The Great Depression of 1929: Black Tuesday Stock Market Crash 1930s (American History Book 1) [1 ed.]

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The Great Depression of 1929

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Table of Contents How Did the Great Depression Come to Define the 1930s?

Chapter 1: When it All Came Crashing Down Chapter 2: Hoover Fails and Roosevelt Takes Over Chapter 3: Getting Americans Back to Work Chapter4: Utilizing a Bit of American Ingenuity and Knowhow Chapter5: The Dirty Thirties: Fighting Back Against the Dust Bowl Chapter 6: The Great Depression and the Rise of Organized Crime Chapter 7: The Lead-Up to World War II Being Thankful for What We Have While We Still Have It

How Did the Great Depression Come to Define the 1930s? It’s true that historical hindsight is usually 20/20, and when it came to an economic catastrophe such as the Great Depression, almost no one saw it coming. After the stock market crash of 1929 sparked an economic meltdown, most initially viewed the developments as merely a momentary “glitch” and hardly anyone was thinking that a long-term economic depression was on the horizon. After all, most of the 1920s had seen an economic boom. North America and Europe were reaching peak industrialization and it seemed that the modern economy couldn’t be beaten. It was a time of excess in which Americans, glad to have survived World War I, were reaping the rewards of both newfound recreational pastimes and gainful employment. Jazz music was the rage, and although prohibition had made alcohol illegal, speakeasies had popped up on every corner. Americans wanted to have it all, and they wanted to have it now. For the first time, many began to buy things on credit rather than for cash. Cars were bought on credit, and so were homes, washing machines, and vacuum cleaners. But even more alarmingly, perhaps, was the fact that stocks were bought on credit. It was this phenomenon of buying stocks on “margin,” as it was called, that would lead to the infamous stock market crash of 1929. This easy accessibility led to people essentially turning the stock market into their own personal slot machine, buying up several stocks at a time, hoping to get rich quick. However, the quantity of these stocks purchased on credit from the bank began to add up. And by 1929, on the very eve of the crash, it is said that nearly 50% of all money borrowed from the banks was for these stocks. Soon, when the market became flooded with shares bought this way, they all suddenly failed all at once. This meant that not only did the investors lose, but so did the banks they had borrowed. It was a huge amount of money. This chain reaction ultimately led to the Great Depression eventually coming to define the 1930s.

Chapter 1 When it All Came Crashing Down

Every decade has an event that seems to define it. Most would agree, for example, that the early 2000s were largely defined by the 9/11 terror attacks. Judging from how much blood and treasure was spilled in the war on terror that ran rampant throughout those years, this seems almost beyond dispute. And now that we are in the 2020s, it seems pretty clear that this decade will be dictated by the devastating outbreak of COVID-19. Most would agree that this one viral outbreak has affected and disrupted every aspect of our lives, and experts say this will continue for some time. Just as these decades have their definitive themes, so too, did the 1930s—and that theme was the Great Depression. But as with COVID-19, the event that kicked it all off occurred the previous year. At the tail end of the Roaring Twenties, the stock market took a precipitous dive. The 1920s saw what experts now say was an unprecedented amount of speculation in the stock market. In those days, the average Joe (without much collateral to speak of), was getting in on the ground floor and placing bids. Everything seemed great. But then, on October 24, 1929, something happened. The stock began to fall. In response, many of the investors who had been buying on the cheap, with so-called margin

investments (stocks bought with borrowed money) were forced to sell off rapidly in order to break even. This was not only bad news for the individual investor, but also the banks that were backing the stocks that were bought on this credit. This sudden loss caused a downward spiral in which banks began to fail, and mortgages were foreclosed upon. President Herbert Hoover, meanwhile, didn’t seem to take the matter too seriously. He assured the public that everything would blow over in just a couple of months and insisted that despite the temporary aberration of the stock market crash, the American economy was “on a sound and prosperous basis.” Numerous panicked Americans, meanwhile, were emptying their savings accounts and thereby exacerbating the situation even further. Known as a “bank run,” these mad dashes for cash led to the collapse of several large banks. As the nation slumped into a depression, nationwide layoffs were rampant. In light of the massive layoffs during the COVID-19 crisis in the spring and summer of 2020, the world of recent years can relate. But there’s a big difference between what happened in recent history and what happened back in 1929–30. During the lockdown brought on by the Coronavirus in 2020, those who were forced to stay at home and not work were given government aid. Such things were not forthcoming under Hoover. On the contrary, he flat out refused to render much aid at all to the unemployed. In Hoover’s mind, an emergency stimulus would only serve as a disincentive and encourage folks to stay home and not work. Hoover actually seemed to believe that people had to suffer a bit to realize that they needed to get out there, bust their butts, and get a job – but there were no jobs to get. And unlike what happened in 2020 with the lockdown from COVID-19, there was no moratorium on rent, mortgage, or utility bills. After the crash of 1929, if you lost your job and couldn’t pay rent, you were evicted. If you couldn’t pay your mortgage, you were foreclosed upon. If you couldn’t pay your electric or gas bill, it was shut off. There was no safety net, there was no consideration, and this was apparently what Hoover thought people needed in order to get motivated to work. But soon enough, even Hoover would have to realize that it wasn’t just that people were being lazy and wanting to wait for a handout. The problem was much deeper than that, and as pillar after pillar of the economy crumbled, for the average person there was simply no gainful employment to be found. Another problem affecting America’s economy that would in turn come to affect the whole world was a little something called the “Hawley-Smoot Tariff.” This one piece of legislation greatly exacerbated the situation by increasing import tariffs by 40% to 48%. The tariffs had a dramatic effect on agricultural imports, raising the prices in grocery stores and kicking off a trade war with several countries. Hoover actually implemented the tariffs in an effort to shore up support for the American farmer, but when coupled with the instability already in the economy after the stock market crash, this proved to be a recipe for disaster. It had a domino effect on the world economy because as import prices were raised, Americans turned inward and stopped buying goods from overseas.

