Causes of Great Depression, New Deal, Cold War Tensions, Civil Rights Movement

This article discusses the causes of Great Depression, three ways that the New Deal solved the problem, how World War 2 helped to the rise of Cold War tensions, and the changes in legislation due to the civil rights movement.

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American History
Student

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Causes of Great Depression....................................................................................................2
Three ways by which New Deal solved Great Depression....................................................4
The contribution of World War II to the rise of Cold War tensions......................................6
Changes in legislation due to civil rights movement..............................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
The Great Depression continued from 1929 to 1939 and considered as the nastiest
financial depression in the United States history. The historians and economists argued on the
stock market boom of October twenty-fourth, 1929, as the initiation of the slump
(Eichengreen, & Temin, 2000). But the fact was that numerous things triggered the Great
Depression (GD), not specifically that single incident. In the United State, the Great
Depression damaged the position of Herbert Hoover and headed to the voting of Franklin D.
Roosevelt in the year 1932 (Robbins, 2011). Promised to provide the country a New Deal,
Roosevelt became the country's longest-serving leader or president (Robbins, 2011). The
communal and cultural impacts of Great depression had no less astounding, particularly in
America, where the GD denoted the strictest adversity confronted by American people after
the Civil War (Eichengreen, & Temin, 2000). In this particular assessment the causes of
Great Depression, three ways that the New Deal solved the problem, how World war 2
helped to the rise of Cold War tensions, and the two different changes due to historical events
will be discussed.
Causes of Great depression
1. A crash of the stock market (economic policies) –
Many trusts mistakenly that the crash of stock market happened on Black Tuesday;
October twenty-ninth, 1929 is one and the similar with the GD. In point, it was considered
one of the main reasons that result in the Great Depression (Kennedy, 2003). Sixty days after
the real boom in October, the shareholders had misplaced higher than $40 billion US dollars.
Even though the American stock market initiated to recover some of its damages, by the
completion of 1930, it just was not sufficient and the US truly moved in what was named the
Great Depression (Kennedy, 2003).

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2. Failures of Banks –
During the 1930s more than 9,000 banks botched. Bank credits were uninsured and
therefore the banks failed individuals simply lost their funds (Calomiris, & Mason, 2003).
Remaining banks were insecure of the financial condition and worried about their personal
existence, stopped being as eager to generate new loans or credits. This worsened the
condition leading to fewer and fewer disbursements (Calomiris, & Mason, 2003).
3. The decrease in Buying Through the Board –
Due to the stock market smash and the doubts of further financial woes, people from
every class stopped buying items. This now led to a lessening in the number of items
manufactured and thus a decline in the staff (Calomiris, & Mason, 2003). As individuals lost
their employment, they were incapable to hold onto paying for objects they had bought with
installment policies and their things were repossessed. The joblessness rate increased above
25 percent which intended; of course, even less expenditure to assist alleviate the financial
situation (Carlson, & Mitchener, 2009).
4. Economic Policy of America with Europe –
As businesses initiated weakening, the government formed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff
in the year of 1930 to defend American corporations. This charged a great tax for
importations thereby results in less trade among America and foreign nations along with
certain economic reprisal (Almunia, Benetrix, Eichengreen, O’Rourke, & Rua, 2010).
5. Drought-related conditions –
Although drought was not a straight initiator of the GD, but affect the economy
indirectly. The drought that happened in the various part of Mississippi Valley in 1930 was of

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such extents that numerous could not even wage their dues or other credits and had to vend
their smallholdings for no return to themselves. The region was named "The Dust Bowl”
(Fishback, Horrace, & Kantor, 2006).
Three ways by which New Deal solved Great Depression
1. Relief
WPA and CCA
FDR generated the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress
Administration to offer occupations for lots of jobless American people in order to kick-start
the economy once more (Fishback, Horrace, & Kantor, 2006). The WPA concentrated on
developments: Throughout its time, labors built 651,087 miles of good roads, highways, and
streets; and constructed, refurbished or rebuild around124, 031 bridges, nearly 125,110
communal buildings, 8,192 public parks, and close to 853 landing grounds (Mitchell, 2017).
Social Security Act
The Act answered to the drawbacks of old age, disability, poverty, joblessness,
reliant widows, and orphans by given them aid and economic security to pensioners and the
jobless people, including lump-sum at bereavement (Mitchell, 2017). Social Safety protects
people from poverty throughout retirement, and delivers short-term relief for instinctive
joblessness American people and families looking for new occupations- a program well-
known as Unemployment Insurance help them the achieve that goal (Fishback, Horrace, &
Kantor, 2006).
2. Recovery:

