During the 1920s, the U.S boasted of the largest economy in the world. The European nations were struggling with the Aftermath of WWI while America flourished. The U.S industries expanded to a bubble point in the 20s through the process of re-investing most of their profits. By 1929, companies’ workers could no longer continue with the expansion and a slowdown was inevitable. The economy faced the first challenge of its kind that spread across the globe. The great depression began. A series of domestic and international factors contributed to the great depression.
The crash of the stock market in 1929. - While it was not the only cause of great depression, the wreck of the stock market on 10 th October 1929(Black Tuesday) was a significant contributor to the depression. In two months times after the crash of the stock market stock investors had lost over 40 billion dollars ( Robbins, 2011) . However, by late 1930, the stock market began to make profits, but it was not the savior of the economy. The failure of the banking system of the U.S contributed to the great depression. Banks operated without a guarantee to the Americans, creating a climate of panic during the tough times. It is the reason for the failure of over 9000 banks throughout the 1930s. The deposits by customers were uninsured, and people lost all their savings. The standing banks were in a panic and unsure of the future. Thus they stopped creating new loans which lead to fewer expenditures by the population.
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Across the Board purchasing reduction- the fear of continued economic woes after the crash of the stock market made consumers cold and stopped the purchase of new products. The sales for companies reduced thus affecting production which made companies reduce the workforce. Majority of the people were unable to pay for goods that they had bought on installment plans, and others could not service their loans, and their items were repossessed. It led to an accumulation of inventory, and national unemployment rose to 25%. The external trade policy of the U.S in the 1930s led contributed to the depression disaster. As business started falling, the government designed the Smooth-Hawley Tariff in 1930 to protect American industries. Imports were subjected to high taxes which lead to reduced trade activities between America and Europeans nation. The Act came in the form of a double edge as it led to reduced production and revenue for local companies. During the time the U.S imports decreased by 66% from $4.4 (1929) billion to $ 1.5 billion (1933). The Dust Bowl a concept used to refer to the drought conditions that faced America in the 1920s and 30s ( Robbins, 2011) . For example, a drought in the Mississippi valley in 1930 was of the magnitude that people were unable to produce anything and they had to sell the farms at no profits to settle their debts.
The New Deal.
As president Franklin Roosevelt rose to power in 1933, he promised the American a new deal that was meant to rescue the nation from the crippling depression ( Roosevelt, 1963) . Roosevelt made a vow to end the problem during his tenure. He intended to do the miracle through invoking the law, developing economic policies and reviving the business.
During his first term, he created several acts meant to protect the economy from falling further into depression. Through Congress, Roosevelt created Roosevelt’s Emergency Banking Act, a law that recognized banks and closed the ones that were insolvent ( Roosevelt, 1963) . He asked Congress to end the Prohibition. Prohibition was as a law that had been enacted in the early 1920s with the aim of stopping the manufacturing, sale, and distribution of illegal liquors. In the process, so many Americans lost jobs, the country lost $11 billion annually and used an excess of $ 3 billion to enact the prohibition. RDF saw an opportunity to create employment, and he asked Congress to end Prohibition, and by the end of the year, Congress ratified the 21 st Amendment. Other legislation Roosevelt formulated to include the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, the National Industrial Recovery Act, Glass-Steagall Act and social security act et cetera.
He used economic strategies to create economic policies meant to stabilize the economy. Roosevelt introduced the Keynesian economic theory an economic, monetary approach that is supposed to increase government spending to boost economic growth ( Roosevelt, 1963) . In the policy, he vowed to create employment for the majority. He created the Works Progress Administration that focused on national projects that could not compete with the private sector. The projects were involved in building parks, schools, bridges highways, and offices and were paid by the government. It created employment.
The president also created an economy that vowed to protect society. As a result, he came with laws that ensured the society was safe from the young, the elderly and the disabled. He spearheaded the creation of Social Security meant to protect the elderly from exploitation and poverty after retiring. He introduced the U.S. minimum wage intended to protect the working class from exploitation by the employers. It was during his reign that child labor laws were first created that prohibited the employment of children and insurance for your bank deposits ( Roosevelt, 1963) .
