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Great Depression

Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother shows poor children in California with their 32-year-old mother, Florence Owens Thompson. She said "that they had been living on frozen vegetables from ... fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that ... tent with her children ... around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me.[1]

The Great Depression was the global economic crisis that started after the U.S. stock market crash in 1929.[2] The prices on the Wall Street stock market fell a lot from October 24 to October 29, 1929. Many people lost their jobs. By 1932, 25–30% of people lost their jobs.[3] They became homeless and poor. This ended the wealth of the Roaring Twenties. Many people think that the Great Depression started on Tuesday, October 29, but economists think Black Tuesday was just one of the causes.

From 1929 to 1932, the depression worsened. Many suspect that increased taxes on American citizens and the increased tariffs (taxes on countries which trade with the United States) worsened it. Economist Milton Friedman said that the Great Depression was worsened because the Federal Reserve printed out less money than usual.

When the Great Depression started, Herbert Hoover was the president of the United States, and as a result, he was blamed for it. People voted for a new president in 1932. His name was Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt convinced Congress to pass many new laws and programs to help people who were hurt by the Great Depression. These programs were called the New Deal.

One of these programs was the Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC. The CCC put many young men to work in the outdoors. The men were paid thirty dollars a month, of which twenty five dollars was sent home to support their families, to work, and they got free food and shelter. Another program was called Social Security, which continues to this day. Social Security gives retired seniors a small income so they have money for things they need. The Great Depression was a difficult time, but with everyone's help, it would get better. Between 1939 and 1944, more people had jobs again because of World War II, and the Great Depression came to an end.

  1. ↑ "Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother" Photographs in the Farm Security Administration Collection: An Overview - Guides, Reference Aids, and Finding Aids (Prints andPhotographs ReadingRoom, Library of Congress)". loc.gov. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
  2. ↑ "Great Depression—FactMonster.com". factmonster.com. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
  3. ↑ "Great Depression (economy) -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia". britannica.com. Retrieved 13 May 2010.

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