Warren Harding was one of the best-liked men of his generation. He was easy going, charming, and loved people. However his nice guy attitude led him to be taken advantage of by his evil associates dubbed the "Ohio Gang." Harding hated to hurt people's feelings; especially those of his friends by saying "no"; and political leeches capitalized on this weakness.
After being established in office, Harding crushed the reform movement sparked in the Progressive era. The Old Guard pleaded that not only the government's hand should be kept off of business, but also government should help guide business along the path to profits. Harding initiated these practices and set the tone of the Republican policies for the rest of the decade.
In the beginning of the 1920's the supreme court destroyed progressive legislation. It took away a federal child-labor law and restricted government intervention in the economy. In the case of Adkins vs. Children's hospital, the Court reversed its own reasoning in Muller vs. Oregon which had declared women to deserve special protection in the workplace and invalidated a minimum-wage law for women. It argued that now that women have the right to vote, they were the legal equals of men and could no longer be protected by special legislation.
Under Harding, corporations could expand and relax. Antitrust laws were usually ignored. The Interstate Commerce Commission was dominated by men who were sympathetic to the railroads.
Unions shrank during Harding's presidency particularly because of Harding's hostile political environment. Membership shriveled by nearly 30 percent between 1920 and 1930.
Veterans, however were one of the only groups to benefit from the War. Congress in 1921 created the Veteran's Bureau authorizing to operate hospitals and provide vocational rehabilitation for the disabled. The American Legion was founded in Paris in 1919 and they met periodically to renew old hardships and let off steam in horseplay. In the Adjusted Compensation Act, every soldier was guaranteed an insurance policy in twenty years.
Source: American Pageant Textbook
Friday, December 12, 2014
Immigration During the Great Depression
Immigration During the Great Depression
During the Great Depression, immigration was a large problem, there were already laws that barred certain ethnic groups from entering the United States. Many refugees fleeing from the Nazi persecution were denied entrance to the U.S. Due to the Immigration Act of 1924 Asians were excluded from immigrating to America, so naturally, the United States turned to Mexico for a cheap labor force during the 1920's. Mexico provided thousands of legal and undocumented workers to labor on farms and ranches in the Midwest and Southwest. During the time of the Great Depression, there were several hundred thousand people of Mexican ancestry living in the United States. And due to the cheap labor that the Mexican population supplied, anti-Mexican sentiment rose from the huge job losses. Over time, the government decided to repatriate about one-half million Mexicans between 1929 and 1935. Some of the people sent back to Mexico were actually U.S. citizens with long established residences and others who were tricked or forced to go. Mexican labor was soon welcomed back during World War II.
sources:
http://immigrationinamerica.org/527-great-depression.html
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/lessons/migrate/
During the Great Depression, immigration was a large problem, there were already laws that barred certain ethnic groups from entering the United States. Many refugees fleeing from the Nazi persecution were denied entrance to the U.S. Due to the Immigration Act of 1924 Asians were excluded from immigrating to America, so naturally, the United States turned to Mexico for a cheap labor force during the 1920's. Mexico provided thousands of legal and undocumented workers to labor on farms and ranches in the Midwest and Southwest. During the time of the Great Depression, there were several hundred thousand people of Mexican ancestry living in the United States. And due to the cheap labor that the Mexican population supplied, anti-Mexican sentiment rose from the huge job losses. Over time, the government decided to repatriate about one-half million Mexicans between 1929 and 1935. Some of the people sent back to Mexico were actually U.S. citizens with long established residences and others who were tricked or forced to go. Mexican labor was soon welcomed back during World War II.
sources:
http://immigrationinamerica.org/527-great-depression.html
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/lessons/migrate/
Great Depression Food
Food of the Great Depression
During the 1930's, farms were diversified, they grew a larger variety of crops in the fields, and in the gardens farmers grew vegetables and fruit. The concept of self sufficiency soon carried over into social life. Radios, women's magazines, and home economists taught women how to wisely spend food budgets by cooking certain meals such as casseroles, creamed chipped beef, chili, macaroni and cheese, soups, and creamed chicken. Church potlucks and one dish suppers grew in popularity, it allowed people to socialize and share food Many new foods were created such as Spam, Kraft macaroni and cheese, Toll House chocolate chip cookies, Good Humor ice cream bars, Bisquick, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, Ritz Crackers, Nestle's chocolate chips, and Kool-Aid.
For those who are interested, here is a list of Great Depression recipes that came from 1920's and 1930's cookbooks.
http://www.food.com/cookbook/depression-era-recipes-225279
http://thesurvivalmom.com/could-you-stomach-these-great-depression-meals/
sources:
http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/life_07.html
1929 vs. 2008
While we never lived through the Great Depression, many of us can remember the 2007 recession that caused so much trouble in the US and international economies. So, I was wondering (in addition to wondering about how I was going to get my last blog post in on time) how the two of them compared. Clearly, the Great Depression was far worse in terms of statistics and in lasting cultural effects, but they actually had some major similarities within their causes.
Domestic Causes:
While the Great Depression was caused by many different things, as we have talked about in class, one of the major causes was the overproduction of industrial goods. As factories and corporations hired more workers and expanded ever more into the economy, they did so at a risk. These companies were living on borrowed time. They depended on the continued growth of the market, and when one single sector slowed down, the entire economy collapsed. The same can be said for the Recession of 2007. The housing market and real estate market was the driving force behind the expansion in the beginning of the 21st century. Banks, realizing the money that could be made from mortgages and loans to homeowners, made continually more risky loans to consumers. The rest of the market followed suit, selling securities backed by these risky loans. When the housing market collapsed in late 2006, the result was catastrophic for the interconnected economy.