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AAA
The Agricultural Adjustment Administration prepared to deliver instant help to the
agriculturalists. It recognized prices for rudimentary farm merchandises, which comprised
corn, rice, hogs, cotton, wheat, and dairy values.
The National Industrial Recovery Act
Congress approved the National Industrial Recovery Act according to which
companies would be self-managed by a program nailed out by representatives of business,
employment, and overwhelming public (Cole, & Ohanian, 2004). The programmes would
have to be permitted by the National Recovery Administration (NRA) (Cole, & Ohanian,
2004).
3. Reform:
Bank Reforms and FDIC
Each bank was put on break for around four days in order to support them with the
Central Reserve. After that Roosevelt contracted the Banking Reform Act to acquire the bank
favor and running while re-establishing the impairment that bank-runs had produced. This
carried Americans a security sense in banks yet again and put trust back into the American
bank system (Hodgson, 2009).
Fair Labour Standards Act
The Fair Labour Standards Act was established in 1938 which set criteria for least
wage and needed employers to reimburse workers for overtime work, between other things. If

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a worker works overtime, the company must recompense minimum one and a half times the
fixed salary per sixty minutes (Hodgson, 2009).
The contribution of World War II to the rise of Cold War tensions
Effects of the arms race
The nuclear arms race among the United States and the Soviet Union carried about a
dominance entanglement among the two nations that continued during the cold war period.
Second World War established the point upon which both the nations would compete and
demonstrate the armed as well as atomic abilities (Painter, 2002). The positive development of
the nuclear explosive by the United States and its efficacious detonation in Nagasaki, Japan
results in the termination of World War two (Painter, 2002). In revenge, the Soviets established
successfully and hurled their head atomic explosive in 1949. The development of the atomic
arms race fetched about anxiety among the people of the United States and the Soviet Union
with both nations taking highest protections and methods into expending the atomic codes
(Painter, 2002).
Effects of dissimilar ideologies
The United States and the Soviet Union had opposing thoughts on how policies should
be controlled within the government. The United State was an industrialist country who
thought that the individuals should be capable to act upon their legitimate liberties, such as
permitted speech and media ((Westad, 2005). The Soviet Union considered as the
dictatorship country ran by Joseph Stalin who was against the capitalism and all it
characterized. He imposed stringent instructions that the individuals of Russia were to agree.
The people of Soviet Union did not have the similar liberties as the individuals of the U.S.
had. They were not allowable to keep their personal properties, and they had only one
political party (Westad, 2005).

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Effects of cold war tension
The national security, economy, society, culture, foreign policy, and politics were
distressed by the outcomes of the war resulted in the effect on civilization and the impact on
Nationwide Safety. The Cuban warhead crisis endangered the individual’s sense of security
and wellbeing in their households and caused hesitation to whether or not the United States
could truthfully protect them (Kennedy, 2003). Soviet detectives in America were put on the
explosion, damaged the United States image. This problem carried to bright the susceptibility
of their safety and ended the country looks feeble. The United States key purpose of using
overseas policy is recognized as containment, stopping communalism from dispersal to other
regions of the world (Cuordileone, 2012).
The United States accepted a strategy called “containment, according to which the
United States dedicated itself to stopping any further extension of Soviet power (Kennedy,
2003).
The positive effect was the elimination the discrimination issues. Despite being
unbound from slavery about 80 years earlier the end of Second World War, black people
were still the second class people in South America and discrimination was communal in
variable forms almost all over the place Opening in the initial 1950s states initiated founding
fair occupation commissions, they approved laws prohibiting discrimination, and the black
voter cataloging began to increase (Kennedy, 2003). The Civil Rights Act in 1964 expelled
discrimination in the community and numerous private housings (Cuordileone, 2012).
Changes in legislation due to the civil rights movement
Traditionally, the term "Civil Rights Movement" has denoted to determinations
toward attaining true fairness for African-Americans in altogether facets of society, but
nowadays the word "civil rights movement” is also applied to define the progression of

