How Did The Great Depression Affect Families

During the 1900s a “Great Depression” hit America and not only America but countries worldwide. The depression took place as late as the roaring twenties. The great depression was an economic decline caused by the stock market that affected America’s government and especially its citizens. At the time, president Herbert Hoover believed that the economy could recover on its own and had no interest in involving the the federal government with the crisis. In sum, many Americans and migrant workers suffered immense poverty. Moreover, the great depression displaced the American family due to unemployment, poor weather conditions, and ineffective federal aid.

Supporting a family is complicated as it is and with the great depression at its highest

Between 1930-1936, due to the lack of rain, over farming, plowing, overgrazing, and wind erosion, a dust cloud roared over America. The dust cloud was then given the name, Dust Bowl by parts of the Great Plains. Due to these conditions, many people died by the harmful dust in the air. Many people who were exposed to the dust got a common disease, known as Dustimonia or Brown Plague and in some cases, victims suffered death. To prevent further casualties, families began to separate by sending their children who were the most affected by the dust to places where there was no dust storm. Some parents decided to stay and some men left their wives to work in the western side of California where rumors have been said that better farming conditions were present. Many families, from Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado were victims who migrated to the farms of California. Unfortunately, little did the migrators know that they were being deluded into a disillusion. When they arrived, farmers suffered low wages, shortage of farm products, and crop prices

Roosevelt won against Herbert Hoover. Roosevelt became president and blamed Hoover for the depression. Soon after, Roosevelt proposed his “New Deal” to try and provide federal aid to the economy. The New Deal consisted of several measures to provide relief, reform, and recovery. Unlike Hoover, Roosevelt wanted to involve the government with the economic crisis. Some of his measure provided aid to farmers. For example, the Farm Credit Act (FCA) and the Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union (STFU) both aided farmers. The (FCA) provided loans to farmers who were in danger of going bankrupt due to the depression. The (STFU) lobbied the government to halt tenant evictions to give farmers a chance or time to recover orr relief themselves. Other measures, such as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) aided the unemployed. This measure helped mostly young men who were hungry for work and poor. The Civilian Works Administration (CWA) also helped by making labor for people who were jobless. A measure that helped multiple states was the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). This measure doled out money to several states to help assist their economies. As a result, Roosevelt 's New Deal did not end the great depression and families were still poor. In sum, Roosevelt 's federal aid failed and was