This then caused a strain on several European economies that were still recovering from the effects of the First World War. Germany, in particular, was really struggling. Germany was already having to pay harsh reparations for its part in the war, and having its exports curtailed in this fashion proved to be absolutely devastating. As Germany found itself unable to boost its lagging economy, Germans attempted to find a way around some of the strain they were under by creating a “customs union” with the nation of Austria in 1931. France, however, was against this and retaliated against Austria by forcing them to pay off all their short-term loans. Austria found this intolerable, and pretty soon the biggest bank they had, the “Austrian Kreditanstalt” went out of business. This then caused the German economy to virtually collapse, without its Austrian ally. And soon enough, the German people were withdrawing all their money from the bank, just like Americans had done, and by July 15, 1931, German banks were shut down. Britain began to feel the strain by then as well, and by the fall of 1931, British currency lost the gold standard it had held for so long. Almost like a contagion, the economic depression became worldwide in scope. And as the nations of the world struggled to figure out how to recover, more austere measures would begin to take shape. These challenging situations would prove to be the perfect breeding ground for the hostility and aggression that would lead right into the Second World War.

Chapter 2 Hoover Fails and Roosevelt Takes Over

By most accounts, President Herbert Hoover didn’t take the signs of the impending Great Depression very seriously, but in December of 1931, he formed the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (or RFC for short). Finally, there would be some government aid – but this aid was aimed at big corporations, not the average American. The RFC was primarily intended to provide a bailout for railroads, banks, and other major industries. The average citizens, meanwhile, were left largely unemployed and in many cases without even a roof over their heads. As folks were evicted from homes by landlords or had their houses foreclosed upon by banks, they were often forced to create makeshift tent communities. In the bitterly sarcastic mood of the times, such shantytowns became referred to as “Hooverville.” Although not all of the blame for the collapse can be placed on President Hoover, he was the president at the time of the catastrophe, so American citizens naturally looked toward him for leadership. They also couldn’t help but recall that when Hoover was first elected, he had promised a life of ease under his presidency. His infamous slogan during the 1928 presidential

campaign, after all, was that there would be “a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage.” In 1932, famed socialist publisher and rabble-rouser, Oscar Ameringer, would appear before a special hearing conducted by the House and share testimony about the dire straits of those he encountered on the road during the early days of the Great Depression. At one point he described picking up some hitchhikers. “I picked up a family. The woman was hugging a dead chicken under a ragged coat. When I asked her where she had procured the fowl, first she told me that she found it dead in the road, and then added in grim humor, ‘They promised me a chicken in the pot, and now I got mine.’”[1] Besides the political dig at Herbert Hoover’s pledge, it was indeed some rather dark humor for someone to openly admit to scavenging roadkill for their dinner. But when people didn’t know where their next meal would come from, they did whatever they could to survive. As is the case in dire circumstances, pride must go out the window when it comes to survival. It was a common scene to find people standing around outside restaurants before they closed, hoping for some leftovers. If they received none, some desperate souls might even resort to going through the garbage to find food. Yet despite the difficulties that the average American was faced with, Hoover was reluctant to render any form of governmental aid to individual Americans. Furthermore, he continued to believe that any resources that were expended by the federal government should trickle down from the top. He thought that if government helped those on top of big business, they would in turn help the American citizens by creating jobs to employ them. As the 1932 presidential election drew near, however, even Hoover had to admit that his efforts at trickle-down economics were not working. The destitute American people needed jobs and they needed them now. For this reason, he shifted gears and began to create federally sanctioned construction projects, hoping to put a large segment of the public back to work. But for most, the efforts seemed to be too little, too late. Meanwhile, Hoover’s challenger in the upcoming presidential election, democratic candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt, preached a message of using the full power of the federal government to lift the average American up. Roosevelt had been a governor of New York – the epicenter of the stock market crash – and he knew full well how much the average citizen had been ravaged by the fallout of this catastrophe. Franklin Delano Roosevelt knew that Americans weren’t just being lazy, as Hoover so often seemed to insinuate; he knew that they would work if they were simply given the means to do so. While he didn’t always make it clear exactly how he was going to do it, Roosevelt proclaimed that if the people made him president, he would make sure that everyone got a fair shake and promised a “new deal” for “the forgotten man.” Roosevelt, at this point in his life, could sympathize fairly well with the poor, weak, and forgotten. He struck a resonant chord and consequently beat Hoover easily at the ballot box.

