Crime has existed in every era but during the Great Depression crime exploded and dominated both the newspaper headlines and the public attention. The various gangsters and lawmen of that era still captivate our attention. This page will give some background on the Great Depression, the period that those gangsters and g-men came to prominence.
Charles Lindbergh (1902-1974)
Isolationism is a policy that asserts that the best interests of a nation are to keep out of the affairs of other countries and in particular to keep from being drawn into dangerous conflicts. During the bulk of the 1920s and 1930s most of American public and political opinion was in favor of isolation and neutrality regarding any conflict in Europe. To that effect the US government passed a series of Neurtrality Acts to keep the country out of any brewing conflict in Europe during that same period. However the public mood began to shift once war actually broke out in 1939 and especially after the Fall of France in 1940. The US government was able to begin to gain support for efforts to help the Allies, reduced essentially to just the British, in this period, particularly with policies such as the Lend-Lease Act.
Charles Lindbergh was the first pilot to make a nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris in 1927. He was also a political activist in theanti-war America First movment prior to American entry into World War Two. The movement was committed to maintaining an isolationist policy regardless of the changing situation in Europe and the danger that it posed to the country. He and others in this movement believed that the United States was protected from the conflict by geography (the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans keeping the country away from the theaters of war) and that the drive for war being made not by the American people but by the British, the Roosevelt administration and the Jews. The movement dissolved itself three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Isolationism was no longer a politically popular program given the attack on the country by the Japanese Empire.
Liquor Poured Down the Drain During Prohibition
Prohibition was the period from 1919 to 1933 when the sale of alcohol was made illegal by the 18th amendment to the Constitution. Prohibition led to a massive increase in crime and general lawbreaking. The 18th amendment was repealed by the 21st amendment, bringing Prohibition to an end.
A dust storm about to cover a home in the middle of the United States 1930s
During the 1930s, drought and massive soil erosion due to overfarming creaed a phenomenon of tremendous dust storms that blew across the country for eight years. The center of the country became known as "The Dustbowl" and the situation drove hundreds of thousands of people out of the region, mostly towards California.
The Golden age of Hollywood cinema started around the same time as the Great Depression and would continue until the early 1960s. During the Great Depression some of the most classic works of American movies were created including Gone with the WInd and the Wizard of Oz among others.
Kristallnacht, literally, "Night of Crystal," is often referred to as the "Night of Broken Glass." The name refers to the wave of violent anti-Jewish pogroms which took place on November 9 and 10, 1938, throughout Germany and Austria.
1932 German Electoral Poster for the Nazi Party; the text reads "Our Last Hope: Hitler"
The Weimar Republic is the name given to the German republic that was established following the collapse of Imperial Germany in 1918 and which existed until the rise of Hitler in 1933. Weimar was known for both being massively unstable both politically and economically as well as being very culturally decadent. The economic hardships of the Great Depression destroyed the ability of the country to function and ultimately set the stage for the Nazi party to be democratically elected and brought into power in 1932.
Austrian women welcome Hitler to his hometown after the Anschluss 1938
Fascism is a political ideology that was prominent in many European governments that existed between the the end of World War One and the end of World War Two. Every country that implemented Fascism had their own twist on the idea but there are several characteristics that are the same across all fascist governments. They are usually devotion to dictator, an emphasis on ultranationalism and militarism, and veneration on of the state. Mussolini defined fascism as "...everything in the state, nothing against the State, nothing outside the state."
The first fascist state in Europe was actually Italy which was taken over by Mussolini's Fascist party in 1922. Other states became fascist later on, particularly as the Great Depression destroyed the world economy and threw millions out of work. Germany became fascist when the Nazis took over in 1933. Some nations such as Poland and Lithuania adopted some fascist elements but did not become fully fascist during this period.
A sign on a store owned by German Jews: “Protect Yourselves, Don’t Buy from Jews!”
Yad Vashem Photo Archives 3116/50
The Nazis began persecution of German Jews as soon as they came to power. In April 1933 the Nazis began a boycott of Jewish professionals and businesses and banned Jews from being employed in the civil service. In 1935 the Nuremberg Laws were passed, outlawing relationships between Germans and Jews as well as stripping German citizenship from anyone with Jewish blood. In 1936 Jews were banned from professional jobs such as being doctors or professors. In 1938 all Jews, now considered subjects rather than citizens, were required to have the letter J stamped in their passports and to add the name Israel (for men) and Sarah (for women) to their names in order to be more easily identified as Jews. On November 9 1938 this culminated in a nationwide pogrom called Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass).
Brooklyn Daily Eagle Headline 1929
On Tuesday October 29 1929, known as Black Tuesday, the Stock Market crashed. The crash marked the beginning of a period of economic misery known as the Great Depression.
