TWI'NI' I ET IICENTURYAMER ICAN SThe C rashaffecte d theirsales[0forei gnco un tries,
[00.In the 1920sA m er icangoodsh ad sold well
o verseas.especially in Eu rope.Butcountriessuchas
Brjt ain and Germ an yhadno tprosperedafterth ewar
as th eUnited States had.Theyhadoftenpaid fo r
theirpurcha sesw ith money bo rrowed from
American ban ks. Afterth e WallStreetCras h th e
bankswantedtheirmoneyback. European buyers
became sho rt of cash andAmerican overseassales
dried upalmost co mpletel y.Goodsp iledup unso ld
in factorywarehouses .Employersstopped
em p lo yingworkers and reducedproduction.
B y the end of 1931nearl yeightmillionAmerica ns
were ou tofwork.Unlikeunem p lo ye d worker sIII
cou nt riess u ch asGermilnyand Brit ain , th ey received
n ogovern mentunemploymentpay .Man yw er e
soonwithout ho m es or foodandhadto live on
cha ri ty.Millions spen t ho ur s shu fflingslowly
forw ard in"breadlines."Her ethey receivedfret:
pieces of b reado rbowlsofsou p,paidfo r b y mo ne y
collect edfromthosewho co uldaffordit.
13 y 1932 the positionwasworsesti ll. T ho u sa n ds of
banksando ver 100,000businesseshadd o seddown.
Ind ustrialproductionh ad fallenby halfandw ag e
payment s b y 60 per cent. N ewinvestmentinindustr y
was downby 90 percen t .T w elv emillionpeople,one
outofevery fourofthecountry'swork ers,were
unemplo yed .The cityofChicagoalonehadalmost
three-quarter sofa m illio nworke rswitho utjobs.
This wasfouroutoftenofits nor ma lworking
populat ion.Theposit ionwas jus t as b adinot he r
places.
T he D epressionwaseasiest to seeinthetowns,w ith
th ei rsilen t facto ries, clo se d shopsandslowly m o vin g
br eadlin es.Butitbroughtruin and desp airtothe
farmland s also. Farm erssim p ly couldnotsell their
produce .With th e n u mberofpeopleoutofwork
rising daybyday ,their cus tomers inthe citi escould
nolongeraffordtob uy.If any on e didbuy, it w asat
the lowestpossibleprices.T he samewas trueofthe
farmers'overseascustomers.
Many farm er s grewd es perat e. T h eytookout
sh o tguns andbandedtogethertodriveawaym en
w hoca me to throw them off theirfarms for not
payingthei rdebts. Howcan we pay.th e farmers
as ked,whennobodywillgi ve usa fair p ricefo rour
crops?T h ey paradedthroug hthestreetsIIIang ry
9"
"Youwalk"
Awriter describedw ha t itwas like to bejobless
and homeless inan A merican cityin th e early
1930s :
"Yougetshovedoutearly:youget yo u r coffee
an dstartwalking. Aco up leofhoursbe fo ren o on
you get in lin e. Youcat andsta rt walk i ng. At
n ig htyo usleepwhere youcan. Yo udon'ttalk.
Yo u carwhat you can. Youwalk.Noone talksto
you. You walk.It 's cold,andyoushiver and sta nd
in d oorw aysorsitIIIrailroadstations.Youdon't
sec much. You forget. Youwalkan hour and
fo rgetwhereyousta rtedfrom. It is day. andthen
it 'snight,andthenit's d ayagai n .Andyou d on't
rem em berwhich was first .Youwalk. "p ro cessions.Theywavedplacardswithword s such
as: " InH oo verwetru st ed ,no w we arcb u s ted ."
By 1932 peop leofeverykind- factoryworker s.
farmers,o fficew o rkers, sto re keep ers- w ere
demandin gthat Pr esident Ho overtakestronger
act io n to dealwiththe Depr ession.H oo ver believ ed that he co u lddotw o thin gstoend
theDepression .Thefirstwas to"balance the
budget"- th at is, tomakes u r ethatthegovern ment 's
spendingdidnotexceed itsmcomc.Thesecond was
to restore busin essmen's co n fiden ce in thefuture, s o
thattheywou l dbegintotakeonworkers again.
T ime andrimeagaininth e earl y 1930sHo o verto ld
peo p lethatrecoveryfromrhe D epressionwas "j u st
aro un d thecorner ." But rhc fac to riesrem aine d
d osed. Thebreadli nesg re wlo n ger.Peoplebecam e
h u ng rier.Tomasses of'uncm plo vcdworkersH o o ver
seemed u ncaringandunable tohelp th em.Then, Fran k linD. Roose veltcameon the scene.
Ro o seveltw asth eGovernorofthe stare o f NC"w
York. Yearsearl ierhe hadbeencrippledbypolio.
But in 1931 th e D em o crati c Parr ychosehimto ru n
agamsrPresidentHoover1Ilthat vcar's electionfo r a
newp reside nt.
Roo seveltg aveanim pres sio nofenergyand
determ inat ion , ando fcuingdeep ly forthew elfareof
o rdinar ypeople. All overthe Un itedStatesanxious
m enand wom enfcltth athere atlastw asamanwho