McElvaine: The Great Depression
bottom 73=insecurity characterizes greater part of the working population.
74—businessmen turned conservative in their purchases
122---sense of fellowship and community among blue-collar workers (those still
employed)
170---individuals and not statistics...
171—“Some were proud, others beaten. Some were optimistic, others had lost all hope.
Some blamed themselves, others cursed businessmen, politicians, the ‘system,’or ‘the
Interests.’”
172—“For those who had enjoyed at least a taste of prosperity in the 1920s, the initial
blow of the Depression was crushing. The twenties had seen the traditional middle-class
American values, which taught that success and failure went to those who deserved them
and which stressed acquisitive individualism, spread widely among workers.”...these
values were tied to their self-pride...their sense of dignity as human beings...their
demands for respect from those around them...but not purely individual...they still tried to
help others(McElvaine, 81, 122)...their pride tied to contributing to their society as well...
73—Ford tries to stimulate economy...some business people did care...
81-82...public reactions to Depression
81—people blamed Satan
80—well-off people were often very generous, giving to charitable and philanthropic
organizations
173—some believed it was their fault...tied to their sense of self-worth...
174—people drink to ease pain...
80—widespread malnutrition...174, person discusses how it feels to not eat...
174—avoiding friends because you are a failure...you truly believe you are a failure...
175---gender roles...men shouldn’t ask for help...should be self-sufficient and free...this
sense of freedom is strong...tied to their failure as a provider
176—sense of community: grocer willing to let tab go up...
176---worried about what friends would say.
177---people came to believe that it was not there fault, but still complained that they
were treated as children (178)
178---WPA gives people their independence back...
179---people came to believe that government owed them a paycheck...owed them a
living...they had a right to survival...not priviledge.
180---people often had to do without any luxuries or pleasures...even the simple ones
180-181...fathers are stigmatized by relief
184—shame and worry about future led to abusive behavior often or simply to total
apathy
187---black unemployment at 50% by 1932
188---black skilled workers in Harlem had experienced an almost 50% drop in their
wages
199---continuum between ‘”mutuality’”/communalism and ‘individualism’...most
American workers fell on the side of individualism but not to the extreme part...[even
businessmen did not always adhere to Social Darwinism and other extreme versions of
economic individualism....this is important]...self-respect
207—42% of poor favored redistribution...64% favored some kind of redistribution
206—thought some people were greedy...had sense of values
206—seems fair that all get “some” of the pie
207—60% of poor said government should not allow person to keep more than
$1million...70% of wealthy said government should leave them alone...[however, that
means that significant minorities adhered to different principles, so autonomous
individualism and interdependent individualism were present in both cultures]
19—farmers’ value systems are attacked...their culture and way of life threatened....
22—belief by upper-class that anyone who really tries “can get work of some kind”
20—farmers have financial problems, recession throughout 20s and 30s...life is not
good...also favor progressive action
Harvey Green: The Uncertainty of Everyday Life
49--Tenant farmers always in debt...many had to work other jobs because what they make
not enough to keep family fed...before and after Depression
51-52==Droughts and dust storms make life miserable for people in mid-west...southern
plains
52—in 1933...grasshoppers in northern plains such as South Dakota
85---people felt shame for going on relief...they were angry that government ‘told you
how to live.’
86---uncertainty of job environment even for middle-class...they were one most pressed
to maintain appearances and who had bought into the American value system...but they
also helped the poor...
86—take personal responsibility for all of “life’s good and bad experiences...”
Cabell Phillips: From the Crash to the Blitz
5---(1932) man commits suicide because he cannot support his family
Berger: Diary of America
583—Will Rogers (1931)...says George Washington would have disowned country...also
criticizes big business and businessmen
583-584—same (1933)...says people adore Franklin Delano Roosevelt...
593-596—middle-class—Dorothy Blake—the depression only bothers her in one bit of
her memoirs...the rest is dedicated to the usual stuff concerning raising a family...
Bauman: In the Eye of the Great Depression
FERA= Federal Emergency Relief Administration
34-35—reporter (1934)—deterioration of human spirit; indignities felt by jobless who
had to go on doles...
