Okay the title got your attention.

 

When we were studying the Great Depression, I talked to my grandparents, aunts and uncles as well as parents about their growing up during the Great Depression and was struck by something.

 

They never knew it was going on.

 

You see they were poor in the Roaring 20's, poor during the 30's and poor during the 40's and poor in the 50's.

 

So, I wonder, was the Great Depression mainly a great depression for the rich and why the history books and so many make such a point of it being this horrible time.

 

My family's view of it from Southeastern Ky was that it was not much different from the 20's, 40's and part of the 50's.

It was much more noticeable depending on where you lived. Rural areas outside of the Dust Bowl were not as harshly hit as large urban centers.

It was much more noticeable depending on where you lived. Rural areas outside of the Dust Bowl were not as harshly hit as large urban centers.

 

I guess Corn Creek and Sassafras Holler would count as rural areas outside of Dust Bowl.

I guess Corn Creek and Sassafras Holler would count as rural areas outside of Dust Bowl.

 

 

Pardon my geographic ignorance, but where?

I don't feel it was overrated in the least. Our government did not provide the same social safety net during that period in our history that is available today. During the Depression, to suffer really meant something whether it was going hungry, homeless, or both and then some. Today, suffering can be defined as not being able to afford cable.

Pardon my geographic ignorance, but where?

 

Whitley County for Corn Creek, close to Woodbine which is south of Corbin and I have gone brain dead on Sassafras Holler. I believe Harlan County. It's up by the new (probably not too new but was new for my dad when he took us up there) lake.

 

It is a true Holler. They drove to their house on the bed of the creek. When the creek was up, no driving to the house. 10 feet from the back door was the base of a mountain. 10 feet out the front door was the creek. The bank on the other side of the creek was the base of another mountain.

Whitley County for Corn Creek and I have gone brain dead on Sassafras Holler. I believe Harlan County. It's up by the new (probably not too new but was new for my dad when he took us up there) lake.

 

 

Ah, yes definitely outside of the Dust Bowl.

I don't feel it was overrated in the least. Our government did not provide the same social safety net during that period in our history that is available today. During the Depression, to suffer really meant something whether it was going hungry, homeless, or both and then some. Today, suffering can be defined as not being able to afford cable.

 

My point is not that there wasn't suffering but for the poor they were suffering before the stock market crash.

 

Did it take the negative actions happening to the rich of the time before anything was done about it?

My point is not that there wasn't suffering but for the poor they were suffering before the stock market crash.

 

Did it take the negative actions happening to the rich of the time before anything was done about it?

 

I don't think it was the effect on the rich as it was such an overwhelming large-scale economic collapse that affected so many in all segments of the socioeconomic food chain. The appearance of the "Hoovervilles" probably caught the attention of many.

People who had left their farms behind to take factory jobs were hit very hard during the Great Depression. As you point out, farmers outside the Dust Bowl were not hit nearly as hard because the changes to their lives were less dramatic.

 

IMO, we run the risk of a much more severe depression because of the large number of government employees and our large service sector. Few people still live on farms so a repeat of the 30s would deeply impact far more people.

Whitley County for Corn Creek, close to Woodbine which is south of Corbin and I have gone brain dead on Sassafras Holler. I believe Harlan County. It's up by the new (probably not too new but was new for my dad when he took us up there) lake.

 

It is a true Holler. They drove to their house on the bed of the creek. When the creek was up, no driving to the house. 10 feet from the back door was the base of a mountain. 10 feet out the front door was the creek. The bank on the other side of the creek was the base of another mountain.

 

You know this sounds exactly like the Corn Creek that my mother grew up on in Trimble County, KY. I grew up there, too, except by then we had a gravel road beside the creek! There were times that the creek got up to our back door and we had to go to my uncle's house, which was a little bit higher up.

Okay the title got your attention.

 

When we were studying the Great Depression, I talked to my grandparents, aunts and uncles as well as parents about their growing up during the Great Depression and was struck by something.

 

They never knew it was going on.

 

You see they were poor in the Roaring 20's, poor during the 30's and poor during the 40's and poor in the 50's.

 

So, I wonder, was the Great Depression mainly a great depression for the rich and why the history books and so many make such a point of it being this horrible time.

 

My family's view of it from Southeastern Ky was that it was not much different from the 20's, 40's and part of the 50's.

 

 

My experiences with talking to people have been far different. Within my family all of my grandparents (who were basically teens through the 30's) spoke of difficult times. My great grandmother years ago spoke of how tough it was to stretch the few dollars they earned.

 

In speaking with older parishoners in Virginia, they talked of having to be more self-sufficient and agri-centered even if they lived on a plot of land in town. I believe it was very difficult because the jobless rate was so high, your business could be shut down because there was no way to get a loan, the prospects of "bettering" one's self or their children was much gloomier than we might think. These are all different reactions I've heard through years from people who experienced the Depression in Eastern KY, Central KY and Central and Southside VA.

During my last visit home, my mother described to me how certain Johnson County families with political connections hoarded the best clothes and shoes that were donated to relieve suffering in Appalachia during the Great Depression. Everybody else, my mother included, got to pick from whatever was left.

Something I have been reading and hearing lately, in relation to the 2 UCLA reseachers who say FDR's New Deal prolonged the 30's depression, is that in Europe this time period is simply called the Depression. The time period is Called the Great Depression in the US because it lasted so much longer. Just about all history books will tell you that the US left the Great Drepression only because of WWII, not the New Deal.

 

I believe the 30's was bad for the urban areas, but the way to get out of the Depression was to allow the economic forces to correct theirselves. and at the same time the government, local, state and federal, needed to see that all people were fed. The European countries allowed the downturn take it course and the economic situtation improved more rapidly in Europe than the US.

Something I have been reading and hearing lately, in relation to the 2 UCLA reseachers who say FDR's New Deal prolonged the 30's depression, is that in Europe this time period is simply called the Depression. The time period is Called the Great Depression in the US because it lasted so much longer. Just about all history books will tell you that the US left the Great Drepression only because of WWII, not the New Deal.

 

I believe the 30's was bad for the urban areas, but the way to get out of the Depression was to allow the economic forces to correct theirselves. and at the same time the government, local, state and federal, needed to see that all people were fed. The European countries allowed the downturn take it course and the economic situtation improved more rapidly in Europe than the US.

 

 

But did the European powers let the economy take it's course? At the same time in the 30's both Italy and Germany began to be engulfed by Fascism. If they truly got out of the Depression sooner, what does that say about Fascism over Capitalism or Republican Government?