1929–1939 The Great Depression
Despite the acknowledged significance of the Great Depression in transforming the role of government in America’s economy, scholars disagree about its fundamental causes. One explanation relies on theories stressing overproduction, under consumption, and unregulated stock market speculation. Evidence for this explanation can be found in the growing inequality within the United States, since by the end of the 1920s the top one percent of the population was receiving 15% of the nation’s income. An alternative explanation for the Great Depression emphasizes policy mistakes by monetary authorities that led to shrinking the money supply and tightening credit. Proponents of this view argue the Federal Reserve did not provide the banking system with sufficient liquidity. Despite such disagreements, there is no debate about the Great Depression’s devastating impact in the years following the stock market crash of October 1929. At its worst in 1933, 25% of all workers and 37% of all non-farm workers were unemployed. Despite the New Deal, the American economy had not fully recovered when the United States entered World War II in 1941. 1933 Nazis Come to Power in Germany The term Nazi is commonly used to describe the ostensible marriage of nationalism and socialism. The Nazi party of Germany — technically, the National Socialist German Workers Party — like the Fascists in Italy, developed from a number of alienated and right-wing political groups that emerged in the final years of World War I. It drew support from those bitterly angered by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which levied debilitating reparation payments and required Germany to accept blame for the war. Its proponents also held anti-semitic and anti- Marxist views while proclaiming belief in German superiority as part of the Aryan “master race.” By the early 1930s the effects of the Great Depression were devastating Germany’s economy, providing fertile soil for radical nationalist and racist ideologies. In January 1933, following elections in which the Nazis obtained more than 40% of the popular vote, the German President made the fateful decision to appoint the Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler, chancellor of the country. Hitler quickly replaced Germany’s democratic government with a brutal totalitarian regime.
Figure 30. Oil rigs at Huntington Beach in 1920. Image courtesy of City of Huntington Beach.
1920 Oil Discovered in Huntington Beach What would become the city of Huntington Beach in Orange County was conceived in 1901 as a West Coast version of Atlantic City and was named in honor of Henry E. Huntington, founder of the Pacific Electric Railway. In subsequent years the growing use of automobiles in the United States led to an increased need for oil. Suspecting that the region might be rich in deposits of this mineral, Standard Oil of California in 1919 leased large blocks of undeveloped land in Huntington Beach. The discovery of oil there in 1920 soon resulted in 59 producing wells and beaches crowded with derricks. This was followed by serious inflation in real estate values, as the population of the city grew from 1,600 to 7,000, not including 4,000 migrant oil workers, many of whom lived in tents. For many years thereafter city politics were dominated by debates regarding drilling restrictions and the environmental impact of oil exploration. SEE FIGURE 30
1926 Pacific Coast Highway Completed in Orange County
During the first half of the 20th century new forms of transportation facilitated much of Orange County’s growth. Between 1904 and 1910 interior cities (as well as Newport Beach) grew because the Pacific Electric Railway built three lines to the county, including a coast line, a Santa Ana line, and a La Habra line. During the 1910s and 1920s, highway construction made possible the development of several cities, including Laguna Beach and Dana Point, which were made easily accessible by the completion of the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) in 1926. The 40 mile long Orange County section of PCH begins at Seal Beach and runs south through Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, and Dana Point. It is a portion of a federal highway system that stretches 2,500 miles from the Mexican border to the Olympic peninsula and includes some of the nation’s most beautiful coastlines.
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