The years leading up to the Great Depression were actually a time of great economic prosperity in the United States. World War I had just ended, manufacturing was booming, and “buying on credit” was now the new normal. However, Americans were not only buying toasters on credit; they were also buying stocks on credit. After many years of profitable trading, in October of 1929, a dip in stock market prices caused many investors to realize that now was the time to sell, and suddenly, there were more sellers of stock than there were buyers. This resulted in a panic to sell stocks, which resulted in a domino effect that eventually caused the collapse of the American economy and had a devastating impact on the global economy as well.
Before the Great Depression, the absence of social safety nets meant that Americans facing financial hardships were largely on their own. The responsibility of providing for those lacking basic necessities was placed on individual states and local communities, a stance advocated by Herbert Hoover. Only after Franklin Roosevelt assumed the presidency in 1936 did the Federal Government step in, implementing policies such as banking reforms, unemployment insurance, and the Social Security program.
According to Investopedia.com, recessions have grown increasingly infrequent over the past 40 years. This is likely due to policymakers gaining a better understanding of the causes of recessions. Despite “lessons learned”, there have been 14 official recessions since the Great Depression. Two of the more notable recessions are the “dot.com” bust of the late 1980s and the housing crisis in 2007-2009.
Despite unemployment reaching 24.9% at the height of the Great Depression (1933), Americans devised ingenious ways to both earn money and stretch what little they had. It was common for multiple families to live in one residence; when one family could no longer make ends meet, they moved in with other family members. Those with spare rooms took in boarders, sometimes renting a bed to a dayshift worker, then renting the same bed out to a nightshift worker. This arrangement was called a “hotbed.” In Harlem, “rent parties” were held in which the host charged a fee to invitees for food and entertainment, with the proceeds used to pay that month’s rent. In urban areas, it was common to see multiple apple vendors, shoe shiners, and others peddling their wares on the street corner. Housewives took in laundry and ironing for a few cents a day. Dance-a-thons were popular; exhausted couples held each other up on the dance floor for days at a time in the hopes of winning $500.00. There were also “kiss-a-thons”, walk-a-thons, and “drink-a-thons.” Professional flagpole sitter Alvin Kelly reportedly made as much as $29,000 in one year from endorsements (in 2024 dollars, that would be the equivalent of $661,140.73).
“Use it up, wear it out. Make it do or do without.”
Clothing was another area where families would stretch their budgets. Wearing hand-me-downs from an older sibling to a younger sibling was one way to pinch pennies. Flour sacks were repurposed for sewing material. Back then, flour could be bought 50 to 100 pounds at a time and was packed in large cotton sacks. When manufacturers realized that families were using the sacks as material for clothing and other household items such as curtains and even diapers, they began printing the flour sacks with attractive patterns and designs.
Hand-me-downs or otherwise, clothing was worn until it was worn out. Then, the buttons and zippers were cut off to use again. What remained of the material was cut up into dust cloths and diapers or sold to the rag man who made rugs from the remnants and resold them. Even the thread from seams and hems was saved for later mending.
Anyone who was able to planted a garden, even in urban areas. Vacant lots and rooftops were turned into garden plots, some organized into community gardens. In more rural areas, foraging for edible weeds, nuts, and berries was commonplace, as was hunting, fishing, and trapping game.
“Bartering” was another way of acquiring products and services. Surplus eggs could be traded at the local mercantile for pantry supplies and other household goods. It was not uncommon for the local doctor to be paid in chickens or pigs for medical services!
The absence of social safety nets, coupled with the Federal government’s reluctance to provide direct relief, meant that communities facing hard times had to rely on each other for help. Many families were “too proud” to accept any charity; what was available was often in short supply, coming from sources such as church organizations, local charities, and the Red Cross. To further compound the problem, some states would not allow people on relief to vote; some churches banned families who were receiving relief from even attending services.
Despite these trying times, people still managed to find ways to enjoy life. Most homes did have a radio. Amos ‘n Andy, The Shadow, Abbot and Costello, and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriott were popular radio shows. Orson Wells and John Houseman managed to cause a national panic on Halloween 1938 with their fictionalized radio broadcast of an alien invasion based on H.G. Well’s The War of the Worlds. Movie attendance dropped sharply at the beginning of the Great Depression but soon rebounded, with the 1930s considered the “Golden Age” of Hollywood. Desperate to escape their tough situations, Americans scraped together the typical ticket price of 25 cents, even for just a couple of hours. From 1935 to 1938, child star Shirley Temple was Hollywood’s number-one box office draw. And if Americans weren’t listening to the radio or going to movies, they were reading and playing board games. The game of Monopoly was patented in 1935, and in 1939, Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind sold 1,000,000 copies in the first six months of its release.
The Great Depression was the most challenging economic crisis the United States has faced. There are very few Americans alive today who have lived through these difficult times. Despite social safety nets now put in place, the possibility always exists that we could go through a similar or even worse crisis. Hopefully, we remember enough from past generations to survive as our grandparents did, relying on ingenuity, resilience, and sheer determination to weather the next storm.
References:
John Donald O’SHEA. Memories of the Great Depression. O’Shea/Crosslink Publishing, 25 Dec. 2019.
Robert Edward Mathias, et al. Life during the Great Depression : Journal of Robert Edward Mathias, May 24, 1929-November 28, 1934 : & One Entry on February 17, 1935. Kechi, Ks, Robert’s Journal, 2006.
Wormser, Richard. Growing up in the Great Depression. New York, Atheneum ; Toronto, 1994.
Photo Credit:
Rothstein, Arthur, photographer. Osage Farms, Missouri. United States Osage Farms Missouri, 1939. Nov. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017779356/.