historical context: The great depression |
"Then came the crash. You know the story. Surpluses invested in unnecessary plants became idle. Men lost their jobs; purchasing power dried up; banks became frightened and started calling loans. Those who had money were afraid to part with it. Credit contracted. Industry stopped. Commerce declined, and unemployment mounted."
-Franklin Delano Roosevelt
-Franklin Delano Roosevelt
“In Chicago [during the Great Depression], a crowd of some fifty hungry men fought over a barrel of garbage set outside the back door of a restaurant” - William Leuchtenburg