The Great Depression

Find archive articles on the Great Depression from the 1930’s. Our site has great information from old magazine and newspaper articles on the Great Depression.

Tyranny At Home (New Outlook Magazine, 1935)

In the Spring of 1935, as the world slipped deeper and deeper into the muck of the Great Depression, journalist Cedric Fowler noticed that both governments state and Federal were introducing legislation that was designed to muzzle free-speech and make the deportation of foreign radicals far easier. At first he thought it was a result of the spread of Fascism across the globe – and it had finally reached our shores. He also considered the possibility that the elected classes, realizing that they were unable to reduce the destruction of the Depression, felt emasculated and invigorated by picking on the radical minority. Either way, he feared for the nations future.

Tyranny At Home (New Outlook Magazine, 1935) Read More »

The Governor Who Threatened Martial Law (Literary Digest, 1933)

An article about Governor Floyd B. Olson (1891 – 1936) of Minnesota who allowed his emotions to get the better of him one day in the early Spring of 1933 when he threatened to impose martial law throughout the state in order to confiscate private wealth should his proposed relief legislation fail to pass the Minnesota Senate:


Was former Democratic vice-President Henry Wallace a dirty Red?

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‘Nobody Starves” (New Outlook Magazine, 1934)

This article attempted to explain to that portion of the reading public fortunate enough to have jobs, just how the county relief programs worked and what was provided to the subscribers. The journalist did not weigh-in as to whether she approved or disapproved of the program but sought to explain that in places like the Mid-West, where houses outnumbered apartment buildings, allowances for such possessions were made. In the congested cities of the East it might be expected that the family car be sold prior to receiving relief funds, but in the states where distances were greater subscribers were permitted to hold on to their cars.

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Children in Need (Pathfinder Magazine, 1940)

In respect to their economic status, it has been estimated that one-half to two-thirds of the city children of America are in homes where annual income is too low to permit the family to buy items called for in an ordinary ‘maintenance’ budget – a budget of about $1,261 to meet the normal needs of living in a family of four.


CLICK HERE to read about African-Americans during the Great Depression.

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Relief Bill Passed by Congress (Pathfinder Magazine, 1932)

Republican President Herbert Hoover had made numerous attempts to get a Federal relief bill through the Congress to the ailing citizenry, but the Democratic congress repeatedly disagreed as to how the funds were to be distributed. Finally an agreement was reached as Hoover’s administration was reaching the end of his term and the Emergency Relief and Construction Act was passed into law.

The obnoxious features which had been injected into the legislation from time to time by Members of the House of Representatives and had so long delayed action, have been eliminated.

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The Great Depression and the Sexes (Coronet Magazine, 1947)

Unemployment permitted a great deal more companionship between young men and young women, which ordinarily would have led to marriage. The only thing lacking was money. The arrangements called, simply, ‘living together’ became common. Often the man or woman was married, and couldn’t get , couldn’t afford, or didn’t want a divorce. Sometimes the man simply refused to marry, and the woman took him into her home or moved into his as the next best thing…


You Might Also Care to Know About The Sex Manners of the Twenties or Men & Women During W.W. II

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The Great Depression and the Sexes (Coronet Magazine, 1947)

Unemployment permitted a great deal more companionship between young men and young women, which ordinarily would have led to marriage. The only thing lacking was money. The arrangements called, simply, ‘living together’ became common. Often the man or woman was married, and couldn’t get , couldn’t afford, or didn’t want a divorce. Sometimes the man simply refused to marry, and the woman took him into her home or moved into his as the next best thing…


You Might Also Care to Know About The Sex Manners of the Twenties or Men & Women During W.W. II

The Great Depression and the Sexes (Coronet Magazine, 1947) Read More »

The 1930s March to the Pews (Literary Digest, 1933)

…since the Depression began one out of every six banks has failed, one out of every forty-five hospitals has closed, one out of every twenty-two business and industrial concerns has become bankrupt…


– for those living in the digital age, the quote posted above is simply another mildly interesting, stale line from American history – but when those words were written in 1932 it meant for those who read it that there world was falling apart. So much of what they were taught to believe in was collapsing before their very eyes and as a result they felt a need to know God – and know Him they did; half way through 1932 churches and other religious bodies showed a total net gain of 929,252 members thirteen years of age or over – one of the largest gains ever recorded – and the total membership, thirteen years or more of age, reached the record figure of 50,037,209.


Click here to read about the American South during the Great Depression.

The 1930s March to the Pews (Literary Digest, 1933) Read More »