinne McCabe

Hitler's Rise to Power

After World War 1, Germany had lost the war and signed the Treaty of Versailles that made Germany take responsibility for starting the war, reduce their army to almost 100,000 soldiers with no navy or air force, Germany was forced to pay to the nations who won the war, and not being able to join the League of Nations. The Treaty of Versailles was unfair towards the German people who were going through their own version of the Great Depression in Germany. Adolf Hitler joined the German Workers Party which would later change its name to National Socialist German Workers Party commonly known today as the Nazi Party.  Hitler used Germany's economic crisis to rise to power and appealed to those who were suffering from the crisis that was caused by the United States who would loan Germany money to help pay the Allies debt after World War 1. The United States gave money to Germany so that they could get out of debt to pay France and Britain which then could lead to France and Britain paying the money they owe to the US. Due to Great Depression in the US, money was not being given to Germany and the people there were going through their own economic crisis similar to the US where people were losing their jobs. As a result, Hitler believed that the crisis was a right time for him and the Nazi Party to step in power. The party appealed to people who were poor and unemployed as they wanted change through reforms, which would help his party win. He would soon become the chancellor of Germany and would be responsible for the start of World War 2.

Hoovervilles and their effects during the great depression.

Hoovervilles were homeless camps and were named after president Herbert Hoover. They were named after him because many people blamed him for the depression. Hundreds of these slums were where the two million unemployed people lived until they were demolished after the economy recovered in the 1940s. They have been seen in many pictures from that era and are depicted in many types of media, from movies and TV to books. They were built out of scraps of anything that could be used as shelter. This could be scrap wood or metal.

Devastation During the Great Depression

America has always been seen as a land of luxury and a never-ending supply of goods coming from some unknown place. In reality, there are limits to supply, and that supply doesn't just pop up from thin air. Never was this more blatantly apparent than it was in the Great Depression. Working conditions were going downhill due to many people being desperate for any form of work they could get and employers taking advantage of their desperation. People were working for next to no pay and they couldn't buy any luxurious items anymore which caused the economy to plummet even more. This cycle led to many people moving west to get jobs that they heard were readily available for them, only to find that even California had been devastated by the Great Depression.

The Great Depression was not given its name for no reason, suicides during the Great Depression spiked drastically. The decade before the Great Depression, there were about 12 suicides per 100,000 people, during the Great Depression there were nearly 19 per 100,000 people in the United States. During this time, people were pushed to, and in many cases past, their limits just to try to keep themselves and their families alive until things evened out again.

The end of the New Deal

In class we recently covered the topic of New Deal. Initiated by President Franklin Roosevelt, the New Deal was a series of Acts and legislations to end the Great Depression. However, it became a major conflict as many argued over whether the acts presented were "an unconstitutional extension of federal authority. In addition, in order to protect this program from further debates and court trials, in 1937,  President Franklin Roosevelt announced a plan to add enough liberal justices to the court to neutralize and appease the conservatives that were considered, "obstructionist".

While this plan upheld a lot of hope and promises, as soon as the conservatives justices began voting for this plan, it began doing a great deal of damage towards the public-relations to the administration and gave enough supply for the president's congressional opponents. Despite his efforts, the overwhelming antis against Roosevelt's plan prevented him from enacting further on this program. In addition, in that same year, US had slipped back into another recession due to the government reducing it's spendings. Ultimately, the Great Depression ended with America's entrance into WWII as the war effort stimulated America's industry. With all this being said, the question here is most likely remains of whether in the end, these plans were successful in initiating some advances in curing the Great Depression or was it just a historical significance in changing the federal government's relationship with the people? 