Willis C. Hawley and Reed Smoot 1929
The Smoot-Hawley Tariff, created in 1930, raised tariffs on a variety of imported goods to extremely high levels. It also triggered retaliatory tariffs by American trading partners and is considered by historians as being responsible for contributing to the downward economic spiral that evolved into a prolonged decade long economic slump.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1882-1945
In response to the incompetant response of President Hoover to the economic catastrophe sparked by the Stock Market Crash of 1929, a majority of the country chose to elect Democrat Franklin Roosevelt. FDR responded to the crisis with a policy known as "The New Deal". Though his policies did not end the Depression (it would only end with American entry into World War Two in 1941), he remained popular and ultimately served four terms as President, the only person to have done so in the history of the United States.
The platform that Franklin Roosevelt and the Democrats ran on in 1932 was called "The New Deal". The New Deal itself is split into two eras; the first New Deal was during the beginning of the Roosevelt administration in 1933 when he took aggressive measures to deal with the economic problems caused by the Depression. Among the reforms of the First New Deal were banking reform, monetary reform, public works programs as well as rural and farm programs. The Second New Deal were the programs that the Roosevelt administration undertook toward the end of his first term and the beginning of his second. Among them were Social Security and the Wagner Act. The New Deal was an expensive program to pursue and caused federal expenditures to skyrocket.
Huey P. Long (1893-1935)
Louisiana senator Huey P. Long, nicknamed Kingfish, was an influencial politician during the President Roosevelt's first term. The Kingfish was a Democrat and a populist who served as governor of Louisiana before becoming its senator. His political platform was "Every Man a King" and basically was a call for redistribution of wealth and for massive federal spending. Long split with Roosevelt and the majority of his party in 1933 and had planned to run for governor with the support of the anti-semitic radio priest Father Coughlin but was assassinated in 1935.
Migrant Mother by Dorothy Lange
Okies and Arkies were farmers from Oklahoma (Okies) and Arkansas (Arkies) plus Texas who migrated to California during the Great Depression to escape the Dust Bowl conditions and to seek economic relief.
Hitler Elected Chancellor March 1933
In the German elections of March 1933 the Nazis won enough votes to become the largest party in the German parliament. Together with the non-Socialist parties they passed an Enabling Act which gave the Chancellor (which is the position Hitler held) to enact laws without having to involve the German parliament. From that point the only obstacle to absolute power for Hitler and the Nazis was German President Paul Von Hindenburg who would die of old age in 1934.
Artillery Production in the 1930s
The Versailles Treaty that ended World War One put many limitations of the size of German army and types of armaments they could have. Almost immediately following the end of the war, the Germans began to covertly violate the terms and expand their military. When the Nazis cames to power they began to openly rather than secretly rearm.
Germans Enter Austria 1938
On March 12 1938 Austria was annexed and became a part of Germany. Though the Versailles Treaty prohibited this action, the Western powers took no action to prevent it.
Neville Chamberlain announcing "Peace in our Time" (War would break out one year later.)
During the 1930s the main policy of the western powers towards German demands was Appeasement. In other words they would give in to all of Hitler's demands rather than risk a fight and the possibility of a repeat of World War One. It was a dismall failure of a policy that only emboldened the Germans and ultimately caused the war Western politicians sought to avoid. Winston Churchill summed up the policy after Neville Chamberlain returned from betraying Czechoslovakia to Germany at the Munich Conference in 1938: "You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war."
Neville Chamberlain Betrays Czechoslovakia at Munich Conference 1938
In 1938 Hitler demanded that he be allowed to annex the territory of Czechoslovakia known as Sudetenland which was populated mostly by German speakers. Britain, France, Italy, and Germany agreed at the Munich Conference that Germany would be given the territory. Czechoslovakia was not invited to the Conference and afterwards was informed that if they contested the agreement then Britain and France would not support them in any way.
Neutrality Acts Political Cartoon
The Neutrality Acts were a series of laws passed in the 1930s that were meant to keep the United States out of foreign conflict and placed embargos of the sale of arms and munitions as well as the giving of loans to foreign powers. Only in 1939 when Britain and France were finally at war with Germany were the Neutrality Acts amended to allow for "Cash and Carry" in which arms sales were allowed as long as they were paid for on the spot and the purchaser transported the materials themselves. The Neutrality Acts would be ended in 1941 by the Lend-Lease Act.
Rosie the Riveter by Norman Rockwell
In 1940 before the entry of the United States into World War Two, FDR called the country "The Arsenal of Democracy", promising military supplies to Britain for their fight against Germany.
New York Times Headline on the First Day of World War Two
September 1 1939 was the first day of World War Two. It marks the day that Germany officially invaded Poland. The Soviets invaded on September 17th after reaching an end of hostilities with the Japanese in the intermediate two weeks. The conquest of Poland ended on October 6 1939 with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing the country in two.
