The Great Depression

Episodes 65-68

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“Ten men in our country could buy the whole world and ten million can’t buy enough to eat.” -Will Rogers (1931)

Boom, Bust, Recover

In episode 1, Kara is taking us way back to her favorite time period... when everything went to crap or in other words the Great Depression. She starts off with one of the most tremendous dumpster fires of the 20th century which was the stock market crash of 1929. While it was not the sole cause of the Great Depression, it was a foreboding sign of the things to come. Afterwards, Kara describes how the American work force went from one of the most prosperous in the world to mass unemployment and despair.

In the second installment of the series, Kara sets the scene of Herbert Hoover's attempt at tackling the economic crisis. While Hoover did make some adjustments to the economy, he believed that it was up to the companies to pick themselves (and their employees) up by their bootstraps to get the money flowing again. Unemployment was on the rise, Hoovervilles were being built, and WWI Vets were on the move.

Be sure to check out episode 48 on the Dust Bowl for a complete Great Depression Picture.

Depression Did You Knows

At the Depression’s lowest point, over 9,000 banks failed, wiping out millions of Americans’ savings.
Many unemployed Americans lived in shantytowns sarcastically called “Hoovervilles” and newspapers used the term “Hoover blanket” to describe newspapers used for warmth by the homeless.
Breadlines could stretch for blocks in major cities, even while food was being destroyed to keep prices up.
Children often left school to work or help support their families, reversing decades of educational progress.
The Depression did not fully end until World War II mobilization drastically increased government spending and employment.