Dust Bowl Great Depression Out of the Dust and Bud, Not Buddy

Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl, also known as the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the agriculture of Texas during the 1930s These dust storms were caused by severe drought and a failure to apply dry land farming methods to prevent wind erosion.

During the drought of the 1930s, the soil turned to dust that the winds blew away in clouds that sometimes blackened the sky. These choking billows of dust – named "black blizzards" or "black rollers“ reduced visibility.

The drought and erosion of the Dust Bowl affected 100,000,000 acres that centered on the panhandle of Texas and Oklahoma and touched adjacent sections of New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas.

The Dust Bowl forced tens of thousands of families to abandon their farms. Many of these families migrated to California and other states only to find that the Great Depression had caused economic damage. Condition were not any better anywhere else.

President Roosevelt ordered the Civilian Conservation Corps to plant a huge belt of more than 200 million trees from Canada to Abilene, Texas to break the wind, hold water in the soil, and hold the soil in place. The administration also began to educate farmers on soil conservation and other techniques, including crop rotation, strip farming, contour plowing, terracing, and other improved farming practices. In 1937, the government paid the farmers a dollar an acre to practice one of the new methods. By 1938, the massive conservation effort had reduced the amount of blowing soil by 65%. In the fall of 1939, after nearly a decade of dirt and dust, the drought ended, as regular rainfall finally returned to the region.

Selling the Farm

The Great Depression 1930s-1940s The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade (10 years) after World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in 1930 and lasted until the late 1930s or middle 1940s. It was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century.

Herbert Hoover was president when the Great Depression began. He declared in March 1930, that the U.S. had “passed the worst” and argued that the economy would sort itself out. The worst, however, had just begun and would last until the outbreak of World War II in The Wall Street Crash of 1929 was one of the main causes of the Great Depression. This stock market crash was the most devastating crash in the history of the United States. On “Black Tuesday,” October 29, 1929, the stock market lost $14 billion, making the loss for that week an astounding $30 billion. It took 23 years for the stock market to hit the high it was at before the crash.

The causes of the Great Depression are widely debated. There was no single cause, but several things when working together made it happen. A weak banking system and over spending also led to this horrible time in history. People who lost their homes often lived in what were called “Hoovervilles,” or shanty towns, that were named after President Herbert Hoover. There was also “Hoover Stew” which was the name for food handed out to the poor at soup kitchens.

Some people who became homeless would ride on railroad cars, because they didn’t have money to travel. This was very dangerous.

Almost half of the children who were living in the United States at that time did not have enough food, shelter, or medical care. Many suffered diseases. By the 1930s, thousands of schools were operating on reduced hours or were closed down entirely. Some three million children had left school, and at least 200,000 took to riding the rails either with their parents or as orphans.

Christmas Dinner

Soup Lines

Shany Towns and Hooverville

“HOOVERVILLE” shanty towns named after the President

During the 1932 presidential election, Hoover did not stand a chance at reelection and Franklin D. Roosevelt in a landslide. People of the United States had high hopes that President Roosevelt would be able to solve all their woes. As soon as Roosevelt took office, he closed all the banks and only let them reopen once they were stabilized.

Unemployment

The major turn-around for the U.S. economy occurred after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the entrance of the United States into World War II. Once the U.S. was involved in the war, both people and industry became essential to the war effort. Weapons, artillery, ships, and airplanes were needed quickly. Men were trained to become soldiers and the women were kept on the home front to keep the factories going. Food needed to be grown for both the home front and to send overseas. It was the entrance of the U.S. into World War II that ended the Great Depression in the United States.

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