Even though he was a man born into affluence, in the 1920s, Roosevelt faced a reckoning that made him reassess everything: he had been stricken with polio. The disease had ravaged his body and had rendered him unable to use his legs. Although in later years he always stood up with leg braces to speak at a podium, unbeknownst to most of the public, he would be in a wheelchair for much of the rest of his life. Roosevelt came to personally understand what it was like to need assistance, and so his enlightened views would come to shape his own efforts to render aid to those who were suffering in the wake of the Great Depression. He most certainly had his work cut out for him, however, and by the time Roosevelt was sworn into office in March of 1933, the unemployment rate was at a whopping 25%. Also, due to a lack of demand, industrial output was way down and farmers in the agricultural sector found themselves having to (literally) burn up their harvests, since they had no one to buy the surplus. But the biggest problem was the banks. In the panic after the stock market crash, many financial institutions suffered from “bank runs” in which panicked patrons withdrew all their cash all at once, causing the banks to collapse. This was the number one issue that President Roosevelt had to deal with upon taking office. In an effort to do so, he declared a “national banking holiday” just a couple of days after becoming president, and had all the banks close. Despite how carefree all of this may sound, it was not simply a means of giving beleaguered bankers a break; it was a top-down approach to shutting down a failing financial system so that necessary repairs could be made. President Roosevelt was doing the very thing that his predecessor Hoover had been loath to do; he was using the power of the federal government to dictate to the banks just how they should get back into business. Shortly thereafter, Roosevelt signed the Emergency Banking Act into law, which enabled the Federal Reserve to give money to banks that were floundering so that they could come back online and serve those who trusted them with their money. This was something unheard of during the Hoover administration, which never would have conceived of dipping into reserve money to keep struggling banks afloat. The treasury department, along with doling out aid, also took on an active role in examining and certifying the solvency of banks before they opened their doors to customers. This led to the establishment of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC for short. This is the institution that continues to ensure people today that when they put their money into a bank, it will still be there the next day, since it’s FDIC-insured. After the banking holiday, President Roosevelt was able to convince the public that they would be better off taking the cash they had stashed in their homes out from under beds, and out of cookie jars, and putting it back into these federally-backed bank accounts. It was helpful that unlike President Hoover, President Roosevelt was a great communicator and was able to explain things in a way that the average citizen could understand. Roosevelt was able to make the connection with people as to why doing what he asked of them was so important. He made it

clear to those who listened to him that not only would their money be safe, but by placing their cash back into the banks, they would be able to help him restart the economy. Americans listened to Roosevelt and heeded his advice, and the very next day people were out in droves putting their money back into the banks. Getting the banks back online was the first step in Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s plan for recovery, and it had gone much better than anyone had expected. But he and the nation still had a long road ahead of them. Roosevelt had learned a lot simply by taking note of all President Herbert Hoover’s mistakes. He now had his own unique plan for recovery, and only time would tell if it would work.

Chapter 3 Getting Americans Back to Work

For hardworking Americans who were used to identifying themselves by their profession, the loss of their jobs was not only a loss of income, but a loss of their very identity. In cities across the country, scores of despairing unemployed roamed the streets in search of work. Former attorneys, doctors, bricklayers, carpenters, and the like all went through the motions of life, but without an outlet for their respective vocations, they felt hopeless and desperate. Roosevelt sought to get people back on the job in three phases that consisted of relief, recovery, and reform. First, he would do all he could to relieve those who were in dire financial straits, he would then focus on recovering the parts of the economy that could be salvaged, and finally, he would issue a reformation of the economy designed to safeguard against future economic disturbance. Early in Roosevelt’s presidency he created a new program geared towards getting people back to work. It was called the Civilian Conservation Corps, and it hired the unemployed in droves for special, federally sanctioned projects in construction and massive landscaping efforts such as

