Reading Questions about the 1930s

Read about the Great Depression. According to this article, what was wrong with President Hoover's response? Why did people blame themselves when things went wrong, and how valid or invalid was this response?

• President Hoover took the issue too lightly, calling it a  "passing incident". And he did not take action to help stabilize the economy or banking system. Instead he instigated a trickle-down policy to help finance businesses and banks. Because of the American mindset "success was earned and if failure occurred it was deserved" it made many American's blamed themselves for the failing economy and loss of jobs. This rationale was not very rational since the failure was on the part of over production and too rapid of an increase in the market.

Read about Black Sunday.How would you have felt if you'd been there on that day? What kinds of fears, concerns, or questions would be going through your mind during, and after, the event described?

• Had I been there during Black Sunday I think I would have been terrified. To be surrounded by utter darkness for hours on end with no light in sight would be smothering and I can get claustrophobic. If I were a farmer I would worry what my crop outcomes would be or whether my stock animals had survived, and I would worry for everyone else around me and hope that they had found themselves a safe place. I would wonder if this would be my death. 

Read about The Drought. What areas were affected by it?  What caused it.  The author ends this article with a pithy quote. Do you agree or disagree with this historian's perspective? Why or why not?

• The western third of Kansas, Southeastern Colorado, the Oklahoma Panhandle, the northern two-thirds of the Texas Panhandle, and northeastern New Mexico. The dust bowl was caused by overuse and over grazing, and the fine silt that had been held by the grass was free to float out on the wind and drown the area in dust. I think the author was correct in doing so because it related to the over production of goods and the lack of regulation on the economy that lead to the Great Depression.

Read about Mass Exodus from the Plains. Were does the migration of people out of the Dust Bowl rank in terms of other migrations in US History? What made life hard for people once they arrived in California?

• It is the biggest migration within the US. It hard for people to assimilate because there were so many moving in that it also became very hard for them to find employment in CA as well. Farming was a corporate job rather than small, personal farmers. These people were also facing harassment from Californians.