International Causes:
The international loan system that emerged from the ashes of Europe in the 1920's created underlying instabilities in the world market that ended up contributing to the Great Depression. Once the markets failed in the United States and around the world, the loans that were designed to keep the Allies and Weimar Germany afloat ended up shrinking the credit pool of the world and making recovery even more difficult.
In 2007, the international failure of major banks, especially in the major economic members of the EU Eurozone, contributed greatly to the economic recession. Because less international capital was available, exports and international trade decreased dramatically. This impacted manufacturing all around the world, only adding to the banking and financial chaos that ran rampant from 2007-2009.
While the Great Depression was caused by many different things, as we have talked about in class, one of the major causes was the overproduction of industrial goods. As factories and corporations hired more workers and expanded ever more into the economy, they did so at a risk. These companies were living on borrowed time. They depended on the continued growth of the market, and when one single sector slowed down, the entire economy collapsed. The same can be said for the Recession of 2007. The housing market and real estate market was the driving force behind the expansion in the beginning of the 21st century. Banks, realizing the money that could be made from mortgages and loans to homeowners, made continually more risky loans to consumers. The rest of the market followed suit, selling securities backed by these risky loans. When the housing market collapsed in late 2006, the result was catastrophic for the interconnected economy.
International Causes:
The international loan system that emerged from the ashes of Europe in the 1920's created underlying instabilities in the world market that ended up contributing to the Great Depression. Once the markets failed in the United States and around the world, the loans that were designed to keep the Allies and Weimar Germany afloat ended up shrinking the credit pool of the world and making recovery even more difficult.
In 2007, the international failure of major banks, especially in the major economic members of the EU Eurozone, contributed greatly to the economic recession. Because less international capital was available, exports and international trade decreased dramatically. This impacted manufacturing all around the world, only adding to the banking and financial chaos that ran rampant from 2007-2009.
The Rise of the Modern Union
Today, Unions are a normal fact of life. We often hear about the automotive unions and trade unions, and we just assume that they've been here forever. It seems ridiculous that workers could be rejected or discriminated against merely due to their Union affiliation. However, the reality is that Unions made their final entrance into American society following the Great Depression. The AFL, the CIO, and other such Unions were only able to rise from the failure of the Knights of Labor after the Wagner Act and the election of Roosevelt. America at the time was so anti-Union that it took over 50 years since the Industrial Revolution began for organized labor to be accepted legally. And while they did receive legal representation, Unions were still discriminated against and were often victims of violence. We often see Unions as a constant factor in society, but in reality, Unions were a product of the recovery from the Great Depression and only recently became part of the American Culture.
Fun Facts about FDRhttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Rooseveltinwheelchair.jpg
1) He was 5th cousins with Theodore Roosevelt. They had the same great great great great grandfather, Nicolas Roosevelt
2) He was related to his own wife. Theodore Roosevelt was Eleanor Roosevelt's uncle, and walked her down the aisle at their wedding.
3) He was the only president to serve 4 terms
4) He was diagnosed with Polio in 1921, but modern researchers believe he was misdiagnosed and actually had Guillain- Barre Syndrome. The disease left him disabled.
5) He was the first president to speak on television
6) He was one of only 8 presidents to die in office. One in only 4 who died of natural causes.
7) He was an avid stamp collector
8) He had a mistress who he loved named Lucy Rutherford, who was Eleanor's social secretary
2) He was related to his own wife. Theodore Roosevelt was Eleanor Roosevelt's uncle, and walked her down the aisle at their wedding.
3) He was the only president to serve 4 terms
4) He was diagnosed with Polio in 1921, but modern researchers believe he was misdiagnosed and actually had Guillain- Barre Syndrome. The disease left him disabled.
5) He was the first president to speak on television
6) He was one of only 8 presidents to die in office. One in only 4 who died of natural causes.
7) He was an avid stamp collector
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| FDR in wheelchair due to disability |
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| FDR's mistress, Lucy |
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
Since we're currently studying the depression in the 1930s, I immediately thought of the first time I learned about the great depression: when I read the American Girl series in elementary school. Kit Kittredge is the main protagonist in Valerie Tripp's series. Throughout the series, we see Kit and her family struggle as they are affected by the shrinking economy. In the first book, Meet Kit, she wears a cardigan, a floral skirt, and sandals, but is soon only seen wearing used or hand-me-down clothing. At one point she even wore an itchy dress made out of a chickenfeed sack that she was incredibly grateful for. Her father has been laid off from his job, and Kit's parents neglected to tell her. She is heart broken when she finds out that when he comes home from "work" he is actually coming home from the soup kitchen, where he eats and picks up the families groceries. The family starts raising chickens and selling eggs to make money, as well as taking several boarders into their home who they collect rent from. Kit's mother has neat little tricks like cutting the toast into little triangles to making it look like she was feeding everybody more than she really was. Although the story is a work of fiction, it shows the kinds of things families went through in order to stay alive during the great depression. It's also interesting because it's told from a child's point of view, an angle we don't often get in a textbook.
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