draining swamplands and taking care of national parks. This program mostly employed young men and was so comprehensive that special dormitories were even created for the workers. This allowed people to be picked up right off the street (literally) – and not only were they given a job but even a place to stay while doing it. Another important jobs program that was created shortly thereafter was the WPA, or Works Progress Administration. This would add even more jobs and would in time become the centerpiece of Roosevelt’s recovery program to get the nation out of the Great Depression. Those who worked for the WPA worked on a wide variety of major projects such as building roads, airports, schools, and even somewhat odd jobs such as the restoration of old library books. It was a bit of a trial-and-error process to see what might work and what did not, but the WPA actively supported job creation in all forms in order to get an eager citizenry back to work. The WPA also advanced women’s rights in particular, because for one of the first times in the nation’s history, these jobs from the federal government paid both men and women at the same rate. The WPA would remain in force until 1943, and during that time, countless Americans of all backgrounds would receive gainful and meaningful employment. As much as the WPA focused on big industry jobs, it also created programs for creatives like musicians, actors, artists, and writers. Unemployed journalists, for example, were given jobs writing down local folk tales and accounts of life in remote sections of the nation for various anthology projects sanctioned by the federal government. Much of our documentation of the Great Depression itself can be attributed to these efforts. Writers were also given jobs to write travel guides about various regions of the country. Actors who had been suffering since Hollywood closed its doors on them were suddenly being employed to perform government-supported theatrical dramas. It was the WPA that also gave rise to the FAP (Federal Art Project) which provided an outlet for artists, enabling them to churn out over 225,000 pieces of artwork to be enjoyed by the public. Unlike Hoover, who believed that it was the job of good-hearted neighbors, churches, and charity organizations to help those who had fallen on hard times, President Roosevelt created the ultimate safety net when he signed social security into law in 1935. Another great boon established around this time was that of the National Labor Relations Act. This act worked to promote collective bargaining between employers and employees.

Chapter 4 Utilizing a Bit of American Ingenuity and Knowhow

A 1930s airship, also known as a blimp

Before massive government assistance programs were underway, the average American was already trying to make do the best they could. They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and it was out of desperate necessity that many Americans became so inventive in how they went about their lives during the Great Depression. For one thing, when money wasn’t available, people fell back on the ancient tradition of bartering. Many people during this period had their own gardens and backyard chickens. But in hard times, these necessities were used as a kind of currency. If one family needed something, they would often trade with another for various forms of produce or home-crafted goods. This bartering system was used far and wide. A doctor might be paid for his services to rural patients with bags of potatoes or onions, for instance. Music—especially Jazz music—became all the rage. Americans with plenty of downtime were sitting around the radio and actively listening to this new and exciting art form. The radio also became a tool of the U.S. government with the frequent occurrence of President

Roosevelt’s fireside chats being conducted through the medium. During these exchanges, Roosevelt was able to speak to the American people directly in his casual and charismatic manner, instructing them in as simple terms as possible about the progress being made and what still needed to be done. But FDR wasn’t the only one using the power of the radio, for it was around this time that a popular priest known as Father Coughlin began to address the nation on his own radio show. This priest typically talked about politics much more than he spoke of religion and he was a regular commentator on the state of the Great Depression. Initially, Coughlin, who was a critic of Hoover, supported Franklin Roosevelt’s efforts, but soon he became critical. Coughlin called Franklin a liar and criticized many of his social programs as being nothing short of socialism. Another of FDR’s notable opponents was a little-known senator from Louisiana, Huey Long. He seemed to be championing socialist doctrine outright. He talked about curtailing the income of the wealthy while establishing a mandatory annual income of $2500 for the average American, as well as special grants for housing and education. Huey Long was a populist who could galvanize the working class, the very people whose cooperation Roosevelt depended upon. Long very well could have presented a significant challenge to Roosevelt, but his efforts to diminish FDR and his New Deal came to an abrupt end on September 8th, 1935, when Long was cut down by an assassin’s bullet. Surprisingly, the aforementioned Father Coughlin was actually a supporter of Long’s. This seems rather odd since Coughlin railed against the evils of socialism and many of Long’s proposed policies were much more socialist in nature than Roosevelt’s. But at any rate, once Long was killed, Coughlin became even more radical. Coughlin began to openly rail against FDR’s administration and even more alarmingly, made outrageous claims that the New Deal was part of a Jewish conspiracy, or as he called it, the work of “money changers.” As Coughlin became more and more of a hindrance to Roosevelt’s recovery efforts during the Great Depression, FDR enlisted the aid of a man who knew Father Coughlin well—Joseph P. Kennedy. Joe Kennedy was the father of future President John F. Kennedy and was the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom at the time. He was a rising star in the Democratic party. Joe was also a Roman Catholic who was on intimate terms with Coughlin. Roosevelt made it Joe Kennedy’s job to muzzle the preacher and he did so by coordinating with other Catholic notables such as Bishop Francis Spellman and the future Pope Pius XII, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli. Through them, he managed to get the Vatican to order Coughlin to cease and desist. Coughlin still criticized Roosevelt when he could, painting his efforts toward recovery from the Depression as socialism at best and communism at worst. The average American, meanwhile, was living a more communal existence, with extended family and even friends all living together in tighter and tighter spaces. In the cities, apartments were often cramped and crowded, and due to a rise in house prices in the 1930s, very few were in the market to buy.

