Great Depression
To understand the events of the 1930s we must take a look at 1929. In 1929 when Herbert Hoover took office the American economy was soaring but on October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed in an event we know as “Black Tuesday”. Stockholders lost $40 billion and as a result a nationwide depression began. By the end of 1930, 7 million laborers were left unemployed and by the end of 1932, that number had doubled. “By 1932 the nation was sinking in gloom and misery” (Press, 1999). The Great Depression lasted from 1930 until 1939 with the start of World War II (Press).
The Dust Bowl
A severe drought in the southern plains beginning in 1931 and lasting until 1937 led to a lack of food, water and work for farmers. As the earth became dryer and the winds picked up, powerful dust storms blew threw covering the environment with dust and choking livestock to death. Along with the drought came grasshoppers that ate whatever was left of the crops and devoured the grass and leaves off of trees. By the end of 1935, many farmers gave up and moved to California to farm (Press, 1999).
World War II
World War II began in 1939. The United States entered the war on December 8, 1941 after Japan attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. World War II finally ended in August 1945 after the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima and again on the city of Nagasaki. World War II helped get the United States out of the depression and boosted the economy (Uschan, 1999).
Other events
* On March 3, 1931, “The Star-Spangled Banner” became the official national anthem of the United States.
(Bobek, 2005)
1930-1945 Literature in the U.S.
William Faulkner: The Sound and the Fury (1929), As I lay Dying (1930), Light in August (1932), Absalom, Absalom! (1936).
John Steinbeck: Tortilla Flat (1935), In Dubious Battle ( 1936), Of Mice and Men (1937), The Long Valley (1938), The Grapes of Wrath (1939).
F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby (1925), Tender is the Night (1936).
Ernest Hemingway: Death in the Afternoon (1932), Winner Take Nothing (1933), Green Hills of Africa (1935), To Have and Have Not (1937), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940).
The 1940s gave rise to paper back books and commercial book clubs. “People read mysteries like Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie and historical novels such as The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas” (Uschan, 1999, p. 95). Other popular books were detective novels such as those by Raymond Chandler and westerns such as those by Zane Grey. Many other novels depicted the war such as Norman Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead, published in 1948 (Uschan, 1999).
References:
Bobek, M. (2005). Decades of the 20th century: 1930s. Prescott, AZ: Eldorado Ink.
Press, P. (1999). A cultural history of the United States through the decades: The 1930s. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books, Inc.
Uschan, M.V. (1999). A cultural history of the United States through the decades: The 1940s. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books, Inc.
By Melita Karagirova
Folk Music
Woody Guthrie, singer and songwriter, was a driving force behind American folk music and culture in the 30’s and 40’s. “Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was born on July 14, 1912, in Okemah, Oklahoma”. During the dust bowl years Woody developed a desire to travel. While making his way to California, hungry, and looking for work Woody would do odd jobs. Including, playing music on the street and in clubs for money. In 1937, he obtained a job at a radio station playing traditional songs and even some of his original work. One of the songs Woody wrote that represented the horrible conditions the dust bowl created was “Talking Dust Bowl Blues”. He also wrote a very important song to our nation, “This Land is Your Land” which is on nearly every popular child’s CD and in many of our hearts today. Woody then went to New York, where he formed The Almanacs. They fought hardly for the things they believed in such as Unions, the Communist Party, and Peace. “The Almanacs helped to establish folk music as a viable commercial genre within the popular music industry.” (Woody Guthrie-Biography) In 1945, Woody married and had four children, Cathy, Joady, Nora Lee, and Arlo. Arlo continues to play in his father’s footprints by touring the world singing about the world, being happy, and anti-war sentiments today.
Reference:
Woody Guthrie-Biography. Retrieved May 30, 2009 from Website: http://woodyguthrie.org/biography/biography1.htm
Art History 1930-1945
Grant Wood was born in Iowa and lived his entire life in the small town of Anamosa where he painted the landscape and the inhabitants. He traveled to France and the Netherlands in the 1920’s to study Gothic, Renaissance, Romanesque, and Flemish Art, all of which influenced his later paintings. Wood is most famous for the painting American Gothic, which depicts a stereotypical Midwest farmer and his wife standing before a Gothic window. He was the first Regionalist, a group of American artists who favored rural realism over the abstract styles that were developing in the early 1900’s.
His famous paintings:
American gothic 1930
Science: 1930-1945
By Marianne Counterman
WWII was in full swing for everybody but the United States. That was until the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. All counties were looking for the best defense. Several Governments were looking at the possibilities of a major bomb. The United States plan was the Manhattan Project, AKA atomic bomb. By 1938 Americans had heard about Berlin successfully separating the nuclei of an atom one year later America had accomplished the same task themselves. 1942 Roosevelt had given Scientist the green light to construct the Manhattan project, and by 1945 the atomic bomb was completed. (The Manhattan Project An Interactive History)
In 1932 the first pace maker was invented by Albert S Hyman. The machine was invented to restart and non-beating heart by electrical shock. This machine operated by a hand crank and the use of a spring motor to generate the electricity. 
