Great Depression Time in the United States - Essay Example

?Great Depression Great Depression that began with the Wall Street Crash in 1929 shook the world till late 1930s or early 1940s. The severe economic downturn that began in England tremble almost entire globe and left a grave mark that initiated the birth of Keynesian economists replacing the classical ones. United States of America was one of the worst affected nations from this world wide financial debacle. At that time Mr. Roosevelt adorned the post of USA President; however his wife Mrs. Roosevelt also received several letters especially from the American children that illustrates the grave consequences of the crisis that American people were subject of at that time. Not only children but one Rural Supervisor of School has also informed the First Lady regarding the poor condition of the clothes of the students. The children who wrote to Mrs. Roosevelt as a last resort to their chilled penury came from different states of USA and most are minor. A gender bias among the letter senders can be easily seen considering the fact that most of the letter senders were female. However, boys or girls all of them were under severe economic pressure. The social and economic condition of the letter senders can not be judged easily as it seems from the letters that they are educated human being but financial pressure has turned them almost into beggar. In broad terms they comes from an educated social background but financially eroded through the Great depression. Where they have no way but to loss their self esteem and surrender to someone whom they consider as the supreme authority. Some of them were bereft of any suitable dress or coat so that they could attend the school and carry on their studies. in one of the letters to Mrs. Roosevelt, Miss L.H. wrote, “I have to stay out of school because I have no books or clothes to ware.” (Dear Mrs. Roosevelt) They repeatedly kept on asking or in better words begging for used clothes of the First Lady that they could cut to their size and wear to avoid a drop out from school. Some of them had begged for shoes, hats and clothes belonging to the First Ladies family that are no longer in use so that other people of the concerned family can use them. Adding to the agony some of the child had even saved their pocket money how meagre it might be to send these letters to the President’s wife, either for school dress or for Easter clothes; in any case it does not seem that these letters manage to invoke any positive respond from the First Lady. In one of the requests for clothes, Miss M.I. wrote “How honored I would feel to be wearing your clothes.” (Dear Mrs. Roosevelt) Apart from clothes, many children begged for money as well. The need for such money was diversifies, starting from need for medication and a visit to a doctor to be ailed from a grave disease to make ones way to Hollywood where she can act and earn some money. As mentioned earlier clothes kept an important issue regarding carrying on education, similarly direct begging of money was often connected to carrying on studies. However paying of pending bills was another issue for what financial help for the first lady was sought for. Asking for a bicycle might sound weird in this dire situation; however example of such thing does exist through the letters to the First lady. The purpose behind such an application was profoundly for going to school which are in most cases far from home. Often the concerned students got tired after a tedious job at their household and that also compelled them to make a claim for bicycle to the first lady. Ironically even at this point some people had managed to write for some luxury item at least considering the situation at that time to the First lady. Christmas presents, dolls, football shoes and radios are the most common luxury items that get revealed from the letters. The striking matter is that the way First Lady or her secretary had answered those letters or better be called pleas. None of the letters received a positive reply and always got answered by the secretary of the First Lady in similar tune. Apart from sympathy no word of encouragement was enshrined; and it was almost like auto generated answers. The children wrote to Mrs. Roosevelt with great hope. When their parents failed to meet their minimum daily needs they thought the American President and his better half being the supreme authority of the country would manage to rescue them from there minimum need. However in reality their hopes were dashed to ground. It is true that these needs as simple as they sound in letters in collective form would have definitely created the need for a large sum in aid. However when financial help is impossible to extend, moral support often strengthens the back bone. Instead of the secretary if those applicants would have received some encouraging lines from the hands of the first lady herself; situation would have been different for them. Given an opportunity to reply to those letters, I would have tried to console those tired sole thorough projecting a deadline for this malady to end. People become impatient when they can’t see any estimated time of rescue from a grave danger. A specific time frame might have helped them to bear the immediate brunt and fight for long against the depression. Highlighting government’s efforts in lucid language that would be understandable by a child would have been of substantial help’ since they will understand that some efforts has already been initiated on behalf of the government. The Great Depression had not only devastated the financial backbone of the USA, but it has also created a depressed psychological environment that has turned its people into speechless zombies. When the adults got affected and were by no means capable of hiding their depression to their children; the children follow suit. Owing to their immaturity and as a last resort in a sinking ship they tried to hold anything that came in their hand in order to keep their hopes floating. The loneliness infested with chilled penury that gradually led to even greater psychological depression might be considered as the negative mental aspect of the Great Depression of 1929. Work Cited “Dear Mrs. Roosevelt”. The Letter, 1936, April 27, 2011 from: http://newdeal.feri.org/eleanor/er3a.htm Read More