For those who were homeowners, this difficult period saw advances in home appliances with such things as refrigerators, washing machines, and clothes dryers, but most people simply couldn’t afford them. On the contrary, instead of adopting the most cutting-edge appliances, most had to resort to much more old-fashioned means when it came to washing clothes or storing their food. Most washed clothes by hand and then hung them out to dry in their yard. And instead of using a refrigerator, things such as root cellars were quite common places to store their food. These things were especially crucial if the power was cut off, since these old-fashioned ways of living did not require electricity. But because of these challenges, many new innovations came out of this era. We take some of them for granted today, such as nylon, which was used for making women’s stockings. This was also the decade in which scotch tape was invented. Many a Depression-era jobseeker wore out the soles of their shoes and had to resort to this tape in order to hold them together! The 1930s also saw more extravagant experiments with airships, including an instance in which a giant airship was used to pick up postal parcels, ushering in a unique delivery regimen of “air mail.”

The innovations of the 1930s were often practical yet completely revolutionary in scope. They used the latest technology in order to make life a little bit easier. The time of the Great Depression was rough, but a little American ingenuity and knowhow went a long way toward

making things better.

Chapter 5 The Dirty Thirties: Fighting Back Against the Dust Bowl

Since the 19th century, the states of the great plains such as Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas had been an area of intensive farming. Hopeful Americans had poured into this region from the east with a desire to cultivate the wide swaths of grassland. They were quite successful and soon the plains were virtually covered in farms. This, however, created an unforeseen environmental calamity. The natural grasses of the plains have long, thick roots that keep them firmly imbedded deep in the dirt. These deep roots establish what is known as a “sod mat,” which is capable of maintaining moisture for long periods and also prevents disruption to the topsoil from wind.

But the grasslands were replaced by farms with crops such as corn, wheat, and oats – which grow much closer to the surface. Now the wind could blow the looser topsoil around in dusty maelstroms, whereas the natural grass would have better secured the dirt. The trouble really began, however, when the plains region was struck with a severe drought. The severity of the drought meant that the grassless soil, which was already not well equipped to maintain moisture, became much dryer and therefore even more easily picked up by the wind. Making matters even worse, these dry conditions proved to be the perfect breeding ground for locusts since these pests love to lay their eggs in dry, sandy soil. So it was that the beleaguered farmers of the 1930s were suddenly faced with biblical-style plagues of drought, dust storms, and locusts. The locusts actually got so bad that not only did they eat up all the crops, they actually destroyed farming tools, and in some cases consumed the very paint off of the homesteads. But the worst part of this period was, of course, the massive dust storms themselves. On May 11, 1934, some 350 tons of dirt moved across the plains all at once in one massive storm. But one of the worst and most memorable storms occurred on April 14, 1935, in an event that was later referred to as “Black Sunday.” On this day, a dust storm said to have been 1000 miles wide swept over the plains, moving about 1500 miles in just two days’ time. It was absolutely miserable for those who lived under these conditions. Even though people locked themselves inside their homes with the doors and windows shut, when the dust storm came, the dirt would seem to seep through the very walls, leaving people with dirt on their faces, in their hair—and more alarmingly, in their lungs. Dust storms posed a very real health threat to those who lived on the plains and cases of silicosis skyrocketed. Silicosis is a condition in which an accumulation of dust particles in the lungs has destroyed the cilia, essentially shredding the lungs and making it difficult for the person to breathe. Not surprisingly, many decided that enough was enough, and picked up and moved. This led to a great migration of people seeking a better life elsewhere. Many dust bowl refugees from the plains headed for California. It was believed that California had more jobs and a more stable life, and it is estimated that 10% of the refugees fleeing the dust bowl ended up there. These beleaguered newcomers arrived in California in battered, dirty vehicles, and were referred to by Californians as “tin can tourists.” With nowhere to stay, they slept in their cars, or at rest areas, or even just off the road somewhere. Those who didn’t have cars sometimes opted to hop on a train, hitching a ride in an empty boxcar. These vagabonds became popularly known as “hoboes,” a term that is still sometimes used to describe homeless wanderers. What was the government response to this problem of the dirty thirties? Well, long before the creation of the environmental protection agency, FDR’s administration took proactive measures to address the environmental catastrophe that had erupted in the great plains. President Roosevelt

established the Soil Conservation Service in 1935. This government program worked to help educate farmers about the nature of their local environment and how they could plant grass seed in order to stabilize the topsoil. This is how a resilient America reemerged and found its way back from the ravages of the dust bowl.

Chapter 6 The Great Depression and the Rise of Organized Crime

Although prominent in the Great Depression, organized crime really had its roots in the prohibition era of the 1920s. When alcohol was made illegal in the United States, speakeasies popped up on many corners and most of them just so happened to be on the payroll of organized crime. Besides providing illicit liquor from bootleggers, the mob paid off police and other officials to make sure that the joints they “protected” weren’t subject to any midnight raids. Even when FDR repealed prohibition, making alcoholic consumption legal once again, organized crime had grown so ubiquitous that they weren’t going away anytime soon. They merely diversified their activities. And with so many unemployed they could always find desperate souls who, unable to earn a decent living, began to resort to earning an indecent living under the auspices of a crime boss. It probably didn’t help matters that Hollywood often glorified these activities through the production of gangster flicks such as The Public Enemy and Little Caesar, which made these criminal syndicates out to be modern-day Robin Hoods who were just doing their best to make it during the economic downturn.

