The Great Depression beginnings (C)

The 1930s marked the beginning of the so called “golden age” of Hollywood and saw the release of full-color classic films such as The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. As well at this time Universal Studios began featuring an iconic cast of mythological monsters such as; Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and King Kong. Furthermore, in the sphere of music, Swing music became very popular in this decade and gradually ecadlipsed Jazz which had come into popularity in the 1920s.

 In the field of architecture remember that with the advent of the New Deal we saw massive public works programs and as such we saw the construction of equally massive landmarks such as the Empire State Building in 1931 and the completion of the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937. In the realm of literature we saw the advent of many “classics” such as Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, Brave New World, and the Hobbit. As well in the late 1930s two iconic superheroes, Superman and Batman were introduced. Finally, in the area of visual art, a new form of art, social realism was emerging, which sought to portray imagery with a deeper socio-political; as well the art form art deco, had peaked in this decade.

The massive LZ 129 Hindenburg achieved her first transatlantic flight in 1936 and in fact the 1936 season was quite profitable for the Hindenburg as she had carried over a 1,000 passengers and thousands of pounds of cargo over the Atlantic. The future of the zeppelin certainly looked bright, however, those hopes were dashed in 1937. As the Hindenburg was making her maiden voyage of the 1937 season, she departed from Frankfurt Germany about half-full on course to the United States. When she arrived in New Jersey on May 6, she encountered a brewing storm, as heavy winds can be perilous to lighter-than-air ships, the captain and commander ultimately decided to wait for better weather in order to land.

Around 7:00 pm, the weather had cleared and the Hindenburg had started to come in for a landing and at about 7:25 pm onlookers reported seeing a small mushroom shaped flame raise from the tail section and quickly started spreading. The Hindenburg was completely engulfed in flame in only about 34 seconds, crew and passengers only had seconds to react and about half, 35 of the 97 passengers and crew, died. The tragedy was widely reported on radio, newsreels, and photographs which effectively ended the airship era. The exact cause of the Hindenburg disaster is still unknown to this day, however, we do know this the fire was exacerbated due to the fact that the Hindenburg used the much more flammable hydrogen gas instead of helium. This was in part due to the fact that the US had effectively embargoed sale of Helium to Germany.

The Depression’s impact on the familial unit is a curious contradiction as it both tore families apart and brought them closer together. Firstly, the depression caused many couples to delay marriage as well the divorce rate fell sharply as it became too expensive (both the process and the proposition of supporting two separate households) and birth rates dropped below the replacement level for the first time in American history (due in part to wide spread utilization of contraceptives).

Furthermore gender roles changed within the family as a response to the depression,  many men now found themselves out of work and now were forced to rely on their wives and children in some cases to help make ends meet.  This caused many frustrated men to simply walk out on their families entirely. On the other hand, women now left with little choice, went to work outside their houses to help support their family. This helped increase their status and power in the home as they were now the new breadwinners in the home, they now had a voice in domestic decisions.