What was the Great Depression and why did it Start in the USA

There are many significant events that have shaped America’s history. Some were infamous, some scandalous and some we choose to overlook..According to the PBS film “The Great Depression”, The Great Depression was one of the most traumatic and gut wrenching event throughout history. This film outline the events leading up to the great depression and highlights some of the significant events during this time period. The Great Depression was an economic downturn that began in 1929 while president Herbert Hoover was in office and it lasted until 1939.

A large amount of Americans lost their jobs and suffered during this crisis.In 1933 during the nation’s financial disaster, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected president and made extensive changes to America’s political structure. The effects of the Great Depression had lasting consequences. The film by PBS “The Great Depression” helped me have a full understanding of this importance of the event. The Great Depression happened during the decade known as the Roaring 20’s. This decade was filled with industrial and artistic advancement. This created jobs and opportunities that had never been before. The growth of manufacturing and the assembly line Although the 1920;s was a thriving decade The United States had been enduring a recession or gradual financial decline for some time. But it wasn’t until an event called Black Tuesday that the true crisis started. Black Tuesday, occurred on October 29, 1929, was when the Stock Market crashed. This caused a panic on Wall Street as came to as investment came to a haut and t stock shares became worthless. This caused a chain of steadily hard events to occur as consumers cut back on spending, as people stopped investing, and as factories and business began firing employees. The value of money fell considerably and those who were lucky enough to still be employed received sharp wage cuts. Worse yet, banks failed across america. During the 1920 Ford motor company was one of the most thriving businesses. This demand created and need for faster manufacturing which created more jobs. Ford also began financing vehicles. At first this was a grand idea until there was more items on credit that purchased with actual money. So when the banks crashed the value of items crashed. And people we no longer purchasing goods. This caused wage cuts and layoffs. With people being laid off there were less people buying goods so then more layoffs happened. The great depression was basically a snowball of bad financial crisis. During the times leading up to and even after the depression started president Herbert Hoover did very little to intervene in the crisis. He believed that he should not get involved in business matters. It wasn’t until his successor Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected that changes were made. Franklin D. Roosevelt came up with the New Deal as a way to restore America’s economy as well as Americas faith in government.

This film is an awesome resource for students. It gives a lot of background and history about the events leading up to the depression and during the depression. One thing I learned more about was the riots during this era. People were scared for their futures which lead to uproar and panic. The laid off workers wanted justice for what was going on. I also learned that it is estimated that a during The Great Depression every seven minutes a person died from starvation.

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