Wednesday, May 6 - Roaring 20s & Depression - The Dust Bowl

Drought Conditions

The economic devastation of the Great Depression was made worse by environmental destruction. A years-long drought coupled with farming practices which did not use soil-preservation techniques created a vast region from southeast Colorado to the Texas panhandle that came to be called the Dust Bowl. Massive dust storms choked towns, killing crops and livestock, sickening people and causing untold millions in damage. Thousands fled the region as the economy collapsed, something John Steinbeck chronicled in his masterpiece "The Grapes of Wrath." It would be years, if not decades, before the region's environment recovered. 

The ripples were very soon travelling around the world, and the same story repeated itself in country after country: business collapsed, economies shrank and masses of workers were thrown out of factories. To try and protect their industries as best they could, country after country raised tariffs on imports, and devalued their currencies to make their exports more competitive. These measures simply made matters worse: international trading conditions deteriorated drastically and all economies suffered.

End of 1932,  25 percent of workforce unemployed. Banks foreclosed on homes. People shantytowns. Hoovervilles – President in 1928. Bread lines and soup kitchens were running out of money by 1932. Estimated that 90 percent of people in Lowell were unemployed.

Hoover didn’t believe people should rely on federal government should help. Asked companies to stay open and not reduce wages. By 1931, supported public works projects. 1932 started to provide money to banks, railroads and companies and state governments.

WATCH: The Dust Bowl

United States -- Great Depression

• 13 million Americans unemployed.

• More than 24.5% of the population are unemployed

• 10s of thousands load up all belongings and live in cars going from place to place looking for work

• Hooverville's or shanty towns appear around the country built by homeless people using wood from crates, cardboard, scraps of metal, or whatever materials were available to them

• 43,000 marchers Inc. 17,000 World War I vets ( Bonus Army ) march to Washington DC on May 29th and set up campgrounds demanding early payments of cash bonuses to help survive the Great Depression.

• Troops under the orders of General Douglas MacArthur advanced with bayonets and sabers drawn under a shower of bricks and rocks, but no shots were fired. In less than four hours, the troops cleared the Bonus Army's campground using tear gas.

• Comptroller of the Currency (or OCC) announces temporary halt by banks of foreclosures

• The Revenue Act raised United States tax rates across the board, with the rate on top incomes rising from 25 percent to 63 percent.

• The first federal gasoline tax part of the Revenue Act taxes apply of 1 cent per gallon on June 6th .

• The Emergency Relief and Construction Act enacted July 21, was the United States's first major-relief legislation to fund public works hoping to put millions back to work, enabled under Herbert Hoover and later adopted and expanded by Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of his New Deal.

• Government and Companies implement wage cuts up to 30% for those lucky enough to be in employment

• Government and Companies cut working hours for those in employment hoping to provide more jobs for those who are unemployed.

• Due to Malnutrition and poor health Tuberculosis becomes widespread throughout the US

Worldwide impact

These events ushered in the world-wide economic downturn of the 1930s – the Great Depression, as it came to be called. The political ramifications were dire. Elected politicians seemed quite unable – unwilling, even – to find solutions, and in country after country populist strong men took power. In Europe, Hungary in 1932, Austria and Germany in 1933, Latvia and Estonia in 1934, Bulgaria in 1935, all came under right wing, authoritarian regimes. In South America, Argentina and Brazil in 1930, and Uruguay in 1933, went the same way. In Japan the onset of the Depression undermined popular trust in constitutional government and confirmed the military men in their takeover of power.

Authoritarian rulers are, almost by definition, bullies, and are often eager to settle issues by force. Quick and dramatic solutions to problems impress their citizens and the world at large with their decisiveness and effectiveness; but they frequently produce international crises, and sometimes war. The drift towards authoritarianism in the early 1930s created the conditions for the outbreak of the most devastating war the world had ever known.

Info from ThoughtCo