Children of the Great Depression have poignant memories of economic turmoil
Betty Shoemaker has seen all this before: a stock market crash, banks going bust, families cast out of their homes.
She was only 5 years old in 1929, when the nation fell into the long economic cataclysm that came to be known as the Great Depression. But she remembers clearly her father's despair at losing his accounting job, the misery of Logan Square neighbors evicted onto the street, her own shame at receiving food from public aid.Experts say safeguards developed since the 1930s mean there is no chance the current financial crisis could create such deep, widespread suffering. Shoemaker isn't so sure.
"Why not?" said the 84-year-old Park Ridge resident. "I don't see why it couldn't."
Shoemaker is one of about 25 million Americans old enough to remember the Great Depression. Some recently shared their memories of that desperate time with the Tribune, along with thoughts on today's economic upheaval.
Read entire article at Chicago Tribune
She was only 5 years old in 1929, when the nation fell into the long economic cataclysm that came to be known as the Great Depression. But she remembers clearly her father's despair at losing his accounting job, the misery of Logan Square neighbors evicted onto the street, her own shame at receiving food from public aid.Experts say safeguards developed since the 1930s mean there is no chance the current financial crisis could create such deep, widespread suffering. Shoemaker isn't so sure.
"Why not?" said the 84-year-old Park Ridge resident. "I don't see why it couldn't."
Shoemaker is one of about 25 million Americans old enough to remember the Great Depression. Some recently shared their memories of that desperate time with the Tribune, along with thoughts on today's economic upheaval.