The Great Depression was a a time of economic crisis, a downfall of employment and the worst collapse in the history of American capitalism. Throughout the 1930s, neither the free market nor the federal government was able to get the country working again. The American people endured a full decade of almost unbearable economic misery.
Though already in a recession by the 1929 stock market crash, that event generally marked the beginning of the United States economy's collapse into the Great Depression, an unexpected period of high unemployment, bankruptcy, low productivity, bank failures, farm foreclosures, and homelessness. By 1933, the value of all goods and services produced in the U.S. were only 60 percent of 1929 values. The value of stocks on the New York Stock Exchange were less than a fifth of its 1929 value. Unemployment rate had risen to almost 25 percent. While the numbers are startling, they hardly convey the depth of hardship experienced by the average family.
Faced with this disaster, families split up or migrated from their homes in search of work. 'Hoovervilles' (named after President Hoover, as an insult) which were shanty towns constructed of packing crates, abandoned cars and other cast off scraps, sprung up across the Nation. Gangs of youths, whose families could no longer support them, rode the rails in box cars like so many hobos, hoping to find a job.
Throughout this detailed website you will be able to gain further knowledge of the significant topics in the Great Depression. The producers of this website thoroughly examined several primary source documents and credible research sites to formulate an easy to understand explanation of the overall outcome of the stock market crash of 1929, The Great Depression. By clicking the subheadings above, you can read several summaries that will help you narrow this wide ranged subject to comprehend.
Though already in a recession by the 1929 stock market crash, that event generally marked the beginning of the United States economy's collapse into the Great Depression, an unexpected period of high unemployment, bankruptcy, low productivity, bank failures, farm foreclosures, and homelessness. By 1933, the value of all goods and services produced in the U.S. were only 60 percent of 1929 values. The value of stocks on the New York Stock Exchange were less than a fifth of its 1929 value. Unemployment rate had risen to almost 25 percent. While the numbers are startling, they hardly convey the depth of hardship experienced by the average family.
Faced with this disaster, families split up or migrated from their homes in search of work. 'Hoovervilles' (named after President Hoover, as an insult) which were shanty towns constructed of packing crates, abandoned cars and other cast off scraps, sprung up across the Nation. Gangs of youths, whose families could no longer support them, rode the rails in box cars like so many hobos, hoping to find a job.
Throughout this detailed website you will be able to gain further knowledge of the significant topics in the Great Depression. The producers of this website thoroughly examined several primary source documents and credible research sites to formulate an easy to understand explanation of the overall outcome of the stock market crash of 1929, The Great Depression. By clicking the subheadings above, you can read several summaries that will help you narrow this wide ranged subject to comprehend.
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~Darren F. Jones