GREAT DEPRESSION & TRUMAN YEARS

Roaring Twenties
 economic prosperity after World War 1
 hope for maximal profit: many people invest in stocks
 low unemployment
 social inequality: in 1928, the “income gap” was at its greatest extent

Stock Market Crash (1929)

 overheated market, excessive speculation
 fear of crash  many shareholders sell their stocks à crash occurs
 bankers demand their credits back à more shares are sold
 Dow Jones has record losses (-13% on Oct. 28/”Black Monday”)
 beginning of a years-long recession & depression
 unemployment up to 25%, insolvencies, deflation

The society during the depression

 the Great Depression brought a rapid rise in the crime rate
 health care in general was not a priority for many Americans
 higher education remained out of reach for most Americans
 birth rates fell sharply
 mass migrations continued throughout the 1930s

Long-term effects
 it took around 25 years for Wall Street to recover
 the poor global economic outlook might have been a vital contributor to the start of World War II in 1939
 international trade halved, especially as construction halted in many countries

Roosevelt era (1933-1945)

 “New Deal” (1933-39)
o relief: building of infrastructure a quick aid to jobless Americans
o recovery: funds for companies, permanent employment
o reform: prevent another global economic crisis
 World War 2 (1939-45)
o war bonds: safe investments supporting the war efforts
o GDP increases, unemployment reaches all-time low (1,2%)

Truman years (1945-53)

 Harry S. Truman succeeds FDR after his death on April 12, 1945 (was Vice President before)
 heavily involved in planning post-war Europe
 ineffective response to inflation and rising unemployment  strike wave of 1946

vocabulary: prosperity – Wohlstand stocks/shares – Aktien insolvency – Insolvenz POTUS – President of the
United States (acronym) funds – öffentliche Gelder war bonds – Kriegsanleihen outlook – Ausblick
contributor – Mitwirkende*r demographic – demografisch (Entwicklung der Bevölkerung)
main sources: https://www.thebalancemoney.com/roaring-twenties-4060511
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman