Major+Events+of+the+1930's

=  =  Major Events in the 1930’s The 1930's was a very busy and tragic time in American history. Due to the [|Great Depression] and so many people being out of work, America became very nervous which sparked a lot of chaos. With banks suddenly collapsing and people being put out on the streets, nobody knew what to do. Many people began working for less than ten cents a day, making just enough to keep from starving. Even though during the 30's America was at it's all time low, people still made the best of their lives and tried to overcome the Depression.


 * __Technical Achievements __**
 * Radar is invented.
 * The Volkswagen Beetle is made in Germany in 1938.
 * Scotch tape is invented, originally intended for sealing containers of cellophane (film strip).
 * The U.S. makes the first full length color film, //The Wizard of Oz.//


 * __Entertainment __**
 * Hollywood enters its "golden age", and several classic films are made, most notable are: //The Wizard of// Oz, //Gone with the Wind//, //Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, King Kong,// and //Frankenstein.//
 * Radio becomes a dominant form of entertainment.
 * John Steinbeck writes //Grapes of Wrath// (1939) and //Of Mice and Men// (1937).
 * Vaudeville gains many famous comedians, such as Jack Benny, George Burns, and the Marx Brothers, before it starts to go into decline.

__**The Mafia and Al Capone **__ Beginning in the 1930's, [|organized crime] began to develop. Many of the Italian American families started to take control over a large percent of the crimes such as drug trafficing, homicides, prostitution, and the sale of bootleg alcohol. Other rival crime families were becoming very hostile to these new Italian criminals which resulted in large conflicts in the crime network. During the late 1920's and early 30's, [|Al Capone] controled almost all organized crime in Chicago. He was known as one of the most famous and feared gangsters in American history. Al Capone was in control of the Italian mob in Chicago and he had the power to do almost anything in this city that arguably belonged to him. Because the government was unable to put Al Capone away for his activity in the mafia, they put together a team of federal agents called the Untouchables. The Untouchables put together a tax-evasion case against Al Capone to get him off the streets for as long as possible. In 1931 Capone was finally charged with tax-evasion and sent to prison for eleven years.

Charles Lindbergh, the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, lived a happy peaceful life with his wife and son until his life was suddenly changed with what was known as the "crime of the century". In the middle of the night on March 1, 1932, a man by the name of Bruno Richard Hauptmann broke into the Lindbergh house and stole the young son. He left nothing but a ransom letter asking for 50,000 dollars. America was outraged by this unspeakable crime against such a famous man. President Hoover himself said, "We will move heaven and earth to find out who is the criminal who had the audacity to commit a crime like this".
 * __The Lindbergh Trial __**

Two years later,Hauptmann, the man who kidnapped and eventually killed the son of Charles Lindbergh, was finally caught and brought to court. This case was called the [|Lindbergh Trial]. Bruno Richard Hauptmann was convicted and sentenced to death.


 * __The Empire State Building __**

The Empire State Building was designed by Gregory Johnson and his architectural firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, which produced the building drawings in just two weeks, using its earlier design for the Carew Tower in Cincinnati, Ohio. The building was actually designed from the top down. The general contractors were **The Starrett Brothers and Eken**, and the project was financed by John J. Raskob. The construction company was chaired by Alfred E. Smith, a former Governor of New York.

Excavation of the site began on January 22, 1930, and construction on the building itself started symbolically on March 17—St.Patrick's Day—per Al Smith's influence as Empire State, Inc. president. The project involved 3,400 workers, mostly immigrants from Europe, along with hundreds of Mohawk iron workers, many from the Kahnawake reserve near Montreal. According to official accounts, five workers died during the construction. Governor Smith's grandchildren cut the ribbon on May 1, 1931.

The building was officially opened on May 1, 1931 in dramatic fashion, when United States President Herbert Hoover turned on the building's lights with the push of a button from Washington, D.C. Ironically, the first use of tower lights atop the Empire State Building, the following year, was for the purpose of signaling the victory of Franklin D. Roosevelt over Hoover in the presidential election of November 1932. The building's opening coincided with the Great Depression in the United States, and as a result much of its office space went unrented. In its first year of operation, the observation deck took in approximately 2 million dollars, as much money as its owners made in rent that year. The lack of renters led New Yorkers to call the building the "Empty State Building". The building would not become profitable until 1950.


 * __The Hindenburg Dirigible __**
 * The German blimp/dirigible called the [|Hindenburg] was more than 800 feet long with seven million cubic feet of hydrogen.
 * Made 36 trips across the Atlantic Ocean by 1937
 * Traveled at 80 miles per hour
 * On May 6, 1937, the Hindenburg suddenly burst into flames as it was getting ready to land.
 * The Hindenburg only burned for five minutes but 36 people were killed.
 * The cause of the explosion is still unknown.

__**Franklin D. Roosevelt **__ On the morning of March 4, 1933, [|President Franklin D. Roosevelt], one of America's most well known presidents, was elected for his first term. Because President Roosevelt came into office during one of America's most desperate times, many people were afraid and unsure about him. At this time 16 million people were out of work, the banking systems had collapsed, and a large part of America's middle class was slipping into the lower class. A large amount of people were worried that Roosevelt was not qualified to be a president at such a difficult time and they did not believe that he would be able to stabalize America.

Countering many of these thoughts, F.D.R. created the Public Works Administration (PWA) to help give jobs to many unemployed people. The PWA built things from a water -supply system for Denver to bridges connecting Key West with the Florida mainland. Over six billion dollars and 4.75 billion hours of labor were invested in these various structures. That means that there was a boom in employment because of the PWA.

**__The Dust Bowl__** [|The Dust Bowl] was a national disaster in the Great Plains of the United States during the 1930's. It brought immense dust storms, draught, and erosion to farmlands. With high winds, hot temperatures, and draught, millions of acres of land were made useless. About half of the residents in the Great Plains had to migrate. Farmers began to invest in irrigation equipment throughout the Great Plains. Unfortunately, farmers went into intense poverty.

The largest tree infestation occured during the 1930's. The Dutch elm blight began to kill millions of elm trees. This was caused by a dutch beetle which carried spores that blocked vascular systems. With the blockage, nutrients and proteins could not pass through the tree, causing decay and death. The disease extended from coast to coast. Eventually, 90 percent of the elm tree population died. Americans considered the elm tree a symbol of health and luck. It also symbolized patriotism. Within about 50 years, the existance of the [|American Elm Tree] was virtually wiped out, changing the landscape of American culture. The American Elm Tree
 * __The Demise of the Elm Tree __**

**__Sports and Games in the 1930's__**
 * The Winter and Summer [|Olympics] were held in America in 1932. The Olympics gave many Americans going through tough times something to look forward to.
 * Also during the 1930's, college football was at its highest point; people from all over would came to see things like the Orange Bowl and the awarding of the Heissman Trophy, both invented in 1935.
 * College football wasn't the only sport that was gaining attention. Professional football was becoming very popular and was quickly gaining fans. The first [|championship] game was played in 1933.
 * In 1935 the famous board game Monopoly was invented by Charles B. Darrow and manufactured by the Parker Bros.


 * __World Political Events __**
 * Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi leads the Indian independence movement, and wins Indian Independence through Satyagraha: Resistance of Tyranny through mass Civil Disobedience.
 * Spain and China go through major Civil Wars.
 * Hitler gains power in Germany.
 * World War II Begins in 1935.

<span style="COLOR: #690c0c; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">**__ Amelia Earhart __** Amelia Earhart was 10 years old when she saw her first plane and it was a rusty plane at a state fair. When Amelia Earhart was about 20 years old she went to her first stunt flying exibition; it was then her spark for flying was born. Then one day on December 28,1920, Amelia Earhart was given a ride in a plane by pilot Frank Hawks. It was at that moment when she knew she had to do everything to become a great pilot, not just watch shows like she had done before, but actually fly herself. However, everyone would make fun of her and taunt her for wanting to fly because back in those days women were not supposed to do great things like fly planes. After she got out of college and became a social worker, Amelia Earhart saved enough money to attend a flying lesson on January 3, 1921.

It wasn't until June 17, 1928 when Amelia Earhart would make history. Amelia and another pilot plus one engineer would be the first ones to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Amelia Earhart married George Putnam on Februrary 7, 1931. Amelia and her husband made plans for Amelia to break flying records all throught the 1930's. Then in 1937 Amelia decided to take the challenge of being the first women to fly across the whole world. On July 2nd, at 12:30, Amelia Earhart took off on her flight. A boat out in the Atlanic received a few transmisions talking about problems with her flying devices but that was the only communication. No one ever heard from her again. In 1938 a lighthouse was built on Howland Island in her memory.

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 * Boardman, Fon. __The Thirties: America and the Great Depression__. New York: Henry Z. Walck, Inc, 1967.
 * Callan, Jim. __America in the 1930s__. New York: Stonesong Press, 2005.
 * Downey, Matthew T. __The Twentieth Century.__ New York: Macmaillan Publishing Company, 1992.
 * "Dust Bowl." Library of Congress. Prints and Photographs Division. Farm Security Administration—Office of War Information Photograph Collection. //American History Online//. Facts On File.
 * "Franklin D. Roosevelt." __American History__. 2008. ABC-CLIO. 29 Sep. 2008 <[|http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com]>.
 * Press, Petra. __The 1930's__. San Diego: Lucent Books, 1993.
 * Time-Life Books. __Hard Times - The 30's__. Alexandria: Time-Life Books, 1998.
 * http://www.prairieghosts.com/capone6.jpg
 * http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/36/84936-004-7DBB8589.jpg
 * http://www.failuremag.com/images/elmtree.jpg
 * http://www.monroegallery.com/showcase/images/Hindenburg.jpg
 * http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/FDR_in_1933.jpg