How Did The Great Depression Affect America

The Great Depression was a severe economic downfall during the 1930's. Both presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover began their journeys to get America through the Great Depression. But how would this economic catastrophe affect America and could it be prevented?

The starting point of the Great Depression is usually listed as 1929 which is commonly called Black Tuesday. Black Tuesday has been just one of the major causes of the Great Depression. This was the same day that the stock market dropped dramatically and had an enormous effect on American lives. Fifteen billion dollars in stock value were lost and many had to sell their cars, jewelry, and homes to pay their debt many of which who lost it all. In October the stock market had previously crashed and many companies lost
Millions lost their life savings and could not repay their loans, causing them to sell their houses and companies. With no money people could not go out and buy what they needed and companies began to see a tremendous decrease in purchases which made for a tremendous loss of jobs for workers. Even though unemployment was approximately at 3.2% in 1929 it soon rose to 25% by 1932 after the Great Depression started. The jobless sold what they could in the streets, and as many as 2 million searched for jobs. "Hoovervilles" and "Hoover blankets" began to appear in local cities. Hooverville were homeless built camps made out of cardboard and scrap wood along with anything else that was available. Hoover blankets were made out of newspaper and used to keep warm. As companies began to fall the government created the Smoot-Hawley Tariff in 1930 to help companies. The smoot-Hawley Tariff put taxes onto foreign imports this caused less trade between America and foreign countries, which eventually led to an economic