usic]
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millions of American workers lost their
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jobs one out of every four workers was
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jobless only a handful of wealthy
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investors profited from the collapse of
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the stock market like president john f
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kennedy's father joseph p kennedy or
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brilliant investor and presidential
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advisor Bernard Baruch who became
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legendary as the man who sold out before
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the crash performer and humorist Will
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Rogers probably put it best ten men in
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our country could buy the whole world
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and ten million can't buy enough to eat
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so the millions of less fortunate
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Americans faced a grim and uncertain
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future soup kitchens and bread lines
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became as commonplace as the flappers
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and speakeasies of the lowering twenties
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and Herbert Hoover's campaign promise Oh
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a chicken in every pot couldn't have
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been farther from the truth
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America's towns and cities struggled in
01:13
vain to help the thousands in need
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the jobless became the homeless shanty
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towns makeshift communities of shacks
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constructed from wooden crates tar paper
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and cardboard sprang up disillusioned
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citizens called them Hoovervilles after
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the President and the newspapers they
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slipped under Hoover blankets others
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left the city to ride the rails looking
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for work
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too poor to purchase train tickets they
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hit strides on freight cars hoping they
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wouldn't be caught hoping they'd find a
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job approximately 2 million men became
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hobos wandering the countryside looking
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for work between 1929 and 1932 roughly
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400,000 farms were foreclosed when
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farmers couldn't pay their mortgages and
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banks repossessed the property thousands
02:12
of farm families became migrant workers
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following prompt harvests to eke out a
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living then to make matters even worse
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drought coupled with the overproduction
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of crops in the Great Plains turn the
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area from Texas to Oklahoma into a Dust
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Bowl in 1934 strong winds blew tons of
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dust from the plains all the way to the
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East Coast dust even coated New York
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City and settled on ships 500 miles out
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to sea in the Atlantic Ocean
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unemployment and poverty hurt everyone
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especially children many left school to
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work and help their families survive and
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many more went hungry and malnourished
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diet-related illnesses like rickets and
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scoliosis became all too common once
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again President Hoover tried to reassure
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the nation by saying recovery is just
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around the corner but it was not to be
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and more Americans grew disenchanted
03:17
with his policies and administration
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Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon
03:23
encode the beliefs of most of Hoover's
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advisors but the economy would recover
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on its own uber thought the government
03:31
must take some action but peered making
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government too strong and so he chose a
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conservative approach calling together
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business banking and labor leaders and
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urging them to work together and avoid
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laying off workers or calling strikes
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then he authorized the expenditure of
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federal funds for large public works
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projects like Boulder Dam later renamed
03:55
Hoover Dam to create jobs and wages for
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thousands of workers Hoover felt giving
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direct help to needy Americans would
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undermine their self-respect and look to
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private charities to help the hungry
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instead he approved more than two
04:13
billion dollars in emergency financing
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to businesses hoping their renewed
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success would trickle down to the people
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who needed assistance it didn't
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rather unemployment rose even higher and
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Americans were caught in a web of
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despair Americans already tired of
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Hoover's pessimistic and cautious
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approach then became outraged by his
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treatment of a group of world
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veterans in 1932 after the war Congress
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issued veterans bonus certificates for
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their military service worth nearly
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$1000 to be redeemed in 1945 dismayed by
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the economic outlook of the time the
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veterans demanded the immediate payment
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of their bonuses in fall in an attempt
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to satisfy their demand Texas
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congressman Wright Patman proposed a
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bill in which the government would
05:07
immediately give veterans $500 in cash
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instead to show their support of patmans
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plan between 10 and 20 thousand veterans
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and their families peacefully marched to
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Washington DC this so-called
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Bonus Army established a shantytown
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inside of the Capitol building
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Hoover provided food and supplies for
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them but when Congress vetoed the bill
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On June 17
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he asked the Bonus Army to leave most
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left but approximately 2,000 stayed
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behind hoping to meet with Hoover
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fearing a riot Hoover ordered General
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Douglas MacArthur a 12th infantry force
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to remove the veterans shocked American
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saw troops use bayonets and tear gas to
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force the vets to lay
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in the melee more than 1000 people were
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gassed an eight-year-old boy blinded and
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an 11 month old baby was killed the
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shantytown burned to the ground public
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support for Hoover founded and with a
06:12
chance to change direction Americans
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overwhelmingly embraced a new president
06:17
in Franklin Delano Roosevelt popularly
06:20
known as FD