WMS 187 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Civilian Conservation Corps, Hooverville, Bonus Army
Document Summary
Welfare state: a system the govt undertakes to protect the health and well being of its people. In proportion to our country"s wealth, our welfare state is very weak/stingy/cruel. In the 1920s and 30s, the state provided meager benefits to widows -- mothers". Scattered about the country, not very thorough. The assumption is that widows were in some places deserving of support. Before the depression, congress decided to start giving wwi vets a bonus. Veterans were given certificates for they had served the us, and. The vouchers were to be paid in 1945. In 1929, the stock market crashed, catapulting the us, and the entire world, into the great depression. Poverty on an unprecedented scale for a decade. 15-20,000 veterans traveled to dc and demanded their bonuses in 1932 -- the. Congress voted not to pay the veterans. 100 people were killed and their encampment was burned down. Hoovervilles were self-made settlements created by people living in abject poverty.
