The Great Depression                                       

                                                     Parker M.                                                                  

The great depression was over a decade long. It was a hard time for lots of people.  It was also a time when the stock market was very low.  The great depression was a time of people being poor, stock markets crashing, and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s new plan.  

     Stock Market crash.

                                                          On October 29^th 1929 the stock market crashed. October 29^th 1929 was known as Black Tuesday. The stock market ended up losing 8 to 9 billion dollars.  President   Herbert Hoover didn’t think that this was much of a big deal.  The U.S. had just entered the great depression.  The people didn’t realize what was going to happen in the next decade.  It was the biggest economic depression in modern history.  Many other countries during that time were also in depressions. 

     The People.

                                   The people of the United States were hit very hard during this time period.  Many small businesses closed down due to foreclosure.  Many companies closed, while others just cut back on pay and hours.  Many people lost their jobs.  Between 13 and 15 million people ended up jobless.  Many banks failed in that time.  People that didn’t have very good paying jobs or no jobs at all and depended on the government for food.  Millions of U.S. citizens were free of jobs, homes, and money.  A very bad thing is that the suicide rate increased.  Men were hit worse than women were, because for woman they could find jobs that men couldn’t do; Although African Americans were affected the most because there was still racism then like there is now.   It was good that food prices didn’t go up!  People that couldn’t afford food stood in line for many hours of their day waiting for the soup kitchen to give them food.  People used credit to buy things.  Everyone had large dept.  People lived in hobo camps.

                      https://soiseth.wikispaces.com/file/view/migrant_mother_1936__great_depression.jpg

           F.D.R.

                      Franklin Delano Roosevelt (F.D.R.) was elected in 1932.  He was elected four times.  F.D.R. was president for most of the great depression.  He gave money to banks with a bailout.  F.D.R. came up with an idea called the “New Deal”, which gave people jobs with low pay.  The “New Deal” made the depression go on much longer than it should have.

     Conclusion.

                  As you can see the great depression took a long time to end.  When World War II began it ended the depression.  It supplied many jobs for the women making war materials, while the men went of to war.  The great depression was a time of Stock markets crashing, people not having jobs, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s new deal.

               bibliography

“About the great depression” Eleanor Roosevelt national historic cite 2/14/09http://www.nps.gov/archive/elro/glossary/great-depression.htm

“the great depression” 42 explore, internet, 2/15/09 http://www.42explore2.com/depresn.htm

“About the great depression” U of I department of English, internet, 2/13/09 http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/about.htm

“Great crash and great slump” Brad Delong  http://econ161.berkeley.edu/TCEH/Slouch_Crash14.html

 “Great depression”, wikipedia, internet 2/13/09 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression

 “The great depression” the dust bowl, internet,2/15/09http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/peopleevents/pandeAMEX05.html

“Great depression in the U.S.” wikipedia internet 2/16/09 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression_in_the_United_States

Western, Irving.  A Nation Fights back New York: 1969

“Main cause of the great depression” Gusmorino internet 2/16/09 http://www.gusmorino.com/pag3/greatdepression/index.html

 “The great depression” New York times internet 2/16/09 http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/g/great_depression_1930s/index.html