The Great Depression was a time of economic failure in the United .

             States and I am glad I did not live through it. In this period, many people lost .

             their jobs and could not support their families. They had to beg or sleep in the .

             streets. Many children also could not take this and ran away to seek a better .

             life. .

             In the months before the Depression began, Herbert Hoover was the .

             President of the United States. He believed that the economy would benefit if .

             the government does not interfere. In the year of 1929, he became president .

             and it"s the same time the stock market crashed. .

             The conditions of the U.S. when Herbert Hoover took office were .

             rather fine. Every American had a car, a radio, or an item that was a luxury in .

             the 1920s. The spread of chain stores and installment buying made it easier for .

             people to buy things they usually could not afford. The stock market was also a .

             great way to win and lose money. My father has stocks, but they are in the .

             Hong Kong stock exchange so I don"t know the status of these points. As the .

             stocks rose, more people bought shares and made quick cash. .

             On September 3, 1929, the New York Stock exchange reached its highest .

             point. These good times seemed to stay. Suddenly, on Wednesday, October 23, .

             after a week of steadily falling stocks, there was a drop. The next morning, .

             thousands of stock holders wanted to sell their stock even for half price before .

             the stocks plummeted any further. Then the brokerage houses of New York .

             issued a public statement that the worst is ending. In fact, they were wrong. .

             After this, many of the Americans lost their jobs because of many .

             companies going out of business and the workers themselves, were laid off .

             because the companies did not have enough pay for everyone. They were .

             forced to go on Welfare. The people who were laid off sometimes took out .

             their rage on their children or wives. Most of the time it was the child and the .

             wife would support her husband.