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The Legacy of the Civilian Conversation Corps

In 1942, Congress discontinued funding for the CCC diverting desperately needed resources to the effort to win World War II. Such monuments and statues dedicated to the CCC and its alumni dot parks across the entire country. The extensive development and expansion of park facilities and services by the CCC made possible the modern state and national park systems that Americans even today enjoy. The CCC became a model for future conservation programs. More than 100 present-day corps programs operate at local, state, and national levels engaging young adults in community service and conservation activities. By the time the CCC program ended at the start of World War II, Roosevelt’s Tree Army had planted more than 3.5 billion trees on land made barren from fires, natural erosion, or lumbering. In fact, the CCC was responsible for over half the reforestation, public and private, done in the nation’s history. CCC companies contributed to an impressive number of state and national park structures that visitors can still enjoy today. More than 700 new state parks were established through the CCC program.

Just Keep Dancing

As their only resort to money during the Great Depression, many people signed up for dance marathons during the 1930’s. These marathons lasted weeks or months, yet allowed many to the necessities that they needed at the time like food and shelter. Dance marathons started in 1923 when one dance instructor named Alma Cummings, outdanced 6 couples for 27 hours straight. From there the craze began, the objective to keep dancing and be the last ones standing.

Yet sleep deprivation was the negative result that came from these marathons while at the same time they were being shown to the public for entertainment. Contestants were pushed to their limits by having to keep dancing, barley or not receiving any breaks in between. Although the marathons were not always like this, in the beginning, actual dance moves were judged on and awarded for the best ones until the depression made it into who would withhold exhaustion. The dancers would exaggerate, have their train-wreck moments and do anything in order to win. Some of these traits are similar to what goes on in reality tv now which is what attracted many to come and see them.  The spectators were more interested in what was going to happen physically to the dancers, like how long till they would collapse rather than cheering them on.

Many couples used a variety of items and remedies to keep themselves up, some extreme ones were smelling salts and applying ice packs on their backs. Yet while the length of the shows grew, the effects of sleep deprivation got worst. Some of the dancers would begin to hallucinate, picking up imaginary flowers from the dance floor to even leaving the building from imaginary attackers chasing them. Their bodies would also react as quick as their minds, many couples getting irritated easily and turning on one another. In the end, the chaos of these marathons ended when people would realize how bad the marathons were and would not even think about signing up again, also a boom of local business started and residents were needed at the time.

Unconstitutional Interference?

In 1918, Congress passed a law providing for the revising of minimum wages for women and children in the District of Columbia. Children’s Hospital itself had employed several adult women for wages mutually agreed upon that were satisfactory to all parties. However, the wages were less than required by federal law. Children’s Hospital brought suit in Federal District Court for the District of Columbia against Adkins, the federal official responsible for administering the minimum wage program, seeking to enjoin the program on the grounds that the minimum wage requirements interfered with the hospital’s Fifth Amendment Due Process right to contract freely. The district court denied the injunction, but the court of appeals reversed. Adkins appealed to the United States Supreme Court. So, Did the law interfere with the ability of employers and employees to enter into contracts with each other without assuring due process of law, a freedom guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment?

Civil Works Administration

During the Great Depression, there were astonishing unemployment rates, and as a way to combat this, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) arose to create more manual labor jobs for millions of unemployed workers. These jobs were only temporary, and were meant to help families survive during the hard winter of 1933-34. The jobs were mainly construction and aimed at improving the current state of city property. This organization proved to be a success, as its workers built over 255,000 miles of road, laid 12 million feet of sewer pipe, and constructed 40,000 schools. The CWA was funded by the Public Works Association along with the Federal Emergency Relief Administrations. Although the CWA provided a lot of employment opportunities, there were a few critics who believed that there was no permanent value of this organization. This criticism motivated Roosevelt to replace this administration with something that provided long term value for society. President Roosevelt passed laws on employment, allowing for some of these employees to remain working for for a longer period of time, instead of having temporary jobs. In all, the works of the CWA have left a lasting impact on the American government today. This administration during the Great Depression has expanded the field of public work to something that requires more attention and  it is now a field that allows for more employment.

What was the New Deal?

