Depression and War: the Child’s View.  History 1080.  February 3, 2006

 

1.  Themes

  1. ‘Big’ political and economic events shape the lives of children
  2. National differences = important despite many similarities in US and Canadian culture

 

2.  Canada and the United States compared

     A.  Leadership & response to the Depression

           - Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Democrat) = president, 1933-45

              * replaced Republican president Herbert Hoover); establish ‘New Deal’

           - RB Bennett (Conservative) & Mackenzie King (Liberal) = more cautious

      B.   Second World War

             Canada enters war in 1939; US after bombing of Pearl Harbor, 1941

   

3.  Protecting the ‘emotionally priceless’ child

  1.  Ideal of childhood innocence & dependency impossible to achieve
  2.  School = norm, but many schools close
  3.  Children targeted as consumers, but many cannot afford to buy
  4.  Children take on ‘adult’ work responsibilities

 

4.  Depression

     A.  Stock market crash 1929,

           - FDR elected, 1932 (in office 1933-45)

           - Cdn PM King (1926-30), Bennett (1930-35), King (1935-48)

B.     Unemployment rises (32 % in Canada, 25% US) by 1933

- no social safety net (1934:  20% Canadians on Relief)

C.     Gap between childhood ideal and real life; children take on ‘adult’ responsibilities – cuts to school hours & funding, but child labour laws strengthened

D.     Migration & riding the rails

- Scottsboro Boys (Alabama, 1931)

     E.  New Deal and youth  (USA)

           - Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933 (young men work on conservation projects)

           - National Youth Administration, 1935  (work-study programs, job training)

           -  funding for teacher salaries, school construction; school lunch programs

           - Aid to Dependent Children (‘welfare’), 1935

     F.  Ongoing popularity of mass commercial culture

 

4. Second World War

    A.  The immediacy of war:  Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 7 December 1941

    B.   Mobilizing children for war

    C.   Work, migration, and family life: juvenile delinquency scares

           - curfew – 9 pm (Montreal, 1942)

           - Zoot Suit Riots, Los Angeles 1943

   D.  Japanese American/Canadian relocation, 1942- 1944 (USA) & 1949 (Canada)