1930's Reading

1. President Hoover's response made the issue not seem as serious as it really was, saying it would be over in 60 days. People blamed themselves when things began going wrong because the attitude of the 1920's was success, and now a decade later they were in a time of failure. Men blamed themselves because they were not able to provide for their families. This response was invalid because there was very little that the people could do to fix the problem, so they should not have blamed themselves. PBS
2. I would have terrified, thinking that I would be smothered to death, or separated from my family in the dust. I would be wondering how we would ever repair damages after the storm, or how my family could ever mentally recover from being beaten by the dust. PBS
3. The east and the west were affected by the drought. The plains being plowed by the settlers, the high demand for what during WWI exhausted the topsoil, and the overgrazing from the cattle and sheep herds caused this. I someWhat agree with the authors perspective, but I also think he is being too analytical about the situation. I do think that maybe this event was sent from God as a way to wipe away all of the bad, so that the Americans could somewhat "start over" again. PBS
4. The migration of people out of the Dust Bowl was the largest migration in American history. Life was hard for them when they got to California because most of the farms were corporate owned. They had to take up the work of the Mexican migrant workers, getting paid by the amount of fruit and cotton they picked. They got about .75c - $1.25, but had to pay .25c a day to rent a tar-paper shack and buy groceries at high-priced stores. PBS