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fairness for all individuals irrespective of race, age, sex, national origin, disability, belief or
religion, sexual orientation, or other protected features. In the year of 1865 13th alterations has
been passed in the U. S constitution which eliminated the slavery in the United States
((Chong, D. (2014). In between 1865 and 1870 the 14th and 15th amendments have been
passed which assured that the civil right like “vote for all” will be secured for all American
citizens. In the year of 1920 19th amendment has been approved according to which all the
females will have the freedom or right to vote (Dudziak, 2011).
Opportunity and the encouragement provided for ordinary individuals to involve in
public discussion, to inhabit public seats and to open those seats for true relational
connections that eventually create real culture shifting (Dierenfield, 2013). Neither was
public rights ingrained in the culture by lawsuit or lawmaking by themselves (Chong, D.
(2014). What stimuli durable alteration is what Stoddard named “culture shifts,” i.e., the
chance for fellows of the community to bear watcher, to deliberate and to make a superior
public discussion that carries the fictional future to live (Dudziak, 2011).
Conclusion
The great depression was the issue occurred in between 1929 to 1939 and found to be
the worst economic issues in the history of United States of America. It was not only
triggered by the only economic crisis but by various factors. There are five major causes od
GD including the crash of the stock market, failure of the banks, reduction in buying thought
the board, economic policy of America with Europe, and drought-related situation that
indirectly affected the economy. The three different ways were relief, recovery, and reform
by which America solved Great depression. Arms race increases the race of making a nuclear
weapon to threaten another country that fetched anxiety among the people of America and
Soviet. The different ideologies of America and Soviet Union governments result in

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dissimilar rights to the people of both countries and lack of choices. The cold war tension
affects national security, hesitation among people. In response, America adopted containment
to prohibit Soviet power. The civil rights have changed American history in which changes
have been made in legislation like the elimination of discrimination and involving ordinary
people in public debates.

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References
Almunia, M., Benetrix, A., Eichengreen, B., O'Rourke, K. H., & Rua, G. (2010). From great
depression to great credit crisis: similarities, differences, and lessons. Economic
policy, 25(62), 219-265.
Calomiris, C. W., & Mason, J. R. (2003). Consequences of bank distress during the Great
Depression. American Economic Review, 93(3), 937-947.
Carlson, M., & Mitchener, K. J. (2009). Branch banking as a device for discipline:
Competition and bank survivorship during the Great Depression. Journal of Political
Economy, 117(2), 165-210.
Chong, D. (2014). Collective action and the civil rights movement. (2nd ed.). Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Cole, H. L., & Ohanian, L. E. (2004). New Deal policies and the persistence of the Great
Depression: A general equilibrium analysis. Journal of Political Economy, 112(4),
779-816.
Cuordileone, K. A. (2012). Manhood and American political culture in the Cold War (1st ed.).
New York: Routledge.
Dierenfield, B. J. (2013). The Civil Rights Movement: Revised Edition. London: Routledge.
Dudziak, M. L. (2011). Cold War civil rights: Race and the image of American democracy.
New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Eichengreen, B., & Temin, P. (2000). The gold standard and the great
depression. Contemporary European History, 9(2), 183-207.

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Fishback, P. V., Horrace, W. C., & Kantor, S. (2006). The impact of New Deal expenditures
on mobility during the Great Depression. Explorations in Economic History, 43(2),
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Hodgson, G. M. (2009). The great crash of 2008 and the reform of economics. Cambridge
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Mitchell, B. (2017). The Depression Decade: From New Era Through New Deal, 1929-41:
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Painter, D. S. (2002). The Cold War: an international history (3rd ed.). London: Routledge.
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Westad, O. A. (2005). The global Cold War: third world interventions and the making of our
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