Fortune Magazine was first published in Feb of 1930, four months after the stock market crashed. Henry Booth Luce founder of Time and Life decided to go fourth with his plans to create the magazine in spite of the economy. Surprising to all at Fortune Magazine the project made it through the Great Depression and forms of it are still in circulation today. (Fortune Magazine)Science and Magazines References:
Fortune (magazine). (n.d.). Retrieved June 5, 2009, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortune_(magazine)
Heart Rythem Society. (n.d.). Retrieved June 4, 2009, from Restoring the Rythem of Life: http://www.hrsonline.org/News/ep-history/timeline/1930s.cfm#1
The Manhattan Project An Interactive History. (n.d.). Retrieved June 4, 2009, from US Department of Energy: http://www.cfo.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/y-12_construction.htm
Images from google.com/images http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:u2YGpcI5LQZT_M:http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/saturday-evening-post/412-1.jpg
Movies from 1930 - 1945 Era
By Jo Roberts
Films are cultural artifacts created by and reflecting. Considered as an important art form, movies became a source of popular entertainment, as well as a foundation for education, and a widespread power of communication. The origin of "film" comes from photographic film stock. Other terms associated with motion picture for the era include picture show, flick, movie, the big screen, the silver screen, and cinema.
Marked by the Great Depression and leading into World War II is remembered as The Golden Age. In the United States, theaters came to be known as nickelodeons, because admission only cost a nickel (five cents). Special-effects processes were advanced, making it possible for many more films to be shot on sets rather than on-location.
Creative, business, and technological reasons have all contributed to the growth of the film scene.
Ingrid Bergman, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Jean Harlow, Greta Garbo, Shirley Temple, Humphrey Bogart, James Stewart, Cary Grant, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Clark Gable, and John Wayne.
References:
Britannica. (2002). Motion Pictures. The New Encyclopedia Britannica. Chicago. Retrieved on May 24th, 2009 from http://www.answers.com/topic/film
Basin, A. (1967). What is Cinema? A Biographical Dictionary of Film. Retrieved on May 23rd, 2009 from http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s2/Time/1940/1940fr.html
Macgowan, K. (1965). Behind the Screen. Retrieved on May 26th, 2009 from http://www.numberonestars.com/
Shipman, D. (1973). The Great Movie Stars. (2 vol., 1970–72). Retrieved on May 28th, 2009 from www.factmonster.com/ce6/ent/A0868927.html
*** Images from The Greatest Films website http://www.filmsite.org/
Television from the 1930 - 1945 Era
By Jo Roberts
Americans, Philo T. Farnsworth and Allen B. Dumont, developed the picture tube that mechanically transmitted the black and white images that became the home television receiver in 1935 (Fisher, 1996). Eventually, television became a vibrant broadcast medium, to bring news and entertainment to people all over the world. Broadcasting encompassed the senses of vision and hearing beyond the limits of distance, and had a significant influence on society, as a medium for education and interpersonal communication (Bogart, 1972).
The nation's established mass media (film, radio, and newspapers) reacted differently to the presence of television in the American home. Specifically, Television presented an enormous challenge to the film industry. Theater attendance dropped sharply in the late 1940s (Fisher, 1996). Radio and newspaper endured far less consequences. Beneficial to the “talk-box”, networks offered few programs tailored to teens. Rather than reaction, newspapers gained from the interactivity.
RCA held the first public demonstration of NBC programming in Philadelphia, with more than 25,000 viewers in attendance. During the era, televised documentaries ranging in different subjects became a staple in pop-culture entertainment. General Electric Company (GE) had begun regular television broadcasts, and Jenkins Company began to sell television “kits” by mail, and air some of the first cartoon programs (Fisher 1996). This gave birth to the “television boom,” with thousands of viewers buying and constructing primitive sets to watch primitive programs. Nearly 7,000 working television sets were distributed throughout the country, and aired by only nine stations.
In the late 1940s, there were few advertisers willing to underwrite and produce due to the cost of televised shows, but eventually, individual programs sparked the interest of the masses, and encouraged more companies to advertise on television. On the brink of full commercial programming, the FCC adopted rules to permit the collection of fees for television services and sponsored programs, and from there the television industry grew rapidly (FCC, 2009).
In 1945, the development of color television transpired slowly. The delay in widespread use of color television had more to do with its compatibility (Bogart, 1972). The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) and RCA battled to perfect the color television. In the subsequent era, color television became the rage.
References:
Bogart, Leo. (1972). The Age of Television: The Impact of Television on American Life. Retrieved on May 21st, 2009 from http://www.questia.com/library/book/the-age-of-television-a-study-of-viewing-habits-and-the-impact-of-television-on-american-life-by-leo-bogart.jsp?CRID=bp_the_age_of_television_a_study_of_viewing_habits_and_the_impact_of_television_on_american_life_by_leo_bogart&OFFID=se2q
Fisher, David E. (1996) Tube: The Invention of Television. Washington Post. Retrieved on May 23rd, 2009 from http://www.washingtonpost.com/
(FCC). Federal Communications Commission. (2009). Statistical Reports. Retrieved on June 1st, 2009 from http://www.fcc.gov/
Images from The First 75 Years website http://www.tvhistory.tv/
This concludes our presentation for Culture and Society: Interactions of the 1930 -1945 Era
