The Great Depression: The World's Worst Economic Slump
"There are nine of us in the family. My father is out of work for a couple of months and we haven't got a thing to eat in the house....I go to school each day. My other sister hain't got any shoes or clothes to go to school. My mother goes in her bare feet and she cries every night that we don't have any help." (Katz, 1978, p. 50)
Crash! The stock market crashes and the whole country runs crazy. The Great Depression is the worst economic period the United States has every faced. The unemployment rates were at their highest ever and tons of people lost their life savings. No one was expecting such a tragic event, but it was bound to happen. The point of this paper is to explore The Great Depression and show how the United States was in a period of poverty and unemployment.
English: Calvin Coolidge.
Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States of...
English: Calvin Coolidge. 30th President of the Un...Part One: Background Information
It is in the 1920's. It is a time of great mass culture, employment rates going up, and a time of prosperity. Especially since it was after the war, it was an economically and technological boom. New ideas are being brought up and people are doing more with their lives. Currently, Calvin Coolidge is the President and Herbert Hoover will soon take his place. Most people in the country are happy. (McElvaine, 1993, p. 13)
However, all the good things from the "Coolidge Prosperity" were not shared equally among all Americans. According to a study done by the Brookings Institute, in 1929 the top 0.1% of Americans had a combined income equal to the bottom 42%. The top percent controlled most of the savings and 80% of the population did not even have a savings. (McElvaine, 1993,