Race for arms
After the Bombing of Japan by the Americans, the Second World War came to a halt. However, it did spark a new race. A race for arms more precisely nuclear weapons. The Russians were jealous of the U.S new technology and were determined to create their atomic weapons in an attempt not to be outdone by the Americans. It led to a cold war between the U.S and the Soviet Union that lasted for the better part of the century up to 1991 (Foner, 2009).
The race led to the creation of deadly weapons in the following years after 1945. The competition led to the creation of atomic weapons, chemical weapons, weapons of mass destruction (missiles, fighter jets, submarines et cetera), space exploration, and biological weapons. The U.S was a nuclear weapon monopoly after the war. However, by 1949 the USSR was already testing its first nuclear weapons (Foner, 2009).
The following two decades saw the two nations compete in a race of making weapons of mass destruction. In 1952, the U.S tested its first hydrogen bomb. A few years later the Soviets made their hydrogen weapon. In the late 1950s, the Soviets built the R-7 the first intercontinental ballistic missiles. It changed the contours of the Cold war military strategy as it meant that a country the missiles would be launched from one continent to another (Foner, 2009). It created anxiety between the people of the two nations and the world as a whole.
The space race between the Soviets and Americans was seen as military advancements. The two nations competed to see which country would be able to reach space. It led to the creation of satellites that would help in launching intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Differing ideologies between Russians and the U.S fueled Cold war. Russia was determined to expand its communist and authoritarian ideology which was contradicting capitalism and democracy ideology of the U.S (Foner, 2009). After the II World war, Russia quickly formed the Soviet Union with most of the nations in Eastern Europe. The U.S would not entertain the Soviet Union becoming a world power. The U.S was determined to stop the spread of communism in Europe and expand capitalism to the world.
The cold war affected American culture and politics both positively and negatively. During the time the national security agencies encouraged the American film industry to make anticommunist movies as propaganda tools. The tool lets to a litany of films that created patriotism but increased suspicion of communist activities in America. Eventually, the anticommunism sentiment ran out of control, and it led to rooting out of communist which ruined lives. The cold war led to the end of racial inequality. The blacks were being treated as a second class citizen. President Trauma noted that if America needed global respect, it had to correct the remaining imperfections as a way of progressing democracy. It led to the establishment of fair employment commissions, the creation of laws that banned discrimination and voting rights for blacks (Foner, 2009).
The civil rights movements
The civil rights movements in the 1950s and 60s saw the creation of laws the banned discrimination in the U.S. the movements also saw the blacks as a minority race attain their rights to vote. In 1964 the country signed the first Civil Rights Act ( Karson, (Ed.). 2005) . The act dictated that the country was to end segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of sex, national origin, race religion or color. The African Americans were engaged in a struggle with the aim of achieving equal rights with the whites. For the first time, the African American would be able to visit those areas that they were prohibited. Besides, there were equal rights to employment. In the early 1920s, there were jobs that the African American would not dream of attaining as they were designated for the whites. All these forms of discriminations were defeated as a result of civil rights movements.
Before the 1960s, African Americans did not have the right to vote. In the southern states, the African Americans were treated as Second level citizens besides the end of slavery in the late 19 th century. The civil rights movements created in the 1950s saw the African American get their rights to elect the leaders of their choice ( Karson, (Ed.). 2005) . It was a massive step in the right direction as it meant that the group would get to elect leaders who would assist in the fight for their rights.
Reference
Foner, E. (2009). Give Me Liberty!: an American History. 2 nd Seagull Ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company.
Karson, J. (Ed.). (2005). The Civil Rights Movement . Greenhaven Press, Incorporated.
Robbins, L. (2011). The great depression . Transaction Publishers.
Roosevelt, D. (1963). The New Deal, 1932-1940. New York .
