History Blog

"Ex- tenant farmer turned day laborer, 1930s." This image shows the gritty poverty of farmers who had to leave their profession and take lower-paying jobs during and after the Great Depression.    "Dust Bowl Farmers During the Depression." This image shows a group of unemployed farmers waiting for jobs during the Great Depression. Going from an independent, busy farmer to the boredom and tedium of constant poverty without work must have been beyond difficult. Introduction     There are many theories as to the main causes leading into the Great Depression. For this blog post discussion, I am examining one of the non-monetary theories of the cause of the Great Depression and correlating information. Additionally, I will be examining the New Deal's role, led by a strong American President and a strong Congress, in helping the economy recover from the Great Depression. The non-monetary theories about the origins of the Great Depression diverge from the traditional

 Introduction         One need not think too hard about an influential figure of the 1920s and come to the conclusion that Henry Ford was one of the top names in that decade. After all, his father had built a massively successful automobile company, the Ford Motor Company. After his father's death, however, the next generation Henry Ford took over the company, which, many business historians argue, led to its eventual decline in later years.1 However, Henry Ford was able to run a massively successful business in the 1920s, using modern thinking to create things such as the standard 40-hour workweek, the demonstration of "charismatic leadership," and streamlining assembly and construction lines.2 The result was not only a revolution in business practices but a revolution in large businesses shaping the communities around them.3 Henry Ford's Forward Thinking in the 1920s         After taking control of the Ford Motor Company from his father, Henry Ford did something rad