Down And Out In The Great Depression Essay -- Robert McElvaine

During the 1920s, the States was a prosperous nation going through the Big demolish and loving e rattling second of it. However, this fortune didnt last long, because with the 1930s came a period of serious economic recession, a period called the spectacular Depression. By 1933, a quarter of the nations workers ( rough 40 million) were without jobs. The weekly income rate dropped from $24.76 per week in 1929 to $16.65 per week in 1933 (McElvaine, 8). After prexy Hoover failed to rectify the recession situation, Franklin D. Roosevelt began his term with the hopeful New Deal. In two installments, Roosevelt hoped to relieve short term suffering with the first, and redistribution of money amongst the abject with the second. Throughout these years of the depression, many Americans spoke their minds through pen and paper. galore(postnominal) criticized Hoovers policies of the early Depression and praised the Roosevelts efforts. Each opinion about the causes and solutions of the exte nsive Depression are based upon economic, racial and social stand in America. At the start of the Depression, many letter (mostly discouraging) were sent to chair Hoover. These letters came primarily from leisurely citizens, however some leftist workers letters found their way in as well. The well-to-do citizens agreed that the net cause of the lower classes depression was their laziness and incompetence. On top of that, these well-to-do citizens thanked Hoover, probably because their money had gone unscathed (McElvaine, 38). Some opinions werent as favorable for the Hoover administration, however. Some people believed that engineers may be thinking(a) but poor presidents (pp. 43). Finally, the leftist parties did not appreciate the endeavors of the Hoover presiden... ...for their misfortune. The abstruse blamed the poor, the poor blamed the rich, the middle class blamed the blacks, and no one as wellk responsibility themselves. One complaint most of these classes (with except ion to the hardly a(prenominal) that benefited) was the lack of success of the New Deal and other relief efforts. Whether the blacks had too much employment, or the poor were too lazy to receive aid, very few Americans appeared to be happy with Roosevelts solution. This didnt stop his popularity. legion(predicate) Americans stood behind their president rain or shine, depression or spoiled boom. Regardless of their positions, these citizens who turned to the President in their time of desperation turn out that the pen is truly mightier.Works CitedMcElvaine, Robert S, ed. Down and Out in the Great Depression Letters from the Forgotten Man. Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press, 1983.