Great Depression
This is showing how much the Great Depression hurt people,and families terribly. They had signs saying things that they needed that they no longer could afford in this time period. "Release us from Hunger" People were going hungry because they were not in work,and didn't have money to feed their families.
Political
1.)To lift everyone from their loss of money from the depression, Herbert Hoover, the president at this time, designed and created programs the the government would fund. These groups offered employment opportunities, construction of schools, airports, roads, and other great ways to help people who were effected by the depression. Altohugh Hoover came up with the idea to make these groups, he did not put many into action. Once he was out of office, our 32nd president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, ended up devising so many great and mostly successful programs for all, such as the CCC, or Civilian Conservation Corps. This group combined Roosevelt's optimism about helping bring employment back to those who lost it, and his love for wildlife and the conservation of our world and resources. This group was offered to men of ages 18 to 25, and they planted trees, put out forest fires, preserved the environment, and more.
2.)Another great program was the PWA, or Public Works Administration. This group offered construction work to the unemployed. In this group, you help in constructing airports, schools, roads and more.
3.) One other government funded organization was the AAA, or Agricultural Adjustment Administration, which was a group created that came up with a deal that farmers would have to agree to in order for them to earn a lot of money and carry them out of the depression.
Economic
1.)At this time, the stock market was popular. The wealthy, middle class and poor people all invested in the stock market and deposited their money into banks. The stock market was doing so well, and so many people were making a lot of money, and they even hit there all time high! But that all came plummeting down in 1929.
2.) October 29, 1929, the famous stock market crash took place. These markets lost ten to fifteen billion dollars in value. Once this happened, everyone lost all their money, those who wanted their money from the banks couldn't get it because the banks had taken the people's money and invested it into the stock market as well, banks closed because they couldn't support the amount of people request, more so demanding their money back, and people were forced to foreclose, or sell, their homes, cars, and other precious possessions in order to stay afloat. Most people with children could not afford to take care of their own children, so unfortunately, they were forced to give their children away to orphanages.
Social
1.)Since most people could not afford food or homes, breadlines, soup kitchens and Hoovervilles were created. Breadlines were lines where people could get food, if they could not afford any. Soup kitchens did the same thing, by providing people who were heavily affected by the depression, with food and shelter from the Hoovervilles the government hoped to subdue the chaos a little longer.
2.) Hoovervilles, named after Herbert Hoover, also known as shantytowns, were little areas where little shacks, or huts were built by homeless people, who needed a place to live because they either lost or had to foreclose their original home.
Progress?
The Great Depression & New Deal time period was not progress. Not only did the economy crash and burn, but the American people lost everything. The American people lost their homes, food, money, and jobs. If only American manufactures had sold more products overseas, it might have saved some of the jobs of the American people (American business ceased international trade which only hurt the world wide economy even more). Also, the federal reserves decision not to raise the interest rates helped cause the Depression. Roosevelt's New Deal plans did provide millions of people with relief after The Great Depression. Although the New Deal did not end the depression, it did permanently expand the federal government's role in providing basic security for the American citizens.
How The Great Depression & New Deal lead to WWII
Not only did The Great Depression & New Deal lead to WWII with the depression, but WWI also had a major role in starting the war. Having foreign markets in China, we now were tied with China and many other nations around the world. After WWI, Europe was unstable. Italy was seized, Germany was under the control of Hitler. Japan expanded it's territory to Asia. As WWII started, the United States stayed neutral until Japan breaks the Chinese Trade agreement and attacks Pearl Harbor, which engulfed us into the second Great War. But many, along with myself, believe that Roosevelt's decision to move the Pacific fleet to Hawaii, in range of a Japanese attack, was a direct hope that Japan would in fact attack and through that America would go to war, giving Roosevelt his wish, a war time economy. Which he hoped would bring the U.S. out of the Great Depression, which it did thankfully.