Oral History

Oral History: The Great Depression
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Oral History: The Great Depression
Interview with My Grandfather, MR. Charles Hemming, About the Great Depression
The date of the interview was August, 14 2015.
1. Me: What event or time in history did you experience?Grandpa: In October 1929, commonly referred to as Black Tuesday, the stock market crashed, and the effects of this crash was felt all over the country, this was the beginning of the great depression (Schultz, 2006).2. Me: How did you feel about the experience as it happened? Why?Grandpa: I felt helpless because people were losing their jobs, banks, businesses whether small or big were all closing and the whole country seemed to be out of work.3. Me: How do you feel about the experience now? Why?Grandpa :I feel right now we are better off at responding quickly to such disaster, back then when the market crashed in 1929, it took the government four years to mitigate this crisis . Today quick actions like introducing economic stimulus packages are some of the fast ways of jumpstarting the economy to save and also create jobs (Schultz, 2006).4. Me: How did this experience change your life? Why?Grandpa : Due to depression I could not get married immediately as I had anticipated because I could not afford to raise a family that is why I ended up having one child .Depression hit at the heart of people ‘s lives, that is family.5. Me: What were the factors that led to the event?Grandpa: Many experts believe that the beginning of depression was witnessed on the Black Tuesday on October 29, 1929 (Schultz, 2006).Stockholders lost billions of dollars in the stock market as the share prices declined due to other uncontrollable factors , the market could not recover leading to the market crashing. It also believed that banks were uninsured therefore people who took loans and were unable to repay with time, people lost their savings because almost all the banks were closed (Schultz, 2006).6. Me: Describe the political, cultural, social, economic, and historical contexts that were going on in the world at the time.Grandpa: The GDP of America in 1929 fell by 25 percent erasing all the economic gains (Schultz, 2006), industries activities declined as production fell by 50 percent. Hoover, who served as the US secretary of commerce, advised the government that government could not directly intervene and did not have the responsibility to create jobs or provide economic relief for its citizens. Due to economic depression crime rates went up due to unemployment. There were severe cases of malnutrition and prostitution rose as women sought for ways of paying bills. Healthcare was not a priority, visiting the doctor was reserved for direst circumstances (Schultz, 2006).7. Me: What key characters, trends, movements, events, and associated policies were going on in the world at the time?Grandpa: President Roosevelt was elected during this period, passed legislation that aimed at stabilizing industrial and agricultural production, create jobs and stimulate the economy. He made reforms to the financial system...