John Steinbeck - "author " Grapes of Wrath"

September 1939

"The Grapes of Wrath is a very famous

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

novel by John Steinbeck. It's about a family that's in a journey.  They got forced out of their home in Oklahoma because of the Dust Bowl.

John Steinbeck, an American writer.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Elanor Roosevelt, New Deal, and Fireside Chats

March 1933

It's 12:45pm and I am listening to President Roosevelt giving a speech through his fireside chats, which is through the radio. Every day I do my chores while listening to his fireside chats. Very interesting!

I think he has the chance to gain everyone's support to proceed with the new deal. He has a great serious of ideas in his plan. As far as i know, the "New Deal" consists of many ideas to get the people to work and restart the economy.

Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Emergency Relief Act, and Trickle-down economics

October 1932

Bonus Army and Volunteerism

July 1932



So I heard in the radio that Veteran’s of WWI went to the White House to protest because the congress didn’t want to grant them the money they were promised after the war.
They set up Hooverville camps next to the White House and protested for a long time.

I was extremely shocked when I read in the newspaper that President Hoover sent an army and started kicking them out the White House territory. Why would he do that? Sending an army? Destroying all the Hooverville camps? Has he gone mad?

They deserve to get all of what they were promised and not just part of it. They have families to support. They shouldn’t of been treated like they were because they fought for their country.

 Many young male adults are asked to volunteer and helping out with the war. As great, they are

Dust Bowl and Okies, and Hobos

August 1931

The dust bowl is in the Great Plains.
I unfortunately have to deal with them every once in a while. I had to learn the hard way. My family suffered a lot on the first dust storm, but thankfully we know how to deal with it. Although we do everything possible for the dust to stay away from the inside our home, it still manages to get in.

Many of my neighbors have left the Great Plain and moved either east or west.
They are known as Okies because they are migrant who left the Great Plains and moved out to the big cities to escape the dust bowl. 

I once thought that I was going to be a hobo. Being a hobo was very tough. You had many obstacles on your way to get to your designated place. Jumping from to train without being seen was probably the toughest. People don’t have money to buy train tickets, so they had to ride them without others knowing.

I’ve heard many tragic stories about hobos riding the trains and how their lives ended up. I don’t even want to get close to them trains.

Unemployment, Bread lines, Hoovervilles, and Foreclosures

March 1931


I just lost job!
I went to go look for work, but no one is hiring. I don’t know if I should give up. I know have to stay strong, I cannot give; especially in a situation like this.

As I read in the newspaper that unemployment has rise to a record of 25% I began to think a lot.

Also, another 25% could only find a part time job.

In what percentage will I stand?

As the days passed by food was a problem for me. I was running out.
My income was and I couldn’t really afford the food I needed to provide my family.
Standing in a line that stretched for blocks took most of my day just receiving food that wouldn’t last me a long time.

I don’t want to say I was unfortunate but I wasn’t lucky either.
I was very thankful because I didn’t have leave with family in the Hoovervilles.
Homeless people stayed there and as I was walking I was asking myself so many questions. Why now? What will happen next? Can this get any worse?

Foreclosures were very popular and still are.
Foreclosures were the cause of why people were living in the Hoovervilles
Many people had to sell everything they had to try to keep their homes, but many weren’t successful

Stock Market Crash, Black Tuesday

October 29, 1929

The worst day in history, I believe.

Waking up in the morning as usual.
I woke up listening to the radio.
Everyone panicking
I didn’t know what was going on!
As I went outside I saw thousands of people rushing to the bank.

16 billion shares were sold and the stock market crashed.
Investors panicked and billions of dollars were lost in a few hours. People lost confidence in the stock.

I honestly didn’t know what to do! I was so shocked on what was going outside. I felt my eyes drop in shock of how people were going crazy.

October 29, 1929 – known as Black Tuesday

Overproduction, Buying on Credit, and Uneven Distribution of Wealth

I really don’t know how everything started.
Everything went down in less than a second!

I kind of thought it was good that we were producing more than what we were earning. I thought we were good for a period of time, but I guess we overproduced.
I mean I think it’s better to have more than what we actually need then to not have at all or less. Having too much food and huge supplies of food drove down the farm prices.

Us, the people of the United States didn’t realize on time that we were borrowing too much money and began to default on payments.
I personally never really borrowed credit just like once or twice as I recall.

There is more poverty than wealthy families in the United States. Many families became poor because of consumer debt.