An American Nadir: The Great Depression and Dust Bowl Mary Selenke CE US History 102 March 4, 2017
1 American history has had extreme highs and lows, and during the early 1930 s, the Dust Bowl and Great Depression contributed to the nadir of modern American times. The timeline of the two events overlap nearly perfectly; The Great Depression (1929-1939) and the Dust Bowl (1931-1937) happened simultaneously, for this reason, there is a common sense based 1 assumption that suggests the two had some affect on one another. The stock market crash paired with, what scientists describe as, the worst drought in over 1000 years was bound to create 2 disaster. While The Great Depression and Dust Bowl are often viewed as simply two American tragedies, the impact they had on one another was to a great extent. The Dust Bowl and the events of the Great Depression worked together to have a lasting impact on the migration of farmers in the Great plains, national and regional economies, and the civil aspects of individual s attitudes towards social reform. The time frame and degree to which both the Great Depression and Dust Bowl happened resulted in the two crossing paths and impacting more than what meets the eye. The effects of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression directly influenced the people, forcing those in the Great Plains region to have to migrate into different areas. The terrible Dust Bowl winds kicked up dust storms that invaded people s homes and altered their way of life, forcing them to migrate out of 3 the Great Plains region and into varying parts of America to find new jobs. The forced migration of people out of the Great Plains and into more congested areas strained the already weakening 1 "Dust Bowl Causes of the Great Depression Dust Bowl, Facts." The Great Depression. 2017. Accessed February 21, 2017. http://thegreatdepressioncauses.com/dust-bowl/ 2 History.com Staff, History.com Staff. "The Great Depression." History.com. 2009. Accessed February 21, 2017. http://www.history.com/topics/great-depression 3 Maria Trimarchi. "What caused the Dust Bowl?" HowStuffWorks Science. September 17, 2008. Accessed February 28, 2017. http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/dust-bowl-cause1.htm.
2 economy. As people moved into areas where jobs were already at competition, already low 4 unemployment rates went up because of the sudden population increase. Many people struggled with work and farming families were forced to migrate to find new jobs. In John Steinbeck s The Grapes of Wrath he discusses him and his family s personal encounter with the Great Depression 5 and Dust bowl and their journey to California in hopes of finding new land, hope, and work. Not only did unemployment rates increase, but because of the demographic shifts, supply and demand for basic necessities such as food and shelter increased as well. Many already crowded areas became more populous with Americans from the plains looking for a place to stay, and the 6 influx of migration and people s desperate need for aid initiated government relief programs. The U.S government found itself with struggling citizens; the combination of the two disasters pushed the government to take action and implement policies that would benefit the victims of both the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the president during the bulk of The Great Depression and Dust Bowl, wanted to take action to help relieve the victims in the Great Plains by creating work for farmers and restore land so people could move back to their original homes. The Shelterbelt Project proposed by Roosevelt aimed to do just that, The project [Shelterbelt Project] called for large-scale planting of trees across the Great Plains, stretching in a 100-mile 4 Roger Hudson. 2015. "Dust Bowl Blues." History Today 65, no. 12: 26-27. History Reference Center, EBSCOhost (accessed February 21, 2017) 5 John Steinbeck. The grapes of wrath. London: Penguin Classics, 2014. 6 Hudson. Dust Bowl Blues.
