| Opis: | This diploma thesis comprises the course of the great depression, respectively the great economic crises, in the United States of America (USA), and presents the contents of the extensive social and economic reform program New Deal from the angle of selected articles of the Slovenian newspapers “Slovenski Narod” and “Slovenec” in the years from 1929 to 1936.
The focus of the thesis is on political, economic and social circumstances in the USA before the financial breakdown which are connected to the causes for the great depression, on political changes and contents of the New Deal, and finally, on the far-reaching consequences of the great depression and the New Deal. Slovenian newspapers reported regularly on the above mentioned subjects. On the basis of the fast economic development, the USA became a dominant political and economic power in the world. The era of prosperity of “the golden twenties” was followed by the financial breakdown in the autumn of 1929 which introduced a decade of a great depression. A decline in prices caused by hyper production, a decline in industrial growth and investments, bankruptcy of numerous banks and companies caused by non-liquidity, mass unemployment, poverty, and above all, natural disasters (droughts, sandstorms) became regular characteristics in the thirties of the 20th century. Consequences of the great depression quickly spread outside the borders of the USA. Increasing economic and social problems tensed domestic policy and lead to the election of a democratic presidential candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt. His administration introduced an extensive social and economic reform program called New Deal. It was an agreement between the president of the USA and the American nation about a new, equal, and righteous society. In a country of a traditional economic liberalism, such revolutionary changes caused an immense opposition by the upper, influential, and richer classes. They opposed by turning to jurisdiction, especially at the American Supreme Court. The USA succeeded in wading through the difficult times by the help of a fast, radical, and innovative state intervention. However, the entry into the 2nd World War and the massive armament policies played a very important role in the recovery.
The great depression and the New Deal are two of the more important milestones in the contemporary history. Their consequences reached beyond American borders and, consequently, altered political, economic, and social conditions of present and future time. |
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