1932 in The United States

1932 in The United States

In 1932 in the Southern United States people were fearful and if they weren’t already ruined they stood in great fear of it. Men and women were in a daze and sought assurance that the country would right itself. There was bitterness and desperation and when the preachers spoke from the pulpit that God was visiting his wrath upon the people as a penalty for their sins, they accepted it, yet feared that something unfathomable was going on. They were in the hopeless grip of something they had never seen before. Men were out of work. Families were ragged and hungry.

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Trying to make sense of something beyond their understanding farmers and laborers looked to their leaders for solutions. That’s why Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal were met with so much enthusiasm in the south. Even though the New Deal looked as if it would actually hurt farmers. Prices were already so low on cotton it didn’t pay the farmer to haul it to the Gin and with the New Deal fewer acres would be planted.  Another big blow to farmers and laborers alike.

But the South stood with Roosevelt. He represented hope and confidence which had been absent much too long with Hoover and the Republican party in charge. The last four years of the Republican party and Hoover’s reign of catastrophe had brought ruin to America and especially to the Southern States. At last the oppressors were being routed out and it would be a new beginning. It was a triumph for Democracy and success.

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First of all, Roosevelt saved the bankers who were not already broke or in jail. Then the party went on to get the economy rolling again. The relief programs helped feed families and the WPA opened up jobs for the unemployed. Wages were scanty but in some cases it was more than a farmer could make on his farm. The mills were starting up again. Relief eased fears as to what would happen if a worker lost his job. Business was increasing little by little.

It’s interesting that no large revivals were held in the South in the years of the depression, though the outerlimit sects that preached God’s wrath capitalized on it to gather in more members. The fact was that in the South, as elsewhere, times were changing and old traditional concepts were no longer viable. People were turning to more rational thinking. There was a mounting impatience with the old taboos. The number of lynchings declined and organizations of Southern Women played a big part. It became the women’s duty to find our about any threatened lynchings and inform the sheriff.

Child labor in the mills almost disappeared. All states adopted social security and old age pension laws. Laws were passed to reduce the working hours of mill hands and other industries. The economy slowly gained it’s balance and the worst was over.

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