35—reporter (1934) –(quote) worthy and unworthy unemployed people on the doles
36—reporter (1934)—(quote) there morale has so decayed that they are not really
human beings any more...
38—New Orleans relief administrator (unknown)...”They are children really...”
45—talks about families moving in with each other to help pay rent and maintain
livelihood...
45—reporter—(1934)—quote that describes above scene...
63---worthy and unworthy people on rolls==sometimes racist
63---reporter (1934) racist remark about ethnics
69—contemporary (unknown)—“I didn’t feel he was a sane man as he talked to me. He
was a husky man, with lots of initiative, crazy to work...”
75—(psychiatrist) (1934)—relates bad effects on husbands who lose their jobs...their
sense of pride as breadwinner’s is destroyed...
74-75—(unemployed person in reporter’s log) beautiful quote about what having to
take charity has done to this unemployed person
89---reporter: agriculture? (1934)...says that Hispanics are growing their own
vegetables and foods
116—small-town business man (1934) “Wouldn’t it be a little better to make relief a
little less adequate and therefore less attractive?”
116, 131—farmer in South Dakota—(1933)...”We don’t want any dole. All we want is
a chance to carry ourselves through the winter so we’ll be able to become self-supporting
next year if we have half a chance.”
117—“Rural hamlets and farmsteads faced especially grinding poverty and social
disintegration during the Great Depression.”
128—North Dakota farmer to a relief official—(November, 1933)—“Everything I own
I have on my back...he went on to state that he had no underwear...reporter...his shoes
were so far gone that I wondered how he kept them on his feet...”
129—(Nebraska county)---while county administrator was hard-working, nice and cared
about plight of poor, his boss did not...”
South
140—families in the South were mired in even direr straits than those in Midwest and
Northwest...South had country’s highest rate of illiteracy and highest birth rate...
157—(1933) Georgia governor Eugene Talmadge—people on relief were loafers or
bums... who could “...live on five dollars a month.”
157—(1934) (in Hickok—146) Georgia relief worker and farmer...”We could put a
thousand more men to work on CWA and keep them there right straight through the
summer and all next winter, and there’d still be no shortage of farm labor in this county.”
160—Southern businessmen complained that New Deal programs were creating a labor
shortage that undermined their business
161—because of oversupply of labor, many farmers and businesses in deep South
mistreated their workers...as one reporter (Lorena Hickok) notes...”Then--and only
then—will the situation [improve] where half-starved whites and blacks struggle in
competition for less to eat then my dog gets at home, for the privilege of living in huts
that are less comfortable than his kennel.” (1934)
157—according to reporter (1933)....most businessmen in Georgia and most farm
owners accepted the CWA and other New Deal programs.
166-168---(reporter) and other quotes concerning blacks/racism in the South
170—situation is bad in South Carolina and Florida...relief program barely scratches the
surface...even when relief money would provide for a balanced diet, people still were
malnourished because they stuck to a diet that lacked in vitamins and minerals...quote
from reporter
West
175—“The West, America’s newest region, had the highest standard of living in the
world.
175—Alburquerque, NM lawyer—good guy (1934)—“And if society...can’t give a man
a job, then the Government, representing all the people, must do it—a decent job at a
living wage
190—a wife and mother (1934)—nobody seems to have any sense of security anymore.
If your husband’s got a job, you wonder how long he’s going to keep it. People seem to
worry so much more than they used to. Sometimes I look at my children—and I just
wonder (recorded by Lorena Hickok).
Northwest
179--Lorena Hickok –reporter—“South Dakota farmers who ‘were clawing mildewed
Russian thistle out of the stacks they had cut for their cattle and making it into soup.”
Hickok: One Third of a Nation—letters from Lorena Hickok
44--(Oct. 1933)—(New York City)...”The Job consists of trying to feed, clothe, shelter
and provide medical care for 1,250,000 men, women, and children wholly dependent on
public funds for their subsistence.”
45—“They are, all thrown together in a vast pit of human misery...”
56—(1933)—“Their stock, thin and rangy, is trying to find a few mouthfuls of food on
land so bare that the winds pick-up the topsoil and blow it about like the sand.”
