The Great depression - Essay Example

No: The Great Depression The great depression started in 1929 in the shape of huge tragedy making millions of American people jobless. This marked start of government involvement in economy as well as society. On 29 October 1929, the stock market suddenly crashed after a boom and this was start of depression. Stock prices fell at great paces and people could not sell stocks because there was no buyer. Similarly, banks had huge deposits in stock exchange (Watkins 42). Crises forced banks to close their business.

Fewer banks initially took step of closing their business, which spread panic and other banks across the country also followed them. People were still withdrawing money from banks which compelled other banks to close. This resulted in closing industry because capital was either with stock exchange or banks. Closure of business and industry left many people jobless. These homes were made of newspaper and cardboards (Watkins 46). Dust storm was named dust bawl that affected farmers and they were unable to feed themselves.

Drought eliminated grass from the planes. Depression affected millions of people in America and they could not find jobs. Shantytown was housing made for people who could not afford house. It was free so many people moved to shantytown (McElvaine 34). Depression occurred during rule of president Hoover and he was made responsible by people for great depression in America. Roosevelt won the presidential elections of 1932 and became president of America. He brought major shift in policies to get the country out of immense crisis (Watkins 69).

People had many expectations from Roosevelt and he introduced certain reforms to overcome depression. Banks were asked to reopen once they overcome the financial crisis. The policies and programs introduced by Roosevelt were known as the “New Deal”. These programs helped farmers including other programs like Agricultural Adjustment Administration and Works Progress Administration. People were hired for different projects for reducing unemployment (Watkins 73). After success of these programs, Roosevelt became hero and got fame in the masses.

Roosevelt considered his efforts very important for ending great depression. However, it is still not clear that how much New Deal contributed towards ending great depression in America. Some ease was brought by the “New Deal” but economy was still struggling for revival by end of 1930s. Second World War was a turning point for American economy (McElvaine 51). Especially, the attack on Pearl Harbor and entering of country in World War changed the outlook of economy. People and industry were needed of the war after participation of the country in the war.

People were enrolled as soldiers and huge quantity of ammunition was manufactured to support the war. This all helped in ending great depression. Women were left back home for running factories during the war. Food growth started for people back home and for those at the warfront (McElvaine 57). Thus, it was the entrance of America in the World War II, which resulted in ending great depression. Still the effects of great depression were long lasting and America took a lot of time after the war to completely end the crisis.

Works CitedMcElvaine, Robert S. The Great Depression: America, 1929-1941. Random House LLC, 1993.Watkins, Tom H. The hungry years: a narrative history of the Great Depression in America. Macmillan, 2000.