The Great Depression - Essay Example

The Great Depression The Great Depression occurred from 1929-1939 after the New Stock Exchange Market Crash. It is the most severe economic downturn ever to hit America. The major causes of the Great Depression included an over-speculation on the stock market, a decline in foreign trade, poor policies that did not enforce any regulations of the economy and over production (McElvaine p.15). During the 1920s, America was going through a period of economic success that saw the emergence of new technologies such as home appliances, machinery used in agriculture, and growth of the credit industries.

Due to this boom, farmers and companies increased their production to a point where they lacked a market for their produce (McElvaine p.15). Most farmers and companies hence began to incur losses and default on their loans. The situation got worse after some parts of the nation were hit by a terrible drought. America was also operating on a laissez-faire economic policy that did not impose any regulations on businesses. Most companies paid low wages to their workers leading to uneven wealth distribution.

The above factors coupled with the fact that Europe was also going through the depression led to an increased decline in the market for American products. It led to the closure of businesses, increase in debts, massive unemployment, and foreclosure of banks. The final blow resulted from the collapse of the New York stock market that led to the loss of billions of dollars of investor money (Born p.49). President Hoover’s Actions versus President Roosevelt New Deal President Hoover tried to end the economic crisis by encouraging cooperation between government and business, establishing government agencies, fostering labor harmony and attempting to balance the budget.

He refused to involve the federal government in manipulating the currency, fixing prices or controlling businesses. He also refused to use federal money to give direct aid citizens hence operated on the principle of rugged individualism. President Franklin Roosevelt, on the other hand, held a much more liberal philosophy as he believed the federal government was required to step in and give direct aid to its people (Born p.49). Roosevelt offered Americans a New Deal, which involved a series of experimental programs aimed at restoring prosperity to the American people.

The above programs supported government control over businesses, offered direct federal aid to the people, and avoided volunteerism for deficit spending (Born p.51). Unlike Hoover’s approach, Roosevelt’s deal was more aggressive and widely gained approval among the people. The deal first targeted the banking and finance areas. Roosevelt declared a national bank holiday after which the government took to inspect all banks, close the banks that had incurred excessive damage while re-organizing and opening banks that could still be operational.

The above step saw the government return nearly a billion dollars to their banking system within a few weeks (Born p.53). The New Deal also saw the implementation of the Security Act that obligated stockbrokers to release truthful information to investors, programs that would provide insurance for the savings of American citizens, bills that would regulate Securities and also regulate financial markets. Other programs implemented included employment programs, the creation of the Agriculture Adjustment Act that aimed at reviving the agricultural sector and the Federal Emergency Relief programs that made immediate payments to the unemployed.

Lastly, this deal aimed at resuscitating American companies through the National Industrial Recovery Act (Born p.53). Although this did not end the Great Depression, it was instrumental in creating programs that brought relief to the American people. This New Deal offered direct aid to the unemployed, revived the banking system, provided thousands of jobs, revived the Agriculture Industry and provided regulation for businesses. Works Cited Born Karl Erich. "Government Action against the Great Depression.

" The Great Depression Revisited: 45-58. Print. McElvaine, Robert S. The Great Depression: America, 1929-1941. New York, N.Y.: Times, 1984. Print. The Cold War The Cold War was a struggle for Supremacy between two superpowers (United States and the Soviet Union). This war began in 1945, right after the World War II and lasted until the 1990s. The Soviet Union had fought together alongside the United States against the Nazi Germany during the World War II and had become the two dominant superpowers during that time (Gaddis p.7). However, after the World War II their alliance began to crumble due to heightened tensions and distrust between the two nations.

The Soviet Union was taking control of other nations and setting up pro-communist regimes in an attempt to expand its power. The United States thus became wary of the increased control of the USSR and implemented a policy of containment that launched a fight against communism influence over the world and provided a measure of containing Soviet power (Gaddis p. 10) The onset of the Cold War was marked by the implementation of the Truman Doctrine in 1947. President Harry S. Truman enforced this doctrine that was a foreign policy aimed at providing political, economic, and military assistance to democratic nations under threats from invasion by authoritarian forces.

Truman went on to state that the doctrine represented a war between dictatorship versus democracy, freedom versus oppression, and capitalism versus communism. This statement targeted the Soviet Union since it was communist while America was a Capitalist nation. Although the above two nations never directly went to war, they continually antagonized each other through military coalitions, propaganda, arms buildup, substitute wars with other nations and economic aid (Gaddis p. 20). Effects of the Cold War The Cold War dominated international affairs all over the world with its effects being felt in Asia, Europe, Africa and South America.

It resulted in some major world crises such as the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cuban Missiles Crisis, the Angola war, Japan’s bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Berlin Wall. The Korean War started in 1950 after anti-communist South Korea was attacked by pro-communist North Korea (Kangas p.21). China, which was already under the control of communists, intervened to support North Korea. The United Nations sent military troops and aid to support South Korea. The above was not just a dispute between two unstable bordering states but a fight against communism.

The involvement of China and U.S. led to an intensive war that lasted three years leading to the death of nearly 5 million people (Kangas p.21). Another major effect of the cold war was the Vietnam War. It is one of the longest wars lasting from 1955-1975.The Communist North Vietnam launched attacks against the South Vietnam government that was an ally of the U.S. Due to the fear of the spread of communism across South East Asia; the United States intervened in support of South Vietnam. On the other hand, he USSR and China poured advisers, weapons, and supplies in North Vietnam. U.S and Chinas involvement led to a long, costly war that resulted in the death of more than 3 Million people (Kangas p.32). The Cuban crises saw one of the riskiest confrontations of the cold war between the America and the Soviet Union, with the two nations almost going into a nuclear war.

The Cuban Missile Crisis started in 1962 when the Soviet Union with the help of the Cuban leadership placed missiles in Cuba. On realizing the above, the U.S. warned against the introduction of offensive weapons in Cuba (Kangas p.21. The warning saw the two regimes go back and forth with the U.S. ordering a naval quarantine of Cuba and stating that it was ready to take military force to remove the missiles. However, the Cuban Crisis would later end by both parties signing agreements. The above are just but a few examples of the regions in the world where the effects of the cold war were seen.

The Cold War ended in 1991 with the fall of the Soviet Union (Gaddis p.323). Works Cited Gaddis John Lewis. The Cold War. Penguin, 2007. 1-352. Print. Kangas Roger. "Cold War." The Encyclopedia of War (2011): 1-39. Print.