Ziying Lin
Mr. Tivnan
Per. 5
3 May 2013
Was the New Deal Successful?
Between 1920s and 1930s, there were many events happened, the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and the president election. A series of events brought American people together to conquer the hardship. For helping people went through difficulties, the president Franklin Delano Roosevelt created a plan which is called the New Deal to help people overcome the Great Depression. Though many people admired the New Deal as making people's life better, the New Deal destroyed the spirit of America - capitalism, only provided temporary help and slowed the pace of recovery.
Business boomed between 1922 and 1928, and the U.S. gross national product grew quickly. Unemployment was low, many people felt wealthy. The value of the stocks sold on the stock market increased by four times between 1920 and 1929. Ordinary Americans began to buy stocks.
Although it was risky, people still were buying on margin. Then, some people saw that the value of stocks started to decrease, they began to sale their stocks. More and more people followed them to sale due to the panic. Finally, on October 29, 1929, the Black Tuesday, the market collapsed. Because so many people lost their money and savings during one night, stockbrokers started to call on margin for getting loan back. People had no money to pay their loan, some of them even lost their savings. Without money, products cannot be sold. Businesses went bankrupt. Unemployment was increasing. Hoboes went from town to town in search of a job. Food was no more affordable. Farmers couldn't sell their goods, and pay their loans. At the mean time, the Dust Bowl destroyed farms and machinery, Dust Bowl farmers who were known as okies, had to flee to California. Everyone...