Term paper on The Great Depression

The Great Depression

RESOURCE GUIDE

Many believed that the severe recession that followed the stock market crash of 1929 would be relatively brief. By mid-1931, however, it was clearly turning into a profound depression. Between 1929 and 1933, industrial and farm prices declined precipitously, and unemployment soared to 25 percent of the workforce. Although he feared the creation of a welfare state, President Hoover, unlike some orthodox economists, did not believe in letting the depression run its course. Yet the various measures his administration took failed to restore prosperity. By the end of his term as president, Hoover , who was internationally famous for earlier humanitarian efforts, had become widely reviled.

Suggestions for Term Papers

1. Was President Hoover unfairly blamed for having failed to end the depression?

2. Discuss why the Great Depression is considered the worst one in U.S. history.

3. What effect did the depression in the United States have on other nations?

4. Discuss how the depression affected your home town or your relatives.

5. Analyze the causes of the Great Depression.

Suggested Sources : See entries 30–31 and 33–39 for related items.

REFERENCE SOURCES

The Great Depression: A Historical Bibliography . Santa Barbara , CA : ABCClio Information Services, 1984. Identifies material relevant to study of the Great Depression (social conditions, economic conditions, government policy, etc.).

New Day/New Deal: A Bibliography of the Great American Depression, 1929–1941 . David E. Kyvig and Mary-Ann Blasio, comps. Westport , CT : Greenwood , 1988. Good bibliography of writings on the Great Depression and the Roosevelt years up to World War II.

GENERAL SOURCES

Liebovich, Louis. Bylines in Despair: Herbert Hoover, the Great Depression, and the U.S. News Media . Westport , CT : Praeger, 1994. Examination of press coverage and the media influences surrounding Herbert Hoover during the Depression.

Nash, Gerald D. The Crucial Era: The Great Depression and World War II, 1929–1945 . 2d ed. New York ; St. Martin ‘s, 1992. Concise, comprehensive historical overview of the period embracing the Depression years and World War II.

Rothermund, Dietmar. The Global Impact of the Great Depression, 1929–1939 . New York : Routledge, 1996. Brief, handy, and useful survey of the Depression. Places the American scene within perspective of international consequences.

Soule, George H. Prosperity Decade: From War to Depression, 1917–1929 . (1947). Reprint. Armonk , NY : M. E. Sharpe, 1989. Good firsthand account of the economic conditions in the decade prior to the Depression by an author who lived through it.

SPECIALIZED SOURCES

Bauman, John F., and Thomas H. Coode. In the Eye of the Great Depression: New Deal Reporters and the Agony of the American People . DeKalb , IL : Northern Illinois University Press, 1988. Good social history providing sketches of reporters like Lorena Hickok and Harry Hopkins and their work in reporting, illustrating, and exposing the conditions of the time.

Beito, David T. Taxpayers in Revolt: Tax Resistance during the Great Depression . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989. Interesting and informative account of tax collection and taxpayer compliance during the Depression.

Bernstein, Michael A. The Great Depression: Delayed Recovery and Economic Change in America , 1929–1939 . New York : Cambridge University Press, 1987. Concise description of the economic conditions surrounding the Depression and the early period of recovery.

Brinkley, Alan. Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression . New York : Knopf, 1982. Examination of two radically different dissenters and their ideas.

Burg, David. The Great Depression . New York : Facts on File, 1996. Examines the Depression from its onset to the 1940s through the eyes of its affected citizens. Includes documents, biographical sketches, maps, photographs, and bibliographic references. From the publisher’s Eyewitness History series.

Dubofsky, Melvyn, and Stephen Burwood, eds. Women and Minorities during the Great Depression . New York: Garland, 1990. Treats social conditions surrounding women and minorities during the time. Part of the publisher’s The Great Depression and the New Deal series.

Ellis, Edward R. A Nation in Torment: The Great Depression, 1929–1939 . New York: Kodansha International, 1995. Thorough, vivid, anecdote-filled historical account of the events and personalities of the time.

Freemon, David K. The Great Depression in American History . Springfield, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 1997. Easy-to-read brief historical treatment of causes of the Depression and important figures. Part of the publisher’s series.

Garraty, John A. The Great Depression: An Inquiry into the Causes, Course, and Consequences of the Worldwide Depression of the Nineteen-Thirties, as Seen by Contemporaries and in the Light of History . San

Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1986. Important work on the Depression by a leading historian.

Hill, Kim Q. Democracies in Crisis: Public Policy Responses to the Great Depression . Boulder, CO: Westview, 1988. Brief, handy examination of economic policies intended to counter the Depression.

McElvaine, Robert S. The Great Depression: America, 1929–1941 . New York: Times Books, 1984. Well-received and thorough account of the Depression and its aftermath up to the time of U.S. entry into World War II.

Meltzer, Milton. Brother, Can You Spare a Dime: The Great Depression of 1929–1933 . New York: Facts on File, 1990. Firsthand accounts of workers, farmers, businessmen, and others, with photographs, maps, and a bibliography. Part of the publisher’s Library of American History series.

Rose, Nancy E. Put to Work: Relief Programs in the Great Depression . New York: Monthly Review, 1994. Brief description of government programs enacted to provide relief and create jobs.

Terkel, Studs. Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression . (1970). Reprint. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986. Important work providing personal narratives of a variety of people who lived through the Depression.

Watkins, T. H. The Great Depression: America in the 1930s . Boston: Little, Brown, 1993. Informative survey history of the difficult decade and the programs designed to alleviate suffering.

Wenger, Beth S. New York Jews and the Great Depression: Uncertain Promise . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996. Analysis of the Depression and its impact on one segment of the population.

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

Jeansonne, Glen. Messiah of the Masses: Huey P. Long and the Great Depression . New York: HarperCollins, 1993. Brief account of the life and career of the populist Louisiana governor who was developing a national following at the time of his death in 1935.

Smith, Richard Norton. An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover . New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984. A scholarly and sympathetic biography.

Warren, Harris G. Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression . (1959). Reprint. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1980. Well-received biographical account of President Hoover and his administration during the Depression.

AUDIOVISUAL SOURCES

The Great Depression: New Deal/New York . Santa Monica, CA: PBS Home Video, 1993. Videocassette. Fine 60-minute documentary examining FDR’s association with Mayor Fiorello La Guardia in expanding social reforms to combat the Depression in New York.

WORLD WIDE WEB

Kangas, Steve. ‘‘The Great Depression: Its Causes and Cure.” Liberalism Resurgent . May 1997. http://www.scruz.net/ kangaroo/THE_GREAT_DEPRESSION.htm Analysis of the Depression from the liberal perspective. Useful links to time line and summary.