The Great Depression The economy of America faced a very hard time when the stock market crashed on October 1929 during the presidency of the 31st president of the United States of America, Herbert Hoover, who claimed that it was all caused by World War One. Mentioning the name, the first thing that comes to mind is the Great depression during which an enormous downfall happened after the wonderful years of prosperity. It was hard to believe how in a blink of an eye the situation rapidly changed. In the beginning of the 1930s, over 13 million people were unemployed. The whole nation came to a standstill. President Hoover, a republican, refused to intervene and instead, let the free market deal with the problem and the economic downturn morphs …show more content…
“Other agencies insured bank deposits, regulated the stock market, subsidized mortgages, and provided relief to the unemployed” (“Franklin D. Roosevelt”, Bio.com). The average week salary an employed person received was 17 dollars, although there were even people which received only 7, even doctors made as little as 60 dollars a week. A man’s shirt cost about a dollar, a woman’s winter coat from 18 dollars to 28, a washing machine about 32 dollars. Although some things were, indeed, expensive and out of the zone of someone’s ability to purchase, many other things were approachable by price. Food products like a bag of peanuts could be bought for 1 cent, milkshakes for 10 cents but people still were not able to allow themselves to live a life where money was not something to worry about. Americans could not go to the barber since it became something luxurious to them. Regular doctor and dentist checkups were held back and doctors’ visits only took place when something serious was going on. As a result, many women started giving birth at home. The great depression had influenced the lives of Americans a lot, people were so poor they did not have money to buy new clothes and, sometimes, had to patch worn out shoes with rubber from old tires. Twenty-five percent of the population was unemployed, 13 to 15 million Americans did not have a job. Many farmers who were unable to pay mortgages lost their land. Due to the reforms of the New Deal, President Roosevelt was able to improve the economy by 1936. After all of the positive feedback and great influence on the country, he was reelected president for the 3rd term in 1840 and greatly led the country through World War Two which is known to have ended the Great Depression by stimulating the industry. “World War II solidified America’s role as a global power” (“The Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945)”,