The Time of the Great Depression

The dark time of poverty and hunger characterized the Great Depression. Americas economy had fallen and created a devastating fallout that knocked down every other countrys economy. Every country had to fend for themselves. America villainized its president, Hoover. They accused him of the depression and stood against him. FDR joined as the next president. There are different views on whether FDR actually propelled America out of the Great Depression. FDR didnt do enough to help the economy during the Great Depression because the cycle of poverty created by it was too difficult to fix. The Great Depression was a massive ordeal and was not easily solved. FDR could only create a certain amount of jobs. Unemployments hand touched over eight million people, much more than what FDR could provide. The cycle of poverty released a vicious unrelenting attack against the people of America. The lack of incoming money forced the companies to lay off people to be able to maintain their money. This, in turn, created more people who found themselves unable to spend money. In fact, in the year 1937, the unemployment rate actually went up(Great Depression and New Deal lecture). After his first term, many people had disagreed with how he worked. The country faced a great disparity. Some people said that he hadnt done enough. Some said he did too much. He couldnt make anything too radical, because it wouldnt be accepted. The judiciary branch took down his NRA and AAA plans. The people had given him a broken machine and limited his tools to fix it with. The judiciary branch gave him trouble. FDR decided that he would try to fight them so he could get what he needed. He urged for a deal to make it easier for him to solve the depression. However, his counterattack met swift opposition of people suspecting a plan for a power grab. This limitation almost killed his chances of fixing the solution. FDR attempted from so many different methods to fix this monumental problem but found himself every time at the same dead end. He spent most of his second term fighting the supreme court. Not much got done, and some economists have pointed that if he had not made some of the acts he made the economy should have righted itself three years earlier than when the Great Depression actually ended. His fight against the supreme court showed the unwinnable fight that wasted time and threatened the balance of democracy through checks and balances. People found themselves homeless and Roosevelt ignored them to fight the supreme court(Family Walking on Highway 1936), maybe to actually make America like Germanys Nazi party. In fact, Roosevelts predecessor, Hoover, probably caused us to view Roosevelt as a hero because Hoover treated the people poorly. Hoover underestimated the problem and caused the country to hate him(The Century Americas Time). He even mentioned thinking that the Great Depression would end within a few months. The country turned against him and his reluctance to provide support. Roosevelt promised to bring a New Deal. When a country is going through a depression, an attitude of reluctance and rule-following is not necessarily the best course of action. The country was poor and cared less about what was morally right and more about remaining alive. The Great Depression didnt end until World War II, a product of the Great Depressions effects on Germany. War is truly the only thing that could kick America out of the dark rut they were stuck in. World War II freed up the economy. War brings abundance profit. Jobs were available as the able young American man rushed out to fight in the war leaving the workplace abandoned. The forces needed ammunition and weapons to protect them, so many factory jobs opened. If Roosevelt had truly ended the Great Depression then it would have ended much sooner. The Great Depression definitely wouldnt have lasted a whole decade. The best Roosevelt could do was provide hope and slow their fall. World War II proved to be the only thing that could repair the economy. The Great Depression appeared as an impossible task to fix. Especially with the limited tools given to him through the checks and balances system. He was stuck fighting battles against the supreme court and was not able to make as much progress. People viewed highly of him because he was because of the comparison between him and his predecessor. The Great Depression ended with World War II and it wouldnt have taken ten years if FDR truly fixed the problem. The problem seemed just too big for him to handle, so FDR couldnt possibly do enough to fix the broken mess America found itself in.

Cite this page