Unit 7... The Great Depression and the New Deal
History by Debra Lim
It's eerie how quickly the United States economy fell after such a boom in the 1920's. After World War I, America quickly established itself as isolationist and attempted to return to "normalcy" and put the war behind her.
During the 1920's, the United States experienced an economic boom and a surge of liberal, free expression. It was also in this period when prohibition was passed and the mafia grew to an unprecedented size. Supported by speakeasies, the mob handled the deliveries of alcohol to the illegal "party houses". These joints were filled with people, including "flappers". They were interracial. Jazz music, a child of the Harlem Renaissance, rocked the hidden alcohol infested speakeasies.
Women, as flappers, became more flamboyant and acted out by cutting their hair, wearing 'short" dresses, smoking and drinking.
African Americans migrated to the North. The culture soon appealed to the white population and new mixes and types of music began to spread and flourish.
The 1920's really were amazing as the stock market skyrocketed and people were buying all the luxuries they wanted. But, because of a lack of consumer confidence, the large amounts of credit debt and buying stock on margin, the stock market plummeted. Seen as the start of the Depression, Black Tuesday represented the fall of economies all across the globe with America at the center.
During the Depression, President Hoover kept a laid-back attitude and deluded himself into believing that everything would get better on its own. Instead, the poor continued to get poorer as there were no jobs, and shantytowns called "Hoovervilles" popped up all over, including Central Park in New York City. But with the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, the people and the government were about to get a breath of fresh air.
With the New Deal, Roosevelt implemented socialist ideas into the capitalist society to create a more balanced economy and structure. The New Deal created jobs and offered money to those who needed with its programs including the WPA, AAA, NIRA, the FDIC and Social Security to name a few. These programs helped boost goods consumption and inevitably improved the economy.
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