1929 Essay, Research Paper

1929

The year 1929 marked the end to a marvelous decade known as the roaring 20 s. The roaring 20 s were a time of high aspirations and inflated dreams. Little did the people know that soon their dreams would pop and turn into the nightmare of the century. It is a known fact that all good things must end, but no one expected the outcome to be this drastic.

At this time in history prohibition was becoming a major problem in the United States. The most infamous example of gangs related to prohibition was Al Capone. By early 1929 Capone had neutralized most of his enemies in Chicago, except for one gang located on the North Side led by George Bugs Moran. Capone resolved to get rid of Moran before he caused problems. Capone knew that Moran s gang would be at a garage on North Clark Street awaiting the arrival of a liquor-truck convoy. When the truck was scheduled to make the delivery, his men would be waiting for them dressed in stolen police uniforms and trench coats as though they were staging a raid. At 10:30 a.m. on February 14, 1929, Capone put his plan into action.

The assassination squad got into their police uniforms and drove over to the garage in their stolen police car. The bootleggers caught in the act, lined up against the wall obediently. The four men in police uniforms took the bootlegger s guns and opened fire with two machine guns, a sawed-off shotgun and a .45. The men slumped to the floor dead, except for one that was still barely breathing. To finish off their plan, the two mean in trench coats put up their hands and marched out of the garage in front of the two uniformed policemen. Therefore anyone witnessing this charade believed that the policemen had arrested two bootleggers. The four assassins then left in the stolen police car. Capone s brilliant plan seemed to be a success, except for the fact that Moran was not among the men executed. Moran had been late to the meeting and after seeing the police car pull up to the garage fled before he was caught up in the raid.

Soon real policemen came to the garage and saw the bodies sitting in puddles of blood. They found the still barely breathing man dying from twenty-two bullet wounds, on the floor. The sergeant asked the man who shot him, but he refused to give away the names of his executioners. The policemen figured out that the assassination attempt had been for Bugs Moran and that, had the attempt been successful, Al Capone would have been to blame. Eventhough Capone and his leaders fled to Florida, the public knew who was responsible for this massacre. The police had no evidence to arrest Capone on these charges; therefore all charges against him were dropped.

This event, known as the St. Valentine s Day Massacre, acquired more publicity for Capone than any gang had ever received. It became a national media event. One reporter saw the massacre as giving Capone an almost grisly glamour. (Bergreen, Chicago Historical Society) One of his articles contained this passage,

There had never been an outlaw quite like Al Capone. He was elegant, high-class, the berries. He was remarkably brazen, continuing to live among the swells in Miami and to proclaim love for his family. Nor did he project the image of a misfit or a loner, he played the part of a self-made millionaire who could show those Wall Street big shots a thing or two about doing business in America. No one was indifferent to Capone; everyone had an opinion about him .. (Bergreen, Chicago Historical Society.)

A popular book that was published in 1929, was A Farewell to Arms. The main character doesn t seem to be agonizingly concerned with matters of right or wrong in the war, and it seems somewhat separate from him. Even when he is injured it doesn t appear that he is really a part of the war which surrounds him. After he is almost killed by a spy, he resolves to desert the army and be reunited with his love, Catherine. The book seems to be a question on whether he has any feelings for Catherine, or it is just an excuse to escape the insanity of the war. A Farewell to Arms showed how people were escaping responsibility and searching for new ways. This book by Ernest Hemingway was very popular because of it s similarities to reality and still remains that way today.

The most horrific occurrence in 1929 was the Great Depression. It was the worst and longest economic collapse in the history of the modern industrial world, lasting from the end of 1929 until the early 1940 s. After beginning in the United States, the depression spread to most of the world s industrial countries, which had become economically dependent on each other. The Great Depression was the cause of rapid declines in production and sale of goods, and a sudden rise in unemployment. Businesses and banks shut down, people lost their jobs, homes, and saving, and many became dependent on charity to survive.

The depression was caused by many weaknesses in the economy. Although the 1920 s appeared on the surface to be a prosperous time, income was unevenly distributed. More and more Americans began to spend more than they earned, and farmers faced low prices and heavy debts. In Europe, the effects of World War I left them struggling to pay war debts. Also the terrifying United States stock market crash left the economy unstable and left many people in ruin.

The depression produced lasting effects on the United States that are still apparent today. President Franklin Roosevelt created programs known as the New Deal to overcome the effects of the Great Depression. These programs expanded government intervention into new areas of social and economic concerns. The programs of the New Deal also brought a new, liberal political alliance in the United States. Roosevelt s policies won the support of labor unions, black, ethnic and religious minorities, intellectuals, and some farmers, forming a coalition that would be the backbone of the Democratic Party for decades to come.

It is a common misconception that the stock market crash of October 24, 1929 was the cause of the depression since many other factors contributed to it. The two events were closely related, but both were the result of deep problems in the modern economies that were building up through the prosperity decade of the roaring 20 s.

Americans at this time were turning inward, away from international issues and social concerns and toward greater individualism. The self-centered attitudes of the 1920s seemed to fit in well with the needs of the economy. The industries had the capacity to produce vast quantities of consumer goods, but the prosperity could only continue if demand grew as rapidly as supply. The key to economic prosperity, a General Motors executive declared, is the organized creation of dissatisfaction. There also seemed to be an underlying economic problem. Income was distributed very unevenly, and the larger portion was going to the select few members of the upper class society. While businesses showed a remarkable increase in productivity during the 1920 s, workers got a relatively small share of the profit. Between 1923 and 1929, manufacturing output per person-hour increased by 32 percent, but workers wages grew by only 8 percent. Corporate profits shot up by 65 percent in the same period. (McElvaine, 38)

The people that were willing to purchase new products did not have enough money to do so. To get around this difficulty, credit, another name for customer debt, was introduced. This only put off the day when consumers accumulated so much debt that they could not keep buying all the new products. That day came in October of 1929. The American farmers were also highly in debt and could no longer afford to support the economy. European banks could not afford to pay back their debts to the United States. By the late 1920 s, the banking system was severely unstable.

The rising incomes of the wealthiest Americans caused rapid growth in the stock market. Soon the prices of stocks were rising far beyond the worth of the shares, people were willing to pay far beyond the price of the shares. They believed that the stock prices would continue to rise and they could sell their shares for a profit. The great bull market of the late 1920 s was a great example of a bubble scheme, because it expands until it bursts. Starting in late October, the market drastically fell as investors began selling stocks. On October 24th in the worst day of the panic, stocks lost 15 billion dollars in value. This was known as Black Tuesday. By mid-November losses were estimated at 30 million dollars.

From 1929 to 1932 unemployment went from 3.2 percent to 24.9 percent, leaving over 15 million Americans out of work. Those workers that still retained their jobs faced major wage cuts, and most could only find part time work. As people lost their jobs and savings, mortgages on many homes and farms were made. Homeless people built shacks out of old crates and formed shantytowns, which were called Hoovervilles out of detest for President Herbert Hoover, who refused to provide government aid to the unemployed.

The stock market crash announced the beginning of the Great Depression, but the deep economic problems of the 1920 s had already begun to spin the United States on a downward spiral. Although the stock market crash did not cause the Great Depression, it reduced the ability of the economy to fix its problems of unevenly distributed wealth, agricultural depression, and banking problems.

Economist predicted the depression from the beginning, but no one knew how realistic the predictions were, or how hard the depression would hit. The Great Depression and the related occurrences left Americans with a new respect for life, money, and the American dream. Although the 1920 s were thought to be a prosperous boom time, 1929 gave the decade a drastic finale.