The New Deal was a domestic program of the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt between 1933 and 1939. This program took actions to bring immediate reforms in industry, finance, housing, and agriculture as well as incredible economic relief. It also vastly increased the level of federal government activities. Much of legislation behind the New Deal was enacted within the first 3 months of Roosevelt's presidency, commonly referred to as the Hundred Days. One of the objectives of the new administration was to handle the suffering of the nation's large amount of unemployed workers throughout the country. To help such process, new agencies were created. Some of the agencies established to give short-term government assistance and provide such assistance to civilians were the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration. They provided temporary jobs to help out those in need as well as supporting construction projects and youth programs. In order to revive the industrial business and activity, the National Recovery Administration was granted authority to create codes that governed trade wages, hours, practices, and collective bargaining. The New Deal also introduced regulation to reconstruct and lead the nation's financial hierarchy to further prevent a repetition of the great stock market crash in 1929. In 1935 the New Deal shifted its emphasis to assist urban groups and labor. Following this, the Wagner Act of 1935 was created which immensely increased the authority of the federal government in regards to industrial relations which in turn strengthened the organizational power of labor unions. This lead to the establishment of the National Labor Relations Board to help further the execution of the plan. In order to assist, the standard homeowner legislation was passed to refinance and support the unstable mortgages and guaranteed bank loans. The most outreaching and best outcomes of the New Deal was perhaps the Social Security measures enacted in 1935 and 1939. This lead to the further assistance to those who were old, unemployed, and/or disabled. Also further in 1938, there were rules set to a maximum amount of hours able to be worked as well as a minimum wage.

Public Works Administration

The Public Works Administration (PWA) was a part of the New Deal of 1933, and it was created by the National Industrial Recovery Act in response to the Great Depression. The main focus of this administration was to build public works such as dams, bridges, hospitals, and schools. All of these were meant to provide employment, stabilize purchasing power, and help revive the economy. Within the first year of building, the Public Works Administration spent $3.3 billion, and $6 billion by the year 1935. The PWA created an infrastructure in the 1930s that still remains crucial today. At the time, most people were in favor of this administration, as it made daily life easier with better roads for transportation, better schools for education, and better means of healthcare. However, the PWA did receive a great deal of criticism because they were not able to return the level of industrial activity to pre-depression levels after spending more than $6 billion, so people felt as though their money had gone to waste. Also, they were not able to significantly reduce unemployment levels or help many businesses. However, the PWA was responsible for restoring America's condition. While the Great Depression was a very bad time for the United States, the PWA was able to revive schools and hospitals to make America a better place.

Who was Charles Manson??

Charles Manson (born November 12, 1934) was famously known as the leader of the Manson Family Cult and behind 35 murders that occurred during the late 1960's. Manson has had a few share of run-ins with the law as a teenager out in his hometown of Cincinnati Ohio.  Manson would end up spending half of his first 32 years in jail. After being released from a prison in Washington, he got a bus to California. Once he arrived in San Francisco, he was introduced to a whole new world. During this time the Hippie Movement was just getting started and Manson fell in love with the culture. Manson was very good at being able to charm people with his music and speeches. Since most of the Hippie community was young, most of them would look up to the older Manson. With the influence that he had over them, Manson saw this as an opportunity to be able to manipulate them and brainwash them into believing he was their protector and leader. Through this mass following Manson was able to control their lives and actions. Therefore he took it upon himself to order his followers to commit the spree of murders. Manson was on trial in 1970 after the confession by cult member Susan Atkins, saying that Manson was the mastermind behind all the murders. During the trial, it was discovered that the killers were told to write, "Helter Skelter" in blood on a surface. Helter Skelter was the name of a song on the White Album by the Beatles. On March 29, 1971, Manson with a couple of his other loyal followers was sentenced to the death penalty. A year later the death penalty was abolished in California so there for Manson sentenced was reduced to a life sentence. During the years Manson has had many parole hearings but was denied every single time. Manson was very ill and ended up dying due to natural causes of November 17, 2017 at the age of 83.

