McNeese T. The Great Depression 1929-1938 (Discovering U.S. History)
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DISCOVERING U.S. HISTORY
The Great
Depression
1929–1938
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DISCOVERING U.S. HISTORY
The New World: Prehistory–1542
Colonial America: 1543–1763
Revolutionary America: 1764–1789
Early National America: 1790–1850
The Civil War Era: 1851–1865
The New South and the Old West: 1866–1890
The Gilded Age and Progressivism: 1891–1913
World War I and the Roaring Twenties: 1914–1928
The Great Depression: 1929–1938
World War II: 1939–1945
The Cold War and Postwar America: 1946–1963
Modern America: 1964–Present
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DISCOVERING U.S. HISTORY
The Great
Depression
1929–1938
Tim McNeese
Consulting Editor: Richard Jensen, Ph.D.
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THE GREAT DEPRESSION: 1929–1938
Copyright © 2010 by Infobase Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without
permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact:
Chelsea House
An imprint of Infobase Publishing
132 West 31st Street
New York NY 10001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McNeese, Tim.
The Great Depression, 1929–1938 / by Tim McNeese.
p. cm. — (Discovering U.S. history)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60413-357-8 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-4381-3218-1 (e-book)
1. United States—History—1933–1945—Juvenile literature. 2. Depressions—1929—United States—
Juvenile literature. 3. United States—History—1919–1933—Juvenile literature. 4. United States—
Economic conditions—1918–1945—Juvenile literature. 5. Economic history—1918–1945—Juvenile
literature. 6. World politics—1933–1945—Juvenile literature. I. Title. II. Series.
E806.M47 2009
973.917—dc22
2009022090
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Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800
or (800) 322-8755.
You can find Chelsea House on the World Wide Web at http://www.chelseahouse.com
The Discovering U.S. History series was produced for Chelsea House by
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Editors: Lionel Bender and Susan Malyan
Designer and Picture Researcher: Ben White
Production: Kim Richardson
Maps and graphics: Stefan Chabluk
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Book printed and bound by Bang Printing, Brainerd, MN
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longer be valid.
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Contents
Introduction: The Bonus March 7
Map: The New Deal and Dust Bowl 16
1 A Deceptive Economy 19
2 Hoover’s Depression 32
3 Launching the New Deal 51
4 Extending the Reach 68
5 The Second Hundred Days 80
6 End of the New Deal 97
7 American Culture of the 1930s 107
Chronology and Timeline 118
Glossary 124
Bibliography 128
Further Resources 130
Picture Credits 132
Index 133
About the Author and Consultant 136
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7
Introduction
The Bonus
March
I
n the early summer of 1931, 3 million veterans of World
War I (1914–18) watched anxiously as a committee con-
sidered their immediate futures. That June a committee of
the House of Representatives was holding a hearing con-
cerning an extremely controversial subject: Whether to pay
a bonus to U.S. servicemen who had been in uniform during
World War I.
Congress had established the Soldiers Bonus Act in 1924
with good intentions. The act’s Adjusted Compensation
Certifi cates were intended to serve as a combined form of
pension and life insurance policy, but they were not to be
paid until 1945, when many of the veterans of World War I
would be approaching their late 40s or early 50s. The only
exceptions to receiving the bonus sooner were the heirs of
any vets who had already died. Many vets, however, now
wanted the bonus early. In fact, many of them were relying
on it as their only income.
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8
For nearly two years, the United States had been strug-
gling with a severe economic depression. Millions of Ameri-
cans were out of work; businesses and factories had closed
by the thousands, along with hundreds of banks. The vet-
erans and their families were desperate. The planned bonus
would mean $1,000 per wartime serviceman, totaling $3 bil-
lion. If Congress paid out the bonus that year, in the midst
of the Depression, it would translate into the largest direct
relief program for the poor in the history of the federal
government.
A STACKED DECK
Veterans were summoned to testify at the House Committee
hearings, but many believed the deck was stacked against
them. President Herbert Hoover, a conservative Republican,
did not support the bonus. Nor did a host of committee wit-
nesses, including bank officials, insurance executives, and a
field of business people. There were a few sympathetic con-
gressmen, as well as a handful of veteran organization offi-
cials, who favored paying out the bonus that year. However,
despite the number of opponents of the immediate bonus
payout, much of their testimony was boring, laden with
charts and statistics. The veterans gave the most compelling
testimony, particularly one out-of-work vet from New Jersey
who had walked from the city of Camden to the Capitol just
to tell his story.
One Veteran Speaks
Appearing before the committee, Joseph Angelo spoke
directly to his need:
All I ask of you, brothers, is to help us. We helped you,
now you help us. My partner here has a wife and five chil-
dren, and he is just the same as I am. He hiked down here at
The Great Depression
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9
The Bonus March
the same time with me, and our feet are blistered. That is all I
have to say. And I hope you folks can help us and that we can go
through with the bonus. We don’t want charity; we don’t need it.
All we ask for is what belongs to us, and that is all we want.
Intrigued congressmen asked Angelo about the medal he
was wearing. “I carry the highest medal in America for enlisted
men,” he answered, “the Distinguished Service Cross.” He had
gained it by rescuing an officer during a machine gun attack in
France’s Argonne Forest in 1918. Nearly all of Angelo’s unit had
been killed, but he survived and rescued the wounded colonel.
Angelo then showed the committee members a tie tack that
had been fashioned from one of the bullets removed from the
American officer’s leg. He explained that his medal and the tie
pin were the only two personal items he still owned. The rest
he had been forced by his circumstances to sell in a pawnshop
back in Camden.
Hard Times for Americans
Here before the House Committee was a man who had served
his country, but who had fallen on hard times, like millions
of other veterans and tens of millions of other Americans. In
1929 the United States had begun to slide into a deep economic
depression that in 1931 had not yet even reached bottom. The
working class had become restless. That summer at least 5 mil-
lion men and women in America had no jobs, while another 5
million were only partially employed. Since the stock market
crash in October 1929 nearly one in every two U.S. workers
had faced wage cuts. Poverty had become a new way of life for
America’s millions.
The country’s bad times had already driven 2 million vets
to “borrow” against their bonuses. But for every $100 taken
out to pay for an immediate need, the veterans needed much
more than that. If they waited until 1945, their bonuses would
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