The Great Depression in the 1920s

The 1920s

The 1920s was a decade in which many changes occurred in America during which people owning cars, telephones, and radios for the first time. Prosperity and growth of towns and cities led to social changes. Women became more liberal and wore short fancy dresses, while men started shaving beards. Musical styles changed with introduction of new ones such as the Jazz by Louis Armstrong. In 1925, a style known as Charleston and the motion pictures could use sound. Other changes that were experienced include the appearance of the Mickey Mouse cartoon in 1928 and the Popeye comic in 1928. There was increase in women’s right especially to vote and other freedoms, which were later blamed for increase in family instability. Flappers or young women with bobbed hair emerged and wore short dresses, attended parties, drank alcohol, and smoked. They also used to hang out in speakeasies. The movies during the time taught women about kissing, dating which happened mostly in restaurants, long drives, and cinemas. Men also changed their way of dressing and wore raccoon coats and new suits with a different style. However, the period was also conservative and several states enacted laws that prohibited teaching of the Darwin’s theory of evolution since it was blamed for the decay in morals. The ban on alcohol was meant to stop domestic violence, prostitution, and other immoral deeds. However, the prohibition increased alcoholism as it was smuggled from Canada and Mexico. Women rights activism especially fights for equal rights increased the number of women at work and in colleges although this was also blamed for family instability.

Warren Hardin

Warren Hardin was a popular president but one of the worst president in the American history. He had some achievements such as establishing a budget system for the federal government, halting of the arms race to produce large naval vessels, keeping lower tariffs, and reduction of immigrants entering the US from southern and eastern Europe, and lower business taxes. He was loved for promising to return America to normalcy but the subsequent scandals during his administration such as the Teapot Dome and his affair with Nan Briton tarnished his image. Some of the scandals included appointing of friends and acquaintances to the federal positions some of whom were quite ineffective in their jobs. One of his appointees, Herb Votaw who was his brother in law was unable to end the drug trade in the federal prisons. He hid illicit activities of his appointees and signed controversial deals such as the Tea Dome, which damaged his reputation greatly. The scandals were discovered after his death and the culprits faced charges for their crimes.

Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge’s economic policies were popular as they led to the prosperity in the 1920s. He always opposed high taxes as well as government regulations but managed to reduce federal debt by opposing government spending. According to Coolidge’s argument, lowering taxes would increase government receipts thus he managed to convince the Congress lower the tax rates during his term. The policies increased economic growth, which included reduction of national debt and paying down the country’s debts. Economic recovery was achieved in various sectors such as manufacturing, mining, and entrepreneurship. The automobile and radio were symbols of economic recovery and progress in the 1920s since wages also increased. The policies of spending, debt reduction, and tax lend to budget surpluses and reduction in the unemployment rate.

President Herbert Hoover

President Herbert Hoover is considered as a forgotten progressive since people could not acknowledge his hard work in the 1920s. He was very committed to active government than his predecessors but the fellow citizens blamed him for the Great Depression. His work failed to alleviate the situation ruining his reputation. His success was self-made since he was orphaned at a young age and worked his way to presidency. The citizens had high expectations but the methods he tried were unsuccessful or poorly handled damaging his public reputation. His idea was that the private sector should not be highly regulated and businesspeople should keep on reinvesting capital in the economy. He thus committed to a balanced budget and rejected the idea of deflating the currency system. He supported protective tariffs to shield American from foreign competition, increased public spending in public works, called for the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to offer low interest loans to banks and business, and adopted small government approach. However, his policies failed to address the issues the country was facing such as unemployment thus was considered a failure.

The Great Depression

In 1929, there was stock market crash that caused the Great Depression later accelerating global economic collapse. Many American banks failed and the rate of unemployment rose to high levels. It was a four-day collapse of stock prices that started on 24th October 1929. One cause of the clash was the US stock market rapid expansion, which reached its peak in August 1929. There was a decline in production and a rise in unemployment rate thus stock was in great excess of the real value. Other major causes included low wages paid for labor, weakening agricultural sector, excess bank loans that could not be liquidated, as well as the rise in debt.

President Hoover tried to handle the crisis in his own way but his tactics failed to solve the depression issue. He refused to allow government intervention to the worsening depression as he feared introduction of socialism ideals. He could not support direct government aid to the citizens thus the public saw him as uncaring man as he allowed the nation to sink into poverty before releasing any federal aid. He could not convince the public that federal aid was destructive to the economy leading to his defeat during the 1932 elections. Hoover pressured business leaders to stop lying of employees or cut wages but this worsened the situation due to low consumption. He invested money in the constructive programs especially shipbuilding and loaning money to farmers but still the situation did not improve. The federal Farm Board was also instructed to give buy excess produce from farmers and advocated for signing of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1932 to discount money to allow for more inflation of credit and bank reserves. However, the strategies did not work and by the end of 1932, the rate of unemployment rose close to 25 percent and businesses defaulted in major loans. More than five thousand banks closed while hundreds of thousands citizens became homeless and desperate. Poverty increased but Hoover refused to provide direct government aid to cater for the welfare of the people. Such policies led to a feeling that the president did not care about the welfare of the citizens creating a life.