America and the Great Depression Essay examples -- Essays Papers

the States and the Great Depression1. Compare the ideas behind the protest movements of Huey Long and Upton Sinclair.The Era of the Great Depression was iodine of both desperation and hope. Americans were desperate for a change, desperate for anything to come along that may improve their situation, yet hopeful that the light at the end of the dig was near. For many of those living in poverty during the 1930s, the radical leftist movements seen throughout the country appeared to be alternatives to the sometimes ineffective programs of FDRs crude extend. Two such programs, Huey Longs Share Our Wealth plan and Upton Sinclairs End Poverty in California (EPIC) were fairly popular, mainly for their appealing alternatives to the current New Deal programs and ideals. Though the devil movements were similar in some sense, both had different visions for the recovery of the American people.Huey Long, two-time Senator of Louisiana, was founder of the Share Our Wealth plan. A redist ribution of the nations wealth, the plan called for one third of the countrys money to be divided among all the people. In the early 1930s, 4% of the American population held 87% of the wealth. (Polenberg 127) Longs plan called for an end to this imbalance. None too poor, none too rich was his slogan. (Polenberg 126) The Share Our Wealth movement was make up of eight parts. A homestead allowance granted by the government to all families (and a limit on how large a familys fortune could be), minimum family yearly incomes (and limits on excessive ones), better regulation of work hours (to prevent overproduction), an old-age pension, a balance between agricultural production and consumption, a pension for veterans and their disabled, ... ...me president. Their programs however, did have lasting effects on the government at the time, causing it to shift towards the left in order to appease their supporters. The fact that two men with very different visions for the future of Amer icans could both be so popular while endorsing such radical changes only shows the true atmosphere of America in the Depression. Americans in poverty were willing to cling to any hope they could find, and though each did it in their own way, these men gave Americans that hope. Bibliography1.Biles, Roger. A New Deal for the American People. Northern Illinois University Press. DeKalb, 1991.2.Polenberg, Richard. The Era of Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933-1945. Bedford/St. Martins. Boston, 2000.3.Terkel, Studs. Boston, 2000.4.Terkel, Studs. Hard Times. The New Press. New York, 1970