Arguably the most notorious gangster, Chicago’s Al Capone, had been locked up for tax evasion since 1931. But it was after Capone was locked up that the real rise of organized crime began under mafiosos like New York’s Lucky Luciano. Although the Mafia couldn’t make money from alcohol sales after the repeal of prohibition, they soon crafted a lucrative illicit trade consisting of gambling, prostitution, and labor racketeering. Indeed, the Mafia managed to worm its way into labor unions in order to glean money by bribing businesses, even while presenting themselves as legitimate businessmen. Not only that, they often cultivated public trust – even admiration – by donating money to charities such as soup kitchens. Such things served to enhance the myth that the mob had the best interests of the common man at heart. And the east coast, big-city gangsters weren’t the only concern. While the mob hid under the façade of legitimate enterprise, other outlaws were running amok, robbing banks left and right. These outlaw-style gangsters ran rampant in the Midwest and western states. These were usually not connected to criminal syndicates such as the Mafia and if they were, only loosely so. Unbeholden to the big city crime bosses, these outlaws lived by their own terms. These included notorious crooks such as John Dillinger, Machine Gun Kelly, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Bonnie and Clyde, who used fast cars to rob banks left and right all across the country. These gangsters were similar to the outlaws of the old west who would rob trains and banks in the 19th century. Outlaws like Billy the Kid would ride a horse right up to a train and demand money, and then ride off in the opposite direction. These instances of literal “highway robbery” are what led to such notoriety. The main difference between the outlaw gangsters of the 1800s and the 1930s, however, was that they used cars to make their getaway and toted machine guns instead of shotguns. The poverty of the Great Depression helped to spawn this new breed of outlaws, as many who may not have been able to find a legitimate means of income began to turn to crime instead. During the Great Depression there was a lack of trust in the banks, even after the FDIC did its best to assure patrons their money was secure – but the FDIC couldn’t stop bank robberies. As a string of heists took place all over the country, many began to lose faith in the competence of the police. Local police were usually ill-equipped to deal with these heavily armed bandits – and those who were brave enough to stand up to them were usually turned into swiss cheese as these cold-blooded killers filled them with lead. The policeman’s standard revolver, after all, was hardly a match for bank robbers with machine guns. But things were about to change. During the 1930s, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover led the charge to put a stop to this criminal activity once and for all. He was largely successful. Due to a massive mobilization of the FBI, by 1935 almost all of the infamous outlaw gangsters had been killed or put behind bars. The real key to this success was the fact that by the mid-1930s, new legislation allowed the FBI to cross state lines to pursue these crooks. Before this, crime was handled on a state-by-state

basis. This meant that in the past, all someone like John Dillinger had to do was cross a state line and he would be safe. He could rob a bank in Chicago, for example, and then simply hurry on over to northern Indiana while his pursuers stopped at the state line. Once the FBI had jurisdiction to cross state lines, it was all but over for these outlaws. Further tightening the noose was the implementation of widespread fingerprinting. It is said that by 1932, the FBI had over 100,000 fingerprints on file, and by 1946, that number would jump to 100 million. Since it was now standard procedure to get the fingerprints of every accused person being processed, there was now a lasting record available when repeat offenders were arrested again, later on down the road. It was for this reason that John Dillinger famously paid an underworld doctor (yes, crooks sometimes have their own shady personal physicians) to alter his fingerprints. He set up an appointment with a German-American plastic surgeon by the name of Wilhelm Loeser. Dr. Loeser cut away the surface layers of Dillinger’s fingers before subjecting them to hydrochloric acid. It took a few days for Dillinger’s fingers to heal, but once he healed up, his prints were indeed significantly altered. The only trouble was that he now had the most unique and recognizable set of fingerprints on the planet! Just think about it. What was more recognizable: his old standard set of prints, or the bizarrely mangled, warped, and distorted prints he got from soaking his fingertips in hydrochloric acid? At any rate, Dillinger would be shot and killed shortly thereafter, when the FBI cornered him at a movie theatre in Chicago on July 22, 1934. Before the Great Depression, the databases compiled for criminals were local and there were plenty of gaps in the information they contained. But during the Depression era, law enforcement finally got serious about keeping comprehensive records of criminals like Dillinger. During this time, cooperative communication also increased among state police, so that if a crook had just left one state, they could easily notify the state next door so that local police would be waiting for the bandits upon their arrival. With nowhere for them to hide, this breed of gangster would begin to go extinct, while criminal syndicates such as the Mafia would thrive, since they were able to hide in plain sight.

