Reflective Essay: 1931 And The Great Depression

Decent Essays
It is currently 1931 and the depression is taking its toll on people. Millions are without jobs, but I am fortunate enough to still be in business. I am the owner of Artic Air electric fan company. About a week ago, President Herbert Hoover sent me a letter asking me to hire more workers to defeat the Depression. First off, I know I am very fortunate to still have a job when about 9 million people do not have one. My conflict is that my product is considered a luxury item and is not a necessity for everyday life. Most people cannot afford this item at this time. I am already struggling with lower sales and adding workers would only increase my debt. When I received President Hoover’s letter I was very upset that I could not see a way to support

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    Causes of the Great Depression This essay will discuss the things that caused the depression. The two things were unequal wealth distribution, stock market crash. No Congress has never assembled they always did their own thing and on their own terms. The wealthy was created by enterprise and industry but they would have been destroying but the enemy saved them.…

    • 209 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Great Depression is most commonly examined as a global phenomenon, with historians trying to identify consistancies around the world, the patterns of history. I, however, would like to examine the Great Depression by taking an indepth look at the effects of the depression on Alberta. I will take a social history view of the causes, effects, and efforts to solve the issues of the Great Depression to analyze the social political influence of the event on the people of Alberta. Alberta responded to the Great Depression by deciding it was time for a change in sociopolitical paradigm, which created new political parties such as Social Credit as well as a movement for more social services to protect the individual citizen from uncontrollable…

    • 1110 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The 1930s were a dark time in Canada’s history. We were in an economic crisis, with 30% of the population without a job. The depression went on for such a long period of time because of how ineffectively Canadians at the time responded to the Great Depression. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King’s Liberal Party was in power at the start of the Great Depression in 1929. Leading up to the 1930s, unemployment was an increasingly worse issue.…

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    How Did The Prosperity of the 1920s Lead to the Great Depression? Life was great, people had money in their pockets and food in their hands. Vehicles were cheap and various new inventions, such as the radio, affordable. Companies strived to convince the population that they needed the newest thing, and needed it now, spending millions on advertising.…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    At the beginning of the 1930s, more than 15 million Americans – fully one-quarter of all wage-earning workers – were unemployed (“The 1930s”). When President Herbert Hoover failed at relieving most of the crisis, he lost re-election against Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who promised he’d alleviate some of the Depression. The American people were ecstatic when they heard this news. As millions lost their jobs and, in turn, losing…

    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Did the Great Depression completely destroyed America economically in the twentieth century? During the twentieth century, America experience one of the most long and influential depressions, the great depression. Which left a historical memory for the entire nation. Some of this struggles that were faced were the bank failures, the stock market crash, and the loss of industries which concluded to unemployment for the citizens. The causes of the depression was the corruption of the Jazz Age as Robert S. McElvaine mentioned “It is difficult to think of the time as anything but the Roaring Twenties, the years of flappers, the Charleston, bathtub gin, petting parties, and the Slutz Bearcat.…

    • 1340 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    First, the Great Depression affected how people act, work, and live. Also, the Great Depression affected how grateful people should be with their money and how they save. The Great Depression effected people in America. The first way the Great Depression affected Americans is how they act, work, and live.…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In 1933, the worst year of the depression, it is estimated that 13 to 15 million Americans didn’t have jobs. That was roughly 25 percent of the country 's population at the time.22 Workers…

    • 1032 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    FDR left office, leaving the country in a better position than when he started. The economy improved and many people had jobs. “His social programs during the Great Depression redefined the role of government in Americans’ lives. His role during World War II established the United States’ leadership on the world stage. His 12 years in the White House set a precedent for the expansion of presidential power and redefined liberalism for generations to come” (“Franklin D. Roosevelt Biography”).…

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Does anyone exactly know the number of people that lost their jobs between the years of 1932 to 1936? Over 13 million Americans lost their jobs as the unemployment rate skyrocketed from 3% to 25% in less than a year. The Great Depression was a monumental time in U.S. history as it defined the generation after it and punished those who lived through it. There is a surplus of possible reasons for the depression, but it can be narrowed down to 3 words: surplus, credit, and Government. With no actual consensus on the matter, these 3 words are the most debated on.…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Great Depression Dbq

    • 1331 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Great Depression began in 1929 and lasted almost 10 years; It was a time period when the America had the most severe economic. The majority of American left their home with dream to earn money to support their family; even teenagers left school to get a chance to work in order to find a better life on their own. People who found a work during the Great Depression would have a bad living condition provided. The owner housed them with a shanty, barn, or even an open field. However, the wage dropped dramatically since the large amount of workers came for works, even if the whole family had work, the money would not be enough to support them.…

    • 1331 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The 1920s was a hard decade for people to live in, especially towards the end. Although there were some successes leading people to believe that there might be great prosperity, problems in the economy were arising making it harder for people to live. By the end of the 1920s people were unemployed, looking for food, and entering one of the worst possible times of their lives, The Great Depression of 1929. The prosperity of the 1920s was in fact misleading because WWI had just ended and there was an expectation for an economic boom because of all the production during the war.…

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The beginning of the great depression had consequence. Many people lost their job and don’t have money to survive. People have to looking for another form to survive. Many Mexican American offered and option to trip back to Mexico. This help to decrease the demand of job.…

    • 56 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the 1920’s America had experienced an economic growth in which not only did it made the Nation rich but the people were able to obtain more luxuries such as cars, jewelry, events, and even afford buying a house. By the time it had become popular for people to possess items of high value and even value them more than anything. The time during this period was suitable; People were earning more money and consuming more, which also meant that people were investing great amounts of money into stocks, but on October 29, 1929 the stock market took a downturn in which eventually led to the events of the Great Depression. As the stock market crash not it only did it affect millions of Americans, it affected the economy as well. This tragedy is historically known as “The Stock Market Crash of 1929,” were it focuses on the events that led to the stock market’s collapse and its aftermath, The Great Depression.…

    • 1304 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Introduction: (General, background info on Roaring Twenties and Great Depression, 4-6 sent.) In the Roaring Twenties (1918-1945), it was a time of pushing the limits in social culture and a test of people’s endurance. The unemployment rate was at 15% and the U.S. remained neutral in a period of pre-1941. Then the government programs increased, World War II began in Europe and Asia in 1941.…

    • 1327 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays