The 1930s

1. The 1930s Boone G., Joseph L., Cody V., Brian D.

2. Government • At the beginning of the 1930s the global economy collapses and democracies turn to subsides and unemployment relief programs. • Hitler’s National Social Party takes power in 1930. In 1933 he formed the Hitler Youth, and Germany and Japan withdraw from the League of Nations. • By 1939, Hitler had invaded Poland and WWII began.

3. America Government • America spent almost the entire decade in the clutches of the Great Depression. • Hoover was U.S. President at the beginning of the 1930s. He was heavily criticized for not helping with the economic crisis. • Shanties cropped up all over America. The cardboard villages became known as Hoovervilles. • To make matters worse, the western states were hit by the Great Dust Bowl, destroying crops and further devastating personal and national economies. The decade became known as the Dirty Thirties. • The highly unpopular Hoover was defeated by the Democratic contender FDR in 1932.

4. America Government • In 1932 Franklin Roosevelt is elected and introduces the New Deal. • In the 1930s nearly 15 million Americans are unemployed. • Roosevelt jumps right in with two aggressive plans to help the economy in 1935. • One of these plans is the Wagner Act which allowed workers to form unions and demand higher pay. • His next act was the Social Security Act which saved money for the unemployed and seniors to live off of. • There were many other plans that he initiated too.

5. America Government • American Civil Rights were also in flux during this period. • Although not written for several more decades, To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the 1930s. • Jim Crow laws were the rule of the land. • The oppression (and subsequent Holocaust) of the Jews in Germany may have spurred action in Civil Rights in the U.S. • The Great Depression disproportionately impacted African Americans negatively. This was an era when the NAACP (formed in 1909) began to focus on economic justice. • Many African Americans fought in WWI and WWII but weren’t afforded opportunities at home.

6. Art • 1930s saw a great era of painting, specifically in surrealism. • Famous artists in this time tended toward emphasis in colors to create moods and the painting medium. • Most well known is Salvador Dali. Dali’s “Persistence of Memory”

7. Art • Photography also played an important role in social discourse of the 1930s. The social realism movement in art brought the faces of the Depression to the collective minds of Americans, highlighting the importance for reform and aid. • The New Deal ushered in the Works Progress Administration, which sponsored programs to employ American artists during the depression. “Migrant Mother” by Dorthea Lange

8. Art • Music: Swing music became popular. Jazz continued to boom. • Architecture: Art Deco was at its height • Comics: Superman and Batman arrived on the comic scene. • Pulp fiction: This genre was picking up steam. The graphic art from these magazines also has a place in art history. • Literature: Brave New World, The Hobbit, The Grapes of Wrath, Our Town, and Gone with the Wind • SciFi: Known as the beginning of the “Golden Age” of science fiction (1939-1950) • John Campbell started the pulp Astounding Stories which was the home of all things important in scifi. “The Campbell Era” of scifi is sometimes referenced. • Other big names in this field: L. Ron Hubbard, Aldous Huxley, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, H.G. Wells, Olaf Stapledon, Jack Williamson, Edgar Rice Burroughs, C.S. Lewis, H.P. Lovecraft, and Ray Cummings.

9. Art • “Isaac Asimov divided the history of modern science fiction, i.e., works written after 1926, into four types of stories: • 1926-38--adventure dominant • 1938-50--science dominant • 1950-65--sociology dominant • 1966-present--style dominant” Source: http://www.nvcc.edu/home/ataormina/beyond/fiction/scifi/goldage.html

10. Scientific Innovations and Invention Machine and Science innovation Home and Culture -Freeze dried food (1930) -Stop action photography (1931) -Polaroid photograph(1932) -Parking meters (1932) -FM radio (1933) -Stereo record (1933) -Monopoly (game) (1934) -Magnetic recorder (1934) -Nylon (1935) -Photocopier (1937) -LSD (1938) -Teflon (1938) • Electronic microscope (1931) • Light meter (1932) • Electron microscope (1939) • Differential Analyzer (analog computer) (1930) • Radio telescope(1932) • Radar (1935) • Voice recognition machine (1936) • Jet engine (1930/1937) • Turbo Prop engine (1938) • Helicopter (1939)

11. Culture • Movies and Film: Movies during the Great Depression were huge. People could go to movies and escape from their daily struggles. • Sound was introduced in film—a pivotal moment in film history. • By the end of the decade, color was introduced (and overall picture quality had improved greatly). • This is known as the “Golden Age of Hollywood.” • Popular: The Wizard of Oz, Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, King Kong, Frankenstein, Gone with the Wind, and comedies by Charlie Chaplin and the Marx Brothers • The Academy Awards were created.

12. Culture • Radio began in the 1930s and grew in popularity exponentially through the years. People began using radio as a source of news and entertainment. • Hobbies and board games became popular due to the lack of income that people had. • Low incomes also caused the fashion industry to struggle. • Education struggled worldwide due to the depression. Schools struggled to find funding and faltered. • Media clip: https://plus.google.com/s/1930s%20pledge%20of%20allegiance