Chapter 7 The Lead-up to World War II

Many have argued that the Great Depression didn’t truly end until World War II, for it was the Second World War that tremendously ramped up production for the war effort. Even though America did not enter the war until 1941, by 1939 American factories were humming with labor in order to create equipment for Britain and France who had been duking it out with Germany since 1939. The Great Depression helped to spark World War II. In order to trace the path that led there, one has to go back to the end of World War I. We have mentioned that after the end of the First World War, Germany was left with an enormous bill for reparations. Germany was already in ruin after the war, and now was forced to pay out money to the victors of the conflict. As the economic situation worsened, it laid the seeds for discontent that would give rise to volatile, fascist leaders. Germany was a mess by the early 1930s, and right around the time FDR was elected president in 1933, Adolf Hitler rose to power. While FDR was making sweeping changes to America with programs like the WPA, Hitler, too, was given a tremendous amount of authority over the German nation. At a time when most Germans had lost hope, Hitler presented

himself as a savior figure – soon enough, however, he would lead them all to ruin. Hitler managed to mobilize Germany’s flagging industry and create jobs for the people through infrastructure, and more ominously, through armaments. As Germany built up its ability to wage war, it began pushing to gain territory that it felt it had lost, or that otherwise rightfully belonged to them. This led to a push into the Rhineland in 1936, the seizure of the Sudetenland, and the annexation of Austria. Britain, which stood as the leading European nation, tried to appease the Germans in these acquisitions, thinking it better to give in than to spark another war. But when Germany pushed its luck and invaded Poland in 1939, the Brits had finally had enough and declared war on Germany. France also declared war on the Germans and would soon become their main target. Germany would launch a vicious blitzkrieg into France in 1940, stunning the world with how fast German tanks could seize French territory. Even more disturbing, some Americans even sympathized with Nazi Germany. America had a sizeable population of German-Americans at the time, some only a generation or two removed from their ancestral homeland. These sympathizers ranged from those who were just quietly supportive to the more sinister, all-out Nazi sympathizers. The most famous of these was the socalled German American Bund. The German American Bund consisted of American citizens who were pro-Nazi. This group would soon be a prime target of the “House Committee on Un-American Activities” and the leader of the Bund would be arrested and ultimately deported. But developments in Germany were not the only international happenings that were becoming worrisome to the United States. Even while Germany was bulldozing through Europe, Japan was waging a brutal war with China and driving American interests out. Although neither Japan nor America wanted war in the 1930s, Japan’s militancy in the region was already pushing the two nations to the brink. In December of 1937, a full four years before Pearl Harbor, the Japanese sank the Panay, an American military craft that was stationed in China’s Yangtze River. Japan was not yet ready to awaken the sleeping giant of American reprisal, and ultimately apologized and doled out money to the victims. Yet at the same time, the Japanese advance continued to harass American installations such as American-run hospitals and missions, steadily pushing U.S. influence out of China. Even though no one wanted to admit it, many in the U.S. government knew that a war with Japan was all but inevitable. And as such, efforts were made to ensure that the U.S. Navy could be effectively mobilized in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. As the decade drew to a close, meanwhile, Roosevelt was reaching the end of his second term in office. Up until that point, no U.S. president had gone beyond two terms. To be clear, there was not yet a law mandating a two-term limit, but by sheer example, going all the way back to George Washington, every American president had stepped down after their second term. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the first who dared to buck this trend, and in 1940 ran for a third

term. He ran against the Republican candidate Wendell L. Wilkie, a man who had challenged some of Roosevelt’s policies in the past. Roosevelt charted a steady course during the election, however, and by November of 1940 he easily won himself a third term in office. France, meanwhile, had already fallen to the Nazis, and England was in an ever more precarious position. It was therefore imperative in Roosevelt’s third term for the Americans to render as much aid to England as possible. Roosevelt knew that if England was knocked out of the war, Germany would be much more difficult to stop. Roosevelt knew that American security depended on British security, and so he recommitted himself to aiding Britain (and later, other allies) as much as he could. He did so with the “Lend-Lease Act” which was passed on March 11, 1941. With the lend-lease, the U.S. (although officially neutral in the conflict at this point), agreed to manufacture and ship crucial equipment to Britain. But as much as this aid proved crucial in keeping Britain alive in the fight against Nazi Germany, the lend-lease program helped America more than anything else – it was the massive demand for American goods that invigorated the American economy. With the new demand for workers in the factories, the unemployment rate in the United States went down dramatically. Instead of standing in line at a soup kitchen, folks were suddenly standing in line to receive gainful employment at industrial factories all over the nation. During the Depression, no one could find work but once the war started, due to high demand, there was a job waiting, quite literally, on every corner. Initially, the public, wary of war and foreign entanglements, was quite skeptical of aiding the allied powers, but Roosevelt, with his customary charm and charisma, was able to slowly convince the American public of the need. Again, he reached many people by radio. In his regular fireside chats, he was able to slowly get Americans used to the idea that they would need to do more for the war effort. The interesting thing about the lend-lease is that most of the nations that the U.S. lent its aid to didn’t exactly pay America back. So where in the world did the U.S. government get the money for all of this massive production? They raised it through war bonds. Yes, through specially instituted government bonds, nearly $185.7 million would eventually be raised. During all of this fundraising America was slowly drifting closer and closer toward playing an active part in the war. This fate would then be sealed on December 7, 1941, when Japan launched a sneak attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. President Roosevelt pledged revenge against the “dastardly attack” by the Empire of Japan, and the United States would thereafter be fully engaged in World War II. Now that the U.S. was officially at war, not only was industry churning for the war effort, but young people were being drafted into the armed services to fight the war in person. In all, about 15 million men and women would leave civilian life to participate in the military directly. With

both the factories and the military rapidly filling positions with American citizens, by 1942 the unemployment rate (which was around 20% when Roosevelt first took office), dropped down to less than 5%. Despite the major overhauls to the economy during the FDR years, it seems pretty clear that the crisis of the Great Depression most likely met its match during the frenzied buildup and implementation of World War II.

