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The war ended the depression, but Roosevelt kept us from falling apart, until the war began.
His will and force to spend the way out of the Great Depression held it together.
A rather common conspiracy theory at the time was that his admin played a role in the bombing of Pearl Harbor to allow the U.S. to enter the War through the back door which finally ended the depression.
So how did this seemingly unemployed and dependant generation turn into the greatest generation?
Well you know that is a interesting question. Obama's greatest failings in my mind was instead of just providing for the social welfare of those in need, he had established a meaningful jobs program as Roosevelt did (and there were plenty of critics of the waste of the WPA) really committed to repair our dilapidated infrastructure, teaching in our schools, and developing much needed technological inovation, 60 years from now, our children and grandchildren might have said the same for this generation.
Just because government stimulus that rose to over 120% of GDP to fight a war doesn't in anyway that the same use of government spending to produce for peace wouldn't have had the same lasting economic impact as government spending in the 1930 - 1945. A national commitment to build a future for future generations come just as rightly be seen as an equal contribution and sacrifice. After all, most of the things that were produced for WW2 were either destroyed or junked after their usefulness expired.
So how did this seemingly unemployed and dependant generation turn into the greatest generation?
The members of the Greatest Generation were too young to be employed during the Depression. They were kids and teenagers. They grew up in poverty and were dependent through no fault of their own. Though it was not uncommon for them to drop out of high school to work to help support their families. Many also dropped out of high school to fight in WWII. Or joined up right after they graduated. Their's is an amazing story of going from absolutely nothing and growing up in abject poverty to doing whatever was asked of them during WWII.
The complaint from the conservatives at the time was that they could run all of FDRs social programs better, cheaper, and with less government oversight.
The complaint before that was that conservatives weren't doing anything, lazzie faire. Hands off.
The war ended the depression, it developed technology, and destroyed the rest of the industrialized world, except for the united states. So we had everything going for us. Its why we still sit on top of the world.
My dad was a teen during the depression, living in rural Schuylkill Co. PA. he left school at the end of 8th grade, ended up working for his dad and then in a coal mine. His dad was a blacksmith, as were several generations before him. It was a dying art then. WWII came along, he joined the Navy, served his time, got out and got hired to do road construction, and spent the next 30+ years doing it. I really believe going to war and coming back was the catalyst he needed, and I'm sure it was much the same with a lot of guys back then, esp. the rural ones.
Obama's greatest failings in my mind was instead of just providing for the social welfare of those in need, he had established a meaningful jobs program as Roosevelt did (and there were plenty of critics of the waste of the WPA) really committed to repair our dilapidated infrastructure, teaching in our schools, and developing much needed technological inovation, 60 years from now, our children and grandchildren might have said the same for this generation.
Well he" kind of/sort of" floated a trial balloon with the stimulous to the states. It was not remotely the scope of the WPA. It was worthy of a "full tilt boogie" and Obama did not push, push, push.
How did people react to the onslaught of so many people depending on government programs and charity?
Why did those people do a few different things such as community gardening and such?
Aside from the ww2 BOOM, were there any other signs of workers developing skills , emerging technologies to put people to work, etc.
What were the various complaints from the conservatives and liberals at that time?
It nice to see wide-eyed wonder...
You lack an understanding of America in the 20's, 30's, and 40's.
You lack an understanding of America in the 20's, 30's, and 40's.
keep curious and keep asking.
Well I took history in high school and college, but the lectures mostly focused on the two world wars during that time, NOT what was happening back home. It's important to learn from history so I am just asking the others if there are any parallels to this era of economic downtime and what happened back then.
Well he" kind of/sort of" floated a trial balloon with the stimulous to the states. It was not remotely the scope of the WPA. It was worthy of a "full tilt boogie" and Obama did not push, push, push.
The people that did push are the ones who used the stimulus and later used it for their own personal financing.
How did people react to the onslaught of so many people depending on government programs and charity?
Why did those people do a few different things such as community gardening and such?
Aside from the ww2 BOOM, were there any other signs of workers developing skills , emerging technologies to put people to work, etc.
What were the various complaints from the conservatives and liberals at that time?
There was the NRA national recovery act. There was the CCC civilian conservation corp. approximately 70 percent of the population lived on farms in the 30s. Things were different than now. People were used to not having things. The programs of the progressives were very popular. Even though the conservatives tried to destroy them then down to this very day. Until FDR and the new deal there were no safety nets. Things were much harder during the GD than now. We think its bad at 9 percent unemployment but during the GD it was 22 to 25 percent. And to top it off it was started because of no regulation on wall street. Many of the regulations put in place to stop another GD have been weakened or outright repealed by the Neocons.
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