New Deal

During the 1930's the United States was going through the worst economic failure in the history of the country. There were millions of Americans unemployed trying to survive through the rough times. During the early years of the depression president Herbert Hoover, didn't do much when it came to improve the economy and ensure the people that they were going to be able to get through the depression. But in 1932 Franklin Rosevelt was elected as the President of the United States. Franklin's main goal was to improve the economy and ensure the people that everything will be okay. President Franklin's first months in office are better known as "The First Hundred Days".  During the hundred days, the President and Congress passed 15 major laws, in efforts to help the struggling Americans get back on their feet. All through the New Deal didn't ultimately end the depression it did give hope to millions of Americans that they'll be able to get through the Depression.

Music in the 1920's

Music is a huge world of different styles, periods, and amazing ways that people expressed themselves.  In my opinion, there aren't many true aspects of the culture of the USA that did not already exist in another country or was brought here by immigrants, but one of the definite purely American cultural pieces is jazz.

Before jazz, some of the only ways people could listen to music was if they went to a town parade, could scrounge up enough money to go to a classical music concert, or learn an instrument on their own.  As we all know, music has evolved immensely over the ages, and jazz, when it first was introduced, was very unconventional, but people loved it.  Jazz was a huge part of the Roaring 20's as well.

Of course, when anything is new or there is a change, there are groups of people against it.  I can speak from experience and the experience of my friends that a lot of older and middle-aged people do not like the newer music that is coming out.  This happens with every generation's genre of music.  When rock and roll first came out there were people that despised it and there were people that loved it.  Same with hip-hop, rap, and today's modern pop music.

Jazz in the 20's gave many opportunities to young musicians and even allowed black people to show that they were just as intelligent and talented as white people.  We have many famous artists from that time period such as my personal favorite Benny Goodman, and others that are very well known even after 100 years of their debut.  We have Louis Armstrong, George Gershwin, Bix Beiderbecke, and King Oliver.

In my opinion, jazz was a very influential music genre in its time and one of the most American things in existence.

The Housing bubble pops- Great Recession

          The US housing bubble in mid 2000s was linked to another bubble; technology. In 1990s many new technology companies had their stock bid up to extremely high prices in little amount of time. Even startups with barely any revenue were put to bid for quick profits. By 2000, these stocks came crashing down do much lower prices. As investors left the market, real estate values rose dramatically. As it rose, investors began buying property as an investment. Banks lowered their rates of lending requirements as instructed by the government, driving house prices up by 50/100 percent. When the housing bubble was at it's peak, 30 percent of it was supported by investments. At this time the stock market went back up and investors started leaving the housing market and going back into technology. Once the people started realizing the housing prices could go down, the prices started to plummet. They declined up to 40 percent in some areas, and millions were led to forclose their house. 

          An important question we might ask ourselves is: Are we in another of these housing bubbles? First let me define what housing bubble means. When we call something a housing bubble we mean an increase in housing prices due to demand and investments. They usually start with an increase in demand, with limited supply, so which takes a long period of time to replenish. Investing speculators enter this market, even more driving the demand. At some point, the supply increases while demand stagnates, leading to a drop in prices. This is called the bursting of a bubble. Today, the number of homes being built and going on the market hasn't increased with the number of people wanting to buy a home. The result is that the price of each home has increased. So The question is now, are we or are we not in a housing bubble? 

