Joey Mills
History 1700/ Document Based Essay
Two of the most serious problems which surfaced during the Great Depression were,
unemployment and hunger.
Unemployment during the Great Depression averaged at around 25 percent and surged to a
staggering 33 percent in 1932. In President Hoovers Plan (1931) Herbert Hoover outlines several key
causes of the depression; “A large part of the forces which have swept our shores from abroad are the
malign inheritances in Europe of the Great War- its huge taxes, its mounting armaments, its political and
social instability, its disruption of economic life by new boundaries. Without the war we would have no
such depression. Upon these war origins are superimposed the overpaid expansion of production and
collapse in price of many foreign raw materials. The demonetization of silver in certain countries and a
score of more remote causes have all contributed to dislocation.”
The high unemployment rate caused a lot of fear among consumers and only deepened the
depression. According to Herbert Hoover’s Plan (1931) “Fear and apprehension, whether their origins
are domestic or foreign are very real, tangible economic forces. Fear of loss of a job or uncertainty as to
the future has caused millions of our people unnecessarily to reduce their purchase of goods, thereby
decreasing our production and employment.”
Besides the economic impact, unemployment also effected people on a social level. Emotional
depression was a huge side effect of unemployment that appeared to effect men and women
differently. Men would often sit home and brood about their crisis while women would try to forget
troubles and have a good time once in a while. According to the book The Unemployed Man and His
Family; “The hardest thing about unemployment, Mr. Patterson says, is the humiliation within the
family. It makes him feel very useless to have his wife and daughter brings in money to the family while
he dies not contribute nickel.” This guilt often put a lot of stress on marriages as stated in The
Unemployed Man and His Family; He has become irritable and very hard to get along with. He talks of
nothing else, and isn’t interested in anything else but his troubles. She cannot sit at home and keep him
company, so that during the past couple of years she and her daughter just go out without him. It isn’t
that they leave him out- he just isn’t interested and stays at home.”
Hunger was also a serious problem that surfaced during the Great Depression. This issue
effected men and women in very different ways. Men would stand in bread lines for hours often for only
one meal a day, while women were scarcely seen in bread lives. According to Women in the Breadlines
(1932) “I’ve lived in cities for many months broke, without help, too timid to get in bread lines. I’ve
known many women to live like this until they simply faint on the street from privations, without saying
a word to anyone.” It goes on to say “We sit here every day, waiting for a job. There are no jobs. Most of
us have had no breakfast. Some have had scant rations for over a year. Hunger makes a human being
lapse into a state of lethargy, especially city hunger. Is there any place else in the world where a human
being is supposed to go hungry amidst plenty without an outcry, without protest, where only the
boldest steal or kill for bread, and the timid crawl the streets, hunger like the beak of a terrible bird at
the vitals?”
Men would often leave to go look for work and leave the women to fend for the children.
According to Women in the Breadlines (1932) “Hard times and the man leaves to hunt for work. He
doesn’t find it. He drifts on. The woman doesn’t hear from him for a long time. She expects it. She isn’t
surprised. She struggles alone to feed the many mouths. Sometimes she gets help from the charities. If
she’s clever she can get herself a good living from the charities, if she’s naturally lick spittle, naturally a
little docile and cunning. If she’s proud then she starves silently, leaving her children to find work,
coming home after a day’s searching to wrestle with her house, her children.”
The unemployment and hunger that this nation experienced during the Great Depression, I feel,
were the two most serious problems for the people to deal with. Had it not been for the federal
government and President Hoover’s economic stimulus programs, who knows how long the depression
would have lasted.
Sources
Herbert Hoover, “President Hoover’s Plan”. From America Faces the Future. Ed.
Mirra Komarovsky. “Mr. Patterson”. The Unemployed Man and His family.
Meridel Le Sueur. “Women in the Breadlines”. Harvest: Collected Stories.