Being Thankful for What We Have While We Still Have It People in the United States today probably take the general strength of the American economy and military for granted. Most alive today were born after the Great Depression, after all, and have been conditioned to a life of great abundance – not great depression. I can recall my grandfather, who passed away (rest his soul) all the way back in 1998, regaling us all with tales of just how hard life could be during the scarcity of the 1930s. I was just a little kid in the 1990s and was probably busily twiddling my thumbs on a Gameboy while old Gramps droned on and on about not having enough to eat, and sewing patches on wellworn out articles of clothing. Much of what he said probably went in one ear and out the other, but one thing he spoke of really stuck with me. He talked about how, just before the crash, there was a general euphoria in the nation. Most felt that the good times would never end. He described how shocking it was when the general infrastructure broke down and supply lines failed. He himself was just a child in the 1930s but when his mother would send him on errands to buy bread and milk from the store, he witnessed firsthand how quickly the shelves went bare. With all of his haranguing about cleaning our plates and not taking anything for granted, he would always remark about how the Depression caught people completely off guard. Just before the crash, everyone was living the American dream and it seemed that prosperity was a given. Just as President Hoover had promised, it seemed that no one was going to have to do without, ever again. But Grandpa (and anyone else alive back then) learned a very painful lesson when the rug was pulled right out from under them. And if we ever dared to think that such a thing couldn’t happen again, my grandfather would always advise us that nothing is certain in this life. And just because you have something today, doesn’t mean you will have it tomorrow. Today, most of us probably take it for granted that America has a strong economy and a strong military. Such things seem like a given – an immutable fact of life. But the truth is, it’s not. Just as dramatically as things changed after the crash of 1929, they could dramatically change once again. Just because we are on top now, doesn’t necessarily mean that we will be tomorrow. My grandfather always stressed the importance of being appreciative of what we have while we still have it, since nothing in life is guaranteed to last forever. Prior to World War II, after all, the British Empire was the strongest economic and military force in the world. But the strain of fighting Nazi Germany sapped Britain of both its wealth and its military might. And by the end of World War II, the British owed America in both blood and treasure due to the lend-lease and the direct intervention of the American military. Meanwhile, the war dragged on with Japan. The United States finally ended the bloody siege in

the summer of 1945 by dropping an atomic bomb on Japan, thereby becoming the first nuclear power on the planet. It is rather stunning to think of how swiftly the fortunes of America had turned around. In 1935, the United States was struggling to stay afloat, utilizing stopgap measures just to keep from going bankrupt. Fast forward to 1945 and the U.S. is the wealthiest, most powerful nation on the Earth, and one with the first nuclear weapons, to boot. It seemed that the United States needed to fail before it could succeed. After the stock market crash, America could very well have become greatly diminished, paving the way for other nations to rise in its place. But due to able leadership, emergency measures, and good timing, the U.S. was able to come out on top – just in time for a Cold War with Russia. The world would then enter into a standoff between the two superpowers of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. But those “United Soviet Socialist Republics” of Russia would not be able to keep up with America’s rise, and after the end of communism, America was left virtually alone as the last standing superpower. But as rapidly as America has risen to the top, if history is any example, it can fall right back down in an instant. All great empires eventually collapse, after all. And whether it’s Rome, London, Moscow, or Washington D.C., if we are not careful stewards of the resources we have, the work can be very easily undone. Just like old Gramps used to tell us, we really do need to be thankful for what we have – while we still have it.

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Image Credits Chapter 1 https:// flickr.com/photos/doctorow/36223299516 Chapter 2 https:// www.flickr.com/photos/sgreeneptx/24250871719 Chapter 3 https:// www.flikr.com/photos/pbump/5976114777 Chapter 4 https:// www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/communities/naval-aviation0/1930-1939.html https:// commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Akron-class_airship_over_Puget_Sound.jpg Chapter 5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lange-MigrantMother02.jpg Chapter 6 https:// commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_Lucky_Luciano_%28Excelsior_Hotel_Rome%29.jpg Chapter 7 https:// www. goodfreephotos.com/historical-battles/ British- Sherman- tank- firefly- battle- of- the- bulge- world- war- ii. jpg. php

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The American Spirit: U.S. History as Seen by Contemporaries, by David M. Kennedy, Thomas Bailey