56---“hailed out..” “no crop at all...”
146—good landowners (Jan. 1934)—landowners not upset about CWA wage rates.
(1/16/34 in GA)...speaking on Negroes...great quote and very racist...152...151 Hickok
says that fear of CWA is driven by racism...
157—more evidence of racism...Simon Legree is from Uncle Tom’s Cabin...
168--- (1934) a good businessman
168—employers mistreating and overworking their employees
167---signs that Depression didn’t affect all...a good tourist year
212---(April 1934)...300 displaced tenant farmers in New Orleans...”Please buy us a tent
ma’am, we can’t find no house...”
220—story of one person in Texas who went from riches to rags...pride wouldn’t let
anyone help him
221---negroes as children...(1934) Texas as it is in Bauman....
334-335—(Sept. 1934)...Kansas...good times, people have amnesia...Kansas State fair
looks like prosperous...336—stores are busier than ever....
346...11/21/1934...urban...Baltimore...(quote) from worker showing extent of
depression...says can only give free lunches to a few children
Ringel: America as Americans See It
Anderson:
12—“droughts throughout the great agricultural sections of the country...” but still a
surplus of food which meant farmers were not getting much for their crops...(1931 or
1932)
Held
229-234==(31-32) whimsical look at college students which gives the impression that no
Depression is roaring around them...
Hoar: The Great Depression
Saul Wellman
157-158==urban, Detroit...1930s...over 1,250,000 workers marched that year...he talks
about one where speakers tell assembly it is not their fault...they deserve a job, they
deserve the right to live...
Eliot: Recollections of the New Deal
Xiii (Galbraith)...”1930s were...years of angry labor disputes...”
3...25% of work force unemployed...33% in some cities...
9...Eliot went to Harvard Law School (wealthy)
11-12...they did social work for the thrills...they worked hard...
24—businessmen benefited from New Deal
23—many wealthy hated Roosevelt
33—even wealthy realized what was happening...banks closed in many states during
March 1933...March 6, President shut them down..
33...sense that middle-class and upper-class empathized with those who were out of work
or who were otherwise poor
52—labor leaders look forward to working with government because of section 7a in
NRA...
MCElvaine...quote
252—businessman—“Why shouldn’t they take half of my income from me...”
258-259—Wagner Bill
McElvaine: Down and Out in the Great Depression
53—Some of the middle-class found themselves unemployed or with greatly reduced
incomes...one of greatest fears was that of losing the family home
Quotes:
54-55—middle-class woman asks Roosevelt for a job for her hubby so they won’t lose
their home.
57-58—poor/working class—talks of fear of pain and suffering she goes through in
seeing her children walk around with “half enough to eat.”
62—poor woman—sends Roosevelt ring in return for clothes...does not want
charity...wants to repay all that she gets...but is in dire shape with baby coming
93—evidence of racism
135—poor (1935)—evidence of person being treated badly...
157—not a quote—“desperation was a common reaction to the Depression...”
164—poor/lower middle-class...they have no coal, no clothes...worry about mother and
herself...shows how bad it could be
169—unknown---shows the shame that people could face
170---poor/unemployed...has no work, no clothes...is suffering immensely
175—not quote—many people blamed others, cynicism ran high...
179—unknown...criticism of “higher ups.”
224--poor farmer in TN (1936)...quote shows plight of poor farmers
225--unemployed in ct...(1936)...speaks about losing his job...”it is awful!”
Aflred Kazin: Starting Out in the Thirties
39--1935: from the left about mother: “She was a great sufferer, life had let her
down....”
32-33...1935...life goes on as normal for many people...
Chambers: Witness
91, 184---father (middle-class)...1923...his life had been sad
Parida A. Rinfret: From My Perspective (September 25, 2000)
http://www.parida.com/govpolicy.html
(author was 6 at the time of 1929—had just recently immigrated to U.S. from
Canada) We Americans (the vast, vast majority of us) were scared stiff. We didn't know
which end was up and had no idea of where we were going and where it would all end!
To this day I am amazed that we did not have a revolution.
William Stott
61, 170—social documentary is not science...people too emotionally involved, they have
motives and biases/propaganda