Herbert Hoover (1874-1964)
Herbert Hoover was the 31st President of the United States and the President who was in power when the Stock Market crashed in 1929 ushering in the Great Depression. His administration was responsible for the first responses by the government to the economic downturn and utterly failed. He was crushed in a landslide by Franklin Roosevelt in the 1932 election.
Hooverville in Red Hook Brooklyn
"Hooverville" was the name for the shanty towns built mostly in public parks and on the outskirts of cities by the homeless during the Great Depression. The name "Hooverville" was coined by the Democratic National Committee chief Charles Michelson.
The Bonus Army Camped on The Capital Lawn
Following the end of World War One, the US government promised a bonus to veterans of that conflict over a veto from President Calvin Coolidge that would be paid out by 1945. In 1932, with the Great Depression in full swing, 43,000 veterans and their families camped out in Washington D.C. to protest and ask that the bonus be granted early. The "Bonus Army" also called the "Bonus Expeditionary Force". President Hoover ordered the Bonus Army evicted from the area near the capitol. General Douglas MacArthur, Chief of Staff at the time, led a vicious military assault against the veterans with Infantry and Cavalry including tanks commanded by Major George S. Patton. The brutal assault did not help Hoover in his reelection bid which he lost to Franklin Roosevelt in a massive landslide.
FDR did not support the ealy payout of the bonus either but rather than send the army to assault the veterans, he sent Mrs. Roosevelt to speak to them. Afterwards Congress overrode FDRs opposition to the Bonus payout and authorized payment in 1936.
Benny Goodman and Louis Armstrong
The 1920s were known as "the Roaring 20s" or the "Jazz Age" due to the popularity of jazz music and dance. The Jazz age officially ended with the start of the Great Depression in 1929.
The Empire State Building is a skyscraper located in midtown Manhattan and is named after the nickname for New York, the Empire State. It was build in one year from 1930-1931.
Anti-War Protest in NYC 1930s
Following the end of World War One the citizens of many of the countries involved became very opposed to military conflict of any sort. In the 1920s and 1930s in particular in the Western democracies, Pacifism and opposition to war became a major political position. It actually culminated in the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact that outlawed war and was signed by Germany, France and the United States.
Pacifism would in particular hold a powerful grip in Great Britain during the late 1920s and early 1930s. In 1933 the Oxford Union debate at Oxford University carried the motion "that this House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country" by a vote of 275-153. The political policy of appeasement by the western powers towards Germany during the 1930s was an extension of the popular pacifist attitude, which in trying to avoid war at all costs ultimately helped to bring about one of the deadliest wars in modern history. Pacifism as a movement became politically insignificant once the powers in question entered the war.
Jesse Owens after Winning the Long Jump at the 1936 Olympics
The 1936 Summer Olympics were held in Nazi Berlin. (The Olympics had been awarded to Germany in 1931, two years before the Nazis came to power.) The Nazis went all out to try and showcase the Olympics as a symbol of Nazi power and Aryan racial superiority. There were calls to boycott that years Olympic games but most countries chose not to do so.
Jesse Owens won four gold medals in the sprint and long jump events during an Olympic games that had been designed to showcase German Aryan superiority.
Falling Soldier by Robert Cappa
The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) split the country into Republican and Nationalist factions; the Republicans were supported by the Communists and the Nationalist faction were supported by the Fascist powers. The war was seen as an international cause and many foreign supporters flocked to fight there on one side or the other. The Germans and the Soviets each backed a side and the conflict became known ultimately as a proxy war where tactics and weapons that would be used in World War Two were tested.
Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson
Edward VIII was the King of England for the year of 1936. He had become King following his father's death in January but caused a constitutional crisis by proposing marriage to twice divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. Mrs. Simpson was still in the middle of divorcing her second husband when Edward proposed and the marriage would have caused the resignation of the government which would have destroyed the status of the monarch as politically neutral. Edward chose to marry Mrs. Simpson and gave up the throne to his younger brother Albert who chose the royal name of George VI. the current Queen Elizabeth is the daughter of George VI.
After the abdication and after Mrs. Simpsons divorce was finalized, the two married in 1937. During the war, due to suspected Nazi sympathies, Edward was sent to the Bahamas to be governor of the island. After the war he spent the rest of his life in France.
Hitler-Stalin Pact Cartoon 1939
The Hitler-Stalin Pact, officially named the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact after the Soviet and German foreign ministers who signed it, was a non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union signed August 23 1939. Officially the pact guaranteed that neither side would ally itself or aid an enemy of the other party. Unofficially the pact was an agreement to split the territory between the two countries between them, specifically dividing Poland and allowing the Soviets to conquer the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. The treaty was in force until Hitler decided to attack the Soviet Union on June 22 1941.