LIFE DURING GREAT DEPRESSION

Joe: Oh no, I see Mr. /Mrs. Vanderbilt sitting outside again.

Mary: I think I hear that stupid song called, “We’re In the Money”

Joe: Why does he play that junk?

Vanderbilt: I heard that! It’s not junk; it’s decent music. You youngsters do not know good
music if you heard it.

Joe/Mary: Yes we would!

V: Oh now you won’t. I mean some of you listen to that Lady person. She’s just weird and I
don’t understand her.

M: What would you know about good quality music or anything for that matter?

V: Well, let me tell you this. I remember as far back as the Great Depression, and I have seen
everything from quality to garbage.

J: We’re learning about the Great Depression in Social Studies.

M: Yea! I would love to hear some of your stories.

J: (mumbling) I should’ve kept my mouth shut…

V: Alright, where do I begin? Oh yea, the Roaring 20s is actually where the problems really
started. Oh what a time period that was! So many ideas from the past were abandoned. People
spent money like it grew on trees, even money they didn’t have.

M: You mean like buying on credit?

V: Yes, yes I do. Also during this time, the rich were getting richer and the poor were getting
poorer.

J: Didn’t farmers suffer too?

V: Yes the farmers were not exactly roaring, but their problems have not even really begun yet.
The Dust Bowl of the 1930s really hit them hard. Do you know what a dust bowl is?

M: Isn’t it where the wind picks up everything like dirt and debris and whips it around to where
you can’t see anything?

J: Like a blizzard?
V: Yes that’s correct. Good analogy Joe! Ok, back to these problems. Crop prices were also
extremely low. Farmers were hardly making any money. What also didn’t help was our president
had a Laissez-faire economic policy, or hands off. Do you know what that president was?

J: Herbert Hoover. He also kicked veterans out of Washington D.C., if I remember correctly.

M: You mean the Bonus Army…

V: Yes the Bonus Army. The veterans, along with others set up Hoovervilles and lived in them.
A Hooverville is a homemade shack, which usually wasn’t very sturdy. They also had Hoover
flags and blankets.

M: What are those?

V: Ha-ha, well here’s a Hoover flag (pointing to the empty turned out pockets). And do you
remember seeing me sit in my chair with the newspaper over my legs?

J: Yea, that can’t be very warm.

V: Actually it is, here try it.

(Joe sits down in the chair with the newspapers over his legs)

J: Wow this is warm, and also very resourceful.

V: Yes, actually the point. During the Great Depression people had to be extremely resourceful
because times were hard for everyone. Food and jobs were extremely scarce. Most people used
to fight for jobs in employment agencies. They also used to wait in lines for hours to get food,
some would walk away empty handed.

J: Wow, that’s rough. Luckily he wasn’t the president for much longer.

M: Yea, thank goodness Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected. Please tell us about him and how life
improved…

V: Things started to slowly change with FDR; he had some very good ideas for the time.

M: Oh, like the New Deal. This had the different new government agencies and work programs
for everyone.

J: Yea the CWA gave public works jobs to people for about $15.00 a week. Also, the CCC sent
25,000 young men to camps to perform reforestation and conservation tasks. They usually made
$1.00 a day.

V: Wow!!! Who’s teaching who here??? Also, with the New Deal, Roosevelt would have
Fireside Chats and talk to the country about the changes in the economy and such.
M: I think I’ve heard about them, did they work?

V: They did help ease everyone’s mind.

J: So these New Deal programs ended the Great Depression, right?

V: WRONG, they helped ease the depression; it actually ends when WWII starts because men
and women go to work in factories to build necessary war materials.

M: Oh, I get it now.

J: It seems like NOTHING good happened during the Great Depression.

V: Hold your tongue! Good things were created! Movies, such as “The Wizard of Oz”, “Gone
with the Wind”, and “Snow White” were created. Also, John Steinbeck wrote “The Grapes of
Wrath” and “Of Mice and Men” during this time period.

M: Oh, I’ve heard of those things. Thank you for the stroll down memory lane.

V: You’re welcome! Remember the lessons of the past; you never know when similar ones will
present themselves.