3 wide zone from Canada to northern Texas, to protect the land from erosion. Native trees, such as red cedar and green ash, were planted along fence rows separating properties, and farmers were paid to plant and cultivate them. The project was estimated to cost 75 million dollars over a 7 period of 12 years (Roosevelt). The Dust Bowl forced people out of their regions into already populated areas, resulting in a more stiff economy than already instated by the Great Depression. Roosevelt s proposal to help those suffering as a result of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl would do more than just bring people out of the dark- it would take a toll on the already struggling economy. The economy was in disarray because of the stock market crash, and the Dust Bowl contributed to the length and strength of The Great Depression. The agricultural sector plays an important role in the economy, and when farmers in deep agriculture country could not produce crops, the economy suffered even more. The Dust Bowl turned 19 states into a 8 vast open plain that was unable to produce crops due to the weak soil and high winds. The agricultural damage that the Dust Bowl employed actually helped to lengthen The Great Depression because with agriculture being a large sector of the economy, there was no way for farmers to produce crops to be sold and exported. The economy as a whole weakened because the agricultural sector took such a hard hit. Like many markets, farming experienced deflation as 9 a result of the Great Depression and put farmers in a plight situation. Many farmers lost their livelihood and the depreciation from the depression caused many of them to lose hope all 7 "About The Dust Bowl." Modern American Poetry. Accessed February 23, 2017. http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/dustbowl.htm. 8 Hudson, "Dust Bowl Blues." 9 Kimberly Amadeo. "What was the Dust Bowl? Causes and Effects." The Balance. February 06, 2017. Accessed February 28, 2017. https://www.thebalance.com/what-was-the-dust-bowl-causes-and-effects-3305689
4 together and quit their businesses because prices of the crops that they were growing fell far below the subsistence levels. The Dust Bowl s creation of a struggling agricultural business was a great contributor to The Great Depression because of the toll it took on many farmer s ability to produce and sell to consumers. The American attitude is very self-sufficient and has always been a pull yourself up by the bootstraps type of mentality. However, the mindset of the American people was altered when so many hit desperately hard times, so, people s outlook on many aspects of life and many social issues changed. Despite the self-supporting outlook, a variety of relief programs were created in response to people s unassailable need for help. As time went on and the struggle became harder, people began to accept assistance and By 1936, 21 percent of all rural families in the Great Plains received federal emergency relief. In some counties, it was as high as 90 percent. In 1937, the Works Progress Administration reported that drought was the main reason 10 for relief in the Dust Bowl region. More than two thirds were farmers (Drought Basics). People began to rely on resilience and drastic measures to get them through such trying times. Many workers, specifically farmers, grew extremely weary of how secure their places in society really were and soon realized that they were in decline; over 6 million pigs were 11 slaughtered as a result of the low need for supply. This resulted in a public outcry for waste of food during such difficult times, so any extra food not being sold was given to the public for food relief. Nothing was being taken for granted any longer and everything was put to good use. The Dust Bowl and Great Depression directly affected the will and social ideology of American 10 Amadeo. "What was the Dust Bowl? Causes and Effects." 11 "Drought Basics." Drought in the Dust Bowl Years. Accessed February 28, 2017. http://drought.unl.edu/droughtbasics/dustbowl/droughtinthedustbowlyears.aspx.
5 people suddenly finding themselves in compromising positions. Previously opposed relief programs were put in place because people in the Dust Bowl were unable to generate their own food supply and financial aid was offered for the same people in the midst of the depression unable to find steady jobs. The attitude of many people changed, a wave of appreciation swept the nation as a result of the two overlapping struggles. The Great Depression and Dust Bowl greatly affected one another in many ways: people were directly impacted through economic, geographical, and social issues taking a hold of American lifestyle. On the surface, the two events seem like there is no way they could relate to one another, but in fact, the underlying consequences of both tragedies greatly affected each other. Life as it was known in the west was changed as a result of The Great Depression and Dust Bowl greatly influencing one another.
6 Bibliography "About The Dust Bowl." Modern American Poetry. Accessed February 23, 2017. http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/dustbowl.htm. Amadeo, Kimberly. "What was the Dust Bowl? Causes and Effects." The Balance. February 06, 2017. Accessed February 28, 2017. https://www.thebalance.com/what-was-the-dust-bowl-causes-and-effects-3305689 "Drought Basics." Drought in the Dust Bowl Years. Accessed February 28, 2017. http://drought.unl.edu/droughtbasics/dustbowl/droughtinthedustbowlyears.aspx. "Dust Bowl Causes of the Great Depression Dust Bowl, Facts." The Great Depression. 2017. Accessed February 21, 2017. http://thegreatdepressioncauses.com/dust-bowl/ History.com Staff, History.com Staff. "The Great Depression." History.com. 2009. Accessed February 21, 2017. http://www.history.com/topics/great-depression. Hudson, Roger. 2015. "Dust Bowl Blues." History Today 65, no. 12: 26-27. History Reference Center, EBSCOhost (accessed February 21, 2017) Steinbeck, John. The grapes of wrath. London: Penguin Classics, 2014. Trimarchi, Maria. "What caused the Dust Bowl?" HowStuffWorks Science. September 17, 2008. Accessed February 28, 2017. http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/dust-bowl-cause1.htm.
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