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/housing_bubble.asp

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was best known as our 32nd president of America. He was the fifth cousin of former President Theodore Roosevelt. President Roosevelt is best known for two things; inspiring Americans during the Great Depression, and proposing the New Deal. Roosevelt was influential in restoring America's faith in their leadership, and in themselves. He told the nation, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." This quote became an inspiration for many Americans, and they were able to rally behind Roosevelt and fight through The Great Depression. The New Deal occurred when in 1932, a quarter of the American workforce was unemployed. President Roosevelt set up experimental programs in order to stabilize the economy and provide temporary jobs to those in need. It began with "The Hundred Days". That May, Roosevelt agreed to the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, which allowed the government to build dams in the Tennesse river. A m onth later, he signed the National Industrial Recovery Act, which granted workers higher wages and better working conditions. Many other acts were passed as well, and while some business leaders were angered by these new acts, it temporarily improved the economy (which would later be fixed by the job openings during World War II).

the Kingfish

Huey P. Long was the governor of Louisiana in 1928 when it started to go downhill for him. Huey had 19 allegations against him ranging from bribing others to having control of concealed weapons. The House of Representatives had decided to impeach him following these accusations from which fell through because of how powerful his defenders were. Yet his personality afterward caused a drive in people to hate his way of taking control. Huey had made the promise of saying “every man should be treated like a king” and having a government that would break up large bank accounts, which would allow an average income for every citizen. This was a promise many would remember until one of his programs got them feeling a bad vibe about Long. His redistributive program, "Share the Wealth", had shown communistic views, he was accused but right away said it was the only plan that would defend the country against communism. Later began his intolerable behavior that gave him the worst reputation for any political figure. Long was once punched in the face for showing up to a charity event and acting rudely in front of all the guests. He had grabbed one of the girl’s plate of food and commented saying “You’re too fat already. I’ll eat this.” It was these comments and more that sparked a rage in many citizens. It was the end for him when he made a racial slur against a local judge in Louisiana while trying to pass bills in a late-night legislative session. The judge’s son in law right after the session, shot Long while they were in the halls of the State Capitol. Long’s assassin, Dr. Carl Weiss was immediately shot by bodyguards while Long was sent to the hospital. Long died two days after, while this is the crime scene set and told by many, there are other theories and conspiracies on who really killed Long. At that time, Huey was a potential for the 1963 presidential election and although his funeral sparked up crowds of admirers, there was still some who doubted on his past decisions. In the end, the question still remains of what would have happened if he had won the presidential election against Roosevelt.

Agricultural Adjustment Act

Part of the New Deal, the Agricultural Adjustment Act (May 12, 1933), created the AAA or the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. This law paid the farmers for limiting their production of crops in order to control the economy better. With all of these farmers producing so much food and the people of the city not having enough money to buy the food, it has created a jam in the economy in which this law can help fix. With declining the amount of food, the crop prices could increase. There were many struggles in the economy at this time for example, the cotton production in Georgia where there was way too much produced, leading to a minimum price of 5.6 cents/pound. This was not good because then these industries could not make profit over their product leading to farmers being pushed off their land. In the next season, the government limited the amount of crops planted in order to keep the prices high enough for the farmers to make a profit. This law supported only the large farmers because they owned their land and sharecroppers didn't, so they wouldn't gain the money earned by the land owner for planting less crops. This drove farmers off the land leading to peoples rights being violated, so the Supreme Court declared the AAA unconstitutional in January of 1936 because of the limit placed on farmers production. Do you believe this act is unconstitutional or not?

The Wagner Act

The Wagner Act, originally known as the National Labor Relations Act, was the most important labor legislation act set in the 1900's.  It's goal was to provide workers with the right to join labor unions. It also let them bargain with other employers as a strong union. These unions would go on strikes which employers did not like. This act was led by the democratic senator of New York, Robert F. Wagner who set the federal government in charge of setting these labor regulations. The government created a new group of 3 members, known as the National labor relations board, who had the power to judge and listen to labor complaints. They decided if the bargaining units created by labor unions were to be represented by the employers in their business or industry. If the employers were to refuse, then they would be sent to jail in some cases. Republicans did not like this act because it took away from their big businesses or industries. They declared it unconstitutional for taking away from employers rights to "freedom of contract". This act was very successful for the poor people in gaining a group to go on strikes. This separated the rich from the poor and this division also separated the two parties, democrats and republicans, more.  How does this affect the economy during this period of time?