The great depression started around 1929 and by 1933, 11,000 of about 25,000 banks in the U.S. were closed. Worse than the bank closings were the fact that nine million bank accounts had evaporated into thin air and the money in those accounts was lost forever, often leaving families penniless. When the stock exchange was flying high it was valued at over five times what it was in 1933. When Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President in 1932 there were 13,000,000+ people unemployed. Roosevelt was not popular with bankers and financial institution because he had taken the country off the gold standard and allowed deficits, big business didn't like this either.

End Of Business, New York Stock Market, Day Of Crash
Photo Source: Herbert Hoover Library

President Herbert Hoover had presided over the market crash and his name was used in every derisive way possible. When people lived in shanty towns made of tin an old wood, they called them Hoovervilles. When they had a hole in their shoe and had to stuff paper into it so that their foot wouldn't hit the sidewalk, it was called Hoover leather. If you put a newspaper over you to keep warm it was called a Hoover blanket and when hungry people hunted jackrabbits, they were called Hoover hogs. Hoover, whose full name was Herbert Hoover, served as the President from 1929 to 1933. It is ironic that when Hoover took office he said , " We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land." He hadn't been in office more than a few months when the market crashed and the greatest depression this country has ever know had started. He had a strange way of thinking. He felt that people should be fed and clothed, which was well and good, but he also felt that it was not the responsibility of the federal government, even though this was the worst time in history for most Americans. He blamed his opponents for picturing him as an uncaring president.

People were suffering and even the music of the time reflected this. One of the top songs was, Brother can you spare a dime? The depression was not only effecting the U.S. but it was hurting all of North America, Europe and other industrialized countries. After World War I the U.S. had become the major creditor in Europe and because of this, our depression struck them hard. The assets of our financial institutions had shrunk to twenty cents of their 1929 one dollar value. This meant there was much less money available for lending and our economic output fell to about fifty four percent of what it was in 1929, giving us less to sell. With all this going on, people were broke and were not buying, further hurting the economy.

The great depression had other implications that people hardly ever think about. In Japan and Germany leaders were elected that started the second world war. Hitler had been elected in Germany with the hope that he would be able to lead the people of that country out of the devastating depression that was raging there. Japan didn't actually suffer from a depression. Korekiyo Takahaski was their finance minister at the time. It is said he saved Japan from depression by implementing a policy of fiscal expansion. Policies he implemented allowed Japan to act quickly when a downswing was detected. They also devalued the yen when necessary. While Japan didn't suffer much from the depression, the turmoil forced new military leaders into power. These leaders were really war lords with old ideas of conquest.

There was a tremendous imbalance between the rich and the poor before the depression. It was so great that 0.1 percent of the population was earning as much as 42 percent of everyone else. The depression itself lasted to almost 1940 in some places. When the depression hit, the poorest segment of the population were the first ones laid off. One has to worry when they look at how things are today in the U.S. and they realize that wealth is again flowing into the hands of the few, creating some of the same situations that existed about 70 years ago. It is said that over 250,000 people lived by traveling from place to place on railroad cars during depression times.

Man In Soup Kitchen During Depression
Photo Source: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library

President Roosevelt was ready to try anything to get the country out of the depression. while Hoover was not happy with trying new things. He was much more conservative than Roosevelt. Roosevelt had a certain relationship with the general population and held radio broadcasts every week to assure Americans that things were improving. In the end it was Roosevelt's dogged determination to push programs through Congress that helped the average guy and gal by providing jobs and spurring on the economy. Roosevelt's programs were known as the "New Deal". Roosevelt became one of the most beloved presidents in U.S. history and I think it would be safe to say that he was also one of the most trusted. When his polio became very bad, it was suspected that it was not Mr. Roosevelt that was running the government, but Mrs. Roosevelt.