Boom Bust and Recovery The story of the American depression
Boom Years
This is a picture of a group of people listening to a radio in the 1920’s. It is in the boom years because it shows how the average family was able to buy appliances. Also they were able to listen to a number of different stations.
This picture shows a washing machine from the 1920’s. It is an example of one of the many appliances available during the boom years. It simplified the process of washing clothes and made people’s lives easier.
This is a photo of the NAACP. It is in the boom years because it shows how the people were raising awareness of what was happening to minorities. It also shows how people are being more widely accepted.
This is a picture of Henry Ford. Not to be confused with actor Harrison Ford, Henry Ford is in the boom years section because he put people to work building cars. He also implemented the assembly line into the manufacturing industry which created even more jobs.
This is a picture that shows women fighting to gain their freedom. Not physically fighting, but they are protesting until they get what they want. That is why they are in the boom years because they are being progressive and trying to make this world a better place.
This is an automobile. More specifically a Model T. It may not have air conditioning, a stereo, or a GPS, but it will get you where you need to go. This invention allowed people to live further away from their works.
These are a few other random appliances that came out of the boom years. Let’s see we have a waffle thing to make homemade waffles. A popcorn machine to make homemade popcorn. You also have a toaster because bread is not good enough for you.
The Red Scare caused us to be afraid of communism. Also it caused us to have a movement of nationalism where we basically said we are capitalist and we hate commies. It is in the boom years because fear can cause you to do a lot of things you wouldn’t normally do, and the government now had someone to blame for whatever they thought did not go their way.
This is the hoover vacuum cleaner. It is an example of the boom years because it allows people to get real carpet not just rugs. It also may have caused more fights because people no longer had to beat a rug so they had to get anger management from somewhere.
This is an advertisement that just happens to be from Ford. It has nothing to do with Henry Ford or the Model T. It is simply a picture of an advertising from the 1920’s which caused people to go out and buy stuff.
Bust years
Here is where things get bad. Starting with the stock market crash. Which caused people to lose a ton of money and officially kicked off the bust years.
Black Tuesday starts almost the aftermath of the initial crash in the stock market. We probably would have been fine if the stock market hadn’t crashed further, but just our luck we have to have a second crash just after the first which caused mass panic all throughout the stock market.
After Black Tuesday there was a rush on the banks which caused 10% of all the banks to close. Anyone with money still in those banks were stuck in a bad spot with no money at all.
This is President Hoover he didn’t do much. Which is a problem that escalated the depression. He believed that things would blow over after a few days, but they didn’t.
Not only did the president not do anything. When he did do something he raised tariff prices so other countries stopped selling to us. Thanks Hoover we really needed that.
Next on the list of things that just keep getting worse: The dust bowl. Farmers who didn’t have any money because the banks closed lost their farm. Because no one was using the land the dirt would pick up because of the wind and be carried to nearby places like everyone else's farm land.
Because people had no money they started to form little hobo communities called Hoovervilles. Yes that is a direct slam at their current president Hoover. These places were not sanitary and nasty because the people living there had no money.
Other types of towns that sprung up were shantytowns. I’m not sure of the difference between this and a Hooverville let me look it up for a second…………………..Okay so there is no difference. They are literally the same thing. Only one is targeted at a certain major political figure.
The Grapes of Wrath was a book about a family during the depression. The author gathered true stories about the times and placed theme in a book. The name is kind of misleading though. It gives the impression that it is a movie about some mutant grapes who go on a rampage,m and it stars Bruce Willis as the guy trying to kill all the mutant grapes.
Finally we reach the final straw. President Hoover and the bonus army. The army wanted money and Hoover attacked them. That if a child in preschool attacked someone instead of giving them what they promised they would be put in timeout. Hoover was a fully grown adult. His punishment was not getting re-elected.
The Recovery Years
Roosevelt was the president who was elected after Hoover. He is the first in the boom years because he had a plan to get us out of the depression. At the very least he never attacked war veterans.
One of the reasons Roosevelt was elected was his promise to end the depression. He did this through a series of laws he got passed and organizations he started. All his efforts in this respect are classified under the new deal programs.
This is the AAA. The AAA was one of the many of the new deal programs. AAA stands for Agricultural Adjustment Act. Basically it helped farmers.
This new deal program, called the NYA, gave work and education to young people. The age range was from 16-25. NYA stands for National Youth Administration This was a part of the WPA new deal program.
Speaking of the WPA. The Work Progress Administration wanted young men to work for them to give them a sort of resume builder to get other jobs. This is by no means a long term job. Any male older than 25 was not granted admittance to this organization.
The TVA is a acronym for the Tennessee Valley Authority. This new deal program put people to work building dams. This also provided hydro electric power to southern states.
This image captures the beauty of the Civilian Conservation Corp, also called the CCC. They do just as their name says. They conserve the out doors and they are civilians.
This is FDR's lovely wife Eleanor Roosevelt. I probably should have put her sooner in the boom years, but here she is. She is here because she played an active role as first lady. She did helped out politically rather than just sit around in the white house.
This is a social security card. The social security act allowed people to get insurance, and save up for retirements. If you are disabled now you have a way to make a living.
