Mallory Stephens

April 14, 2015

Stories of History
The stock market crashed, marking the end of six years of unparalleled
prosperity for most sectors of the American economy. The Great
Depression was an eleven years of economic slump, where many people
had a hard time surviving day by day. There are five top reasons that the
great depression happened. They are the stock market crash of 1929, bank
failures, reduction in purchasing across the board, American economic policy
with Europe, and drought conditions.
The stock market crashed October 24, 1929; the day is marked as
black Thursday. By October 29th the stock prices plummeted and the banks
called in loans. An estimated 35 billion dollars in stock value disappeared by
mid-November. Even though the stock market began to regain some of its
losses, by the end of 1930, it was just not enough and America truly entered
what is called the Great Depression.
When the banks started to fail, it became another cause to the Great
Depression. Throughout the 1930s over 9,000 banks failed. What does that
mean? It means that people who had deposited any money in the bank for
savings simply lost it. And then surviving banks that were unsure of how long
they would last economically were concerned for their own survival and

stopped giving out new loans. This event leaded to less and less people
having access to money.
The next reason for the Great Depression was that individuals feared
further economic damage and stopped purchasing items. This led to a
reduction in the number of items produced which reduced the number of
people needed for work. People started to lose their jobs and were unable to
keep paying for the items they had bought through a loan and then those
items were repossessed. The unemployment rate rose above 25%, the
natural rate of unemployment is 4%. In 2007 the rate remained below 5%,
but quickly rose unexpectedly to 7.3%. In 2009, the unemployment rate hit
10%, this was the first high unemployment rate since the recession in 1982,
and remained at a high rate of 9.3% for the entire year of 2010. I remember
hearing about friends parents who lost their jobs and a lot of grandparents
and people who grew up in the Great Depression were nervous that it would
happen again, thankfully it didnt and the rate is back down to normal now.
As the Great Depression continued people were desperately trying to
do everything they could to make it better or not worsen the situation. The
government created the Smoot-Hawley Tariff in 1930 to help protect
American companies. This charged a high tax for imports, which caused less
trading with foreign countries along with some economic retaliation.
In 1930 a drought occurred in the Mississippi Valley, it was so bad that
many could not even pay their taxes or other debts and had to sell their

farms for no profit to themselves. Even though this was not a direct cause to
the Great Depression, it effected many people and was nicknamed, The
Dust Bowl. This is just one example of how everything seemed to happen at
the same time and ended up deepening the depression.
As I interviewed the doctor that I work for, Dr. Grant L. Christian, I
learned many things about what it was like to grow up in a depression. He
was born in April of 1934, so the depression had been going on for 4 years
when he was born. He doesnt remember a lot of what was going on, but his
mother and his older siblings told him many stories. It was a period of protest
and hunger. For the first few years of his life, he lived in a six-bedroom house
with 19 people living in it. His mom was torn between being relieved and
saddened when his brothers and uncles were sent off to war. She was sad
because she didnt want to see them go, but at the same time they would be
receiving new clothes and fed everyday. When they left, they also had less
people to fed and take care of. It was very hard for men to get jobs in the
depression; Dr. Christians father had a degree in chemistry and still couldnt
get a job other than at the railroad. He remembers stories of people breaking
into grocery stores and others selling apples on the streets as a way of
means. And even though there are many stories about people doing riots
and marching in protest, there were way more people who just had to ride it
out and do their best to survive.

One of my favorite stories to really understand how bad the depression

was that his mother told him that each year his siblings and he would receive
a new pair of shoes for Christmas. They would use the shoes from the year
before as working and walking shoes, while the new shoes would be used for
church. And if his siblings broke their shoes before the end of the year then
they would just go barefoot.
Dr. Christian told me that it was hard to get a lot stories out of his
family from when the depression just started because they were ashamed
that they had no money to support themselves. Many people suffered
quietly, trying to avoid people knowing that they too were being affected by
the depression. His mom always had a saying, we either do it and survive or
we dont do it and dont survive. This period of time has had a life long
affect on his mother as well. He told me that when she died and they were
cleaning out her house, it looked like the DI. She literally saved every single
thing; in fear that it could be taken away from her or that one-day she would
have to sell it. I told him that I remembered my grandma saving every
shampoo bottle from every hotel she went to because she was really poor
when she was a kid.
As for the memories of Dr. Christian when he got a little bit older and
the depression started to end, he said that he remembers always being cold.
Their house was cold; everywhere they went was cold in the winter. He said
that he remembered the first time being really warm was in 1st grade and a

heater was right next to his desk. He said that most kids wanted to go home
from school, but he loved school because it was so warm there. He doesnt
have any memories of his father in his younger years, because he worked 7
days a week at the railroad and rarely saw him. And because he was at such
young age when the depression ended he didnt even realize it ended until
he noticed his father home more.
He remembers the end of the Great Depression, and one of the big
reasons for it ending. He is one of the historians who believe that World War
II is what ended the Great Depression. More than 12 million Americans left to
join the military and a number of other people could be employed by warrelated jobs. He was happy that they had survived the Great Depression, but
was sad the war had started. He was sad because basically every male figure
in his life left to fight the war. World War II was a huge turning point in history
and it affected the way Dr. Christian is now. He said that one of the reasons
he became a doctor was because doctors are always needed, and he never
wanted to be out of a job and always wanted to be able to support his family.
As we continued to talk about his experiences and the things that he
has learned in his life, he gave me some advice. He started by telling me to
save more than I spend, he told me how important it was to save and that if
the banks start to fail then to just take all of my money out. He also talked
about the importance of paying off loans as quickly as possible. Another
piece of advice he gave me, and something that could have helped save

many people in the depression was food storage. This is something Ive
never thought of, I never thought of not having enough money to buy food!
And if more people had had food storage, they wouldnt have been so
hungry. It was hard for me to even comprehend everything Dr. Christian told
me, because Ive never had to live through something like that and neither
has any of my parents or grandparents. The biggest thing he taught me was
to be more prepared.
Another thing I learned from interviewing him was that Utah was one of
the states that got hit the hardest. Most people dont realize that, but Utah
had a 35.8% unemployment rate. He said that the biggest thing he
remembered after the Great Depression that had to do with this
unemployment rate, were the leaders of the LDS church constantly giving
talks about saving money and not going into debt. He also said that because
of the LDS church and their giving nature, that there were a lot of times
when he would see people making food for different neighbors and such. Or
he would see mothers taking care of 6 plus kids at a time for the other
mother who had to work.
It was very interesting to talk to someone who has lived and been
close to people who have lived through such a big event of our history. I
definitely think that we have learned from this event, and I dont think that
we will ever go back into that big of a slump in our economy. Even when the
unemployment rates went up a few years ago, we never let it go too far and

many people were more prepared. And now there are people who specialize
in helping people get hired for jobs, and both men and women are often
times both working. I think that America is a stronger country for being able
to suffer through the depression and come out the other side and make lives
better. We have definitely learned from this experience in history, and I think
that we always will remember it and continue to learn from it.