1930-1939

     The main theme of the 1930's was the depression caused by the stock market crash in 1929.  At that time, it concerned and affected Americans for many reasons.  Not only was it a nationwide economic fall, but it caused the collapse of the world market as well.  It eventually affected all Americans and most of them blamed their troubles on President Hoover, because he was President during the crash, and he didn't know what to do.  People wanted jobs, but there were no jobs to obtain.  In the Midwest the crisis was worsened by the dust bowl.  It was all too sudden of a change after the roaring 20's and the economic boom.

     The effects of the depression were harsh and unrelenting.  Because of the depression, many people took pay cuts or lost their jobs entirely.  Those who had jobs were sometimes forced to move at the will of their employers. An example of this is when many Midwestern farmers traveled to California for jobs during the dust bowl.  The rate of homelessness also increased as a result of the depression and people were forced to live in junk shacks named "Hoovervilles."  Some of these people starved to death or committed suicide because of the anxiety.  When FDR came into office he created many government programs to create a better society and more jobs for these suffering Americans.  This was the "New Deal" for the country and it started a bigger role and more responsibility for the government.

     In some ways the depression still affects us today.  The survivors of the depression are much more cautious of money and credit.  There is also some government programs created then that are still in affect.  A minimum wage was set up during the depression that continues today.  Prohibition was repealed during the depression and it continues to be today.  And perhaps the most important effect of the depression still lasting into today, is the increase in presidential power because of FDR's actions in office.  Yet the thing that got us out of the depression didn't happen in this decade, but in the next when the U.S. entered WWII.

Events of This Decade
*Starred Events relate to the main theme.

    1930-The first supermarket is opened in the U.S.
    1930-The U.S. signs a naval disarmament treaty with other European nations.
    1930-"The Smoot-Hawley high tariff is approved."
   March 1931-Nine African American youths who had been riding the rails were arrested and accused of raping two white women on the train.  Without being given the chance to hire a defense lawyer, eight of the nine were quickly convicted by an all white jury.
    1931-The Empire State Building opens in New York, becoming the world's tallest skyscraper.

    1932-Florence Kelly dies.
  *1932-Veterans in the Bonus Army protest in Washington, D.C. to get their money from WWI early.
    1932-Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
    1932-The infant son of flying hero Charles Lindbergh and wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh is kidnapped and murdered.  A German-American was convicted of the crime, yet he haughtily denied this act all the way to the electric chair.
    1933-The First U.S. aircraft carrier launched
  *May 1933-The Tennessee Valley Authority is created to revitalize and give jobs to the Tennessee Valley.

    1933-Former President Calvin Coolidge, a symbol of the age of prosperity, dies.
  *1933-Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated as president under his "New Deal" campaign.  It begins a new age of activist Presidents, and even with his hidden polio, he becomes one of the most popular presidents in U.S. History.

    1933-Frances Perkins becomes the first woman to hold a cabinet post when FDR appoints her secretary of labor.
  *December 5, 1933-The 21st Amendment is added to the Constitution, repealing Prohibition.

  *1934-Farm families leave dust bowl-stricken Great Plains and move west to California.
    1934-"Congress passes the Indian Reorganization Act."
  *1935-Congress passes the Social Security Act, giving elder Americans Social Security money for the first time.
  *1935-The wealth tax is passed which penalized the wealthy with higher taxes to help depression.
    1935-Mery Bethune founds the National Council of Negro Women.
  *1935-The Works Progress Administration is set up to improve America and create jobs.
  * July 1935-With President Roosevelt's support, the Wagner is passed, guaranteeing workers' rights to join unions and bargain collectively.
    1935-To keep the United States out of war in Europe, Congress passes the Neutrality Act.
    1936-An auto workers strike occurs in Detroit, the nations leading producer of steel and cars.
    1936-Margaret Mitchell writes Gonewith the Wind an American classic.
    1937-Roosevelt's famous attempt to pack the Supreme Court fails.
    1937-A steel strike happens in Chicago.
    1938-The Fair Labor Standards Act makes it illegal to employ child labor.
    1938-Orson Wells's radio production of H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds causes a national panic because of the believability of it.
  *1938-A Severe recession hits the United States economy because of the depression.
    1939-Author John Steinbeck publishes The Grapes of Wrath, which was later turned into a movie that we happened to watch in American History class.
    1939-Hollywood releases The Wizard of Oz, one of the first color films.

    1939-Robert de Graff starts the Pocket Books company, a paperback books company.

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