The Depression Dilemmas of Rural Iowa, 1929-1933

Acknowledgments

“if we could have one generation of properly born, trained, educated and healthy children, a thousand problems of government would vanish.” —Herbert Hoover (november 19, 1930) “about the time we think we can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends.” —president Herbert Hoover (magnet on the author’s refrigerator) t won’t always be this way” became a mantra of the early great Depression years. “somehow times must change.” “we can make ends meet.” “Certainly this economic recession will not last for very long.” Yet it did. and as one wanders around washington, D.C., today, one never encounters any physical reminders of the president who worked so diligently during the early years of the great Depression for that very change. the only marker that bears the name of Herbert Hoover is the Commerce Building , located near the central mall of national memorials and named for his years as secretary of commerce in the republican administrations of presidents Harding and Coolidge when Hoover successfully argued for systematic change within america’s businesses and factories. as secretary of commerce, Hoover certainly represented positive change and continued prosperity. other countries have honored Hoover’s humanitarian work. the children and firefighters of Belgium sent a large, black stone statue of the goddess of life, isis, to iowa as a symbol of Hoover’s life-giving famine relief effort following the great war in europe. in warsaw, poland, a square was dedicated to him in 1920 for his significant war relief work following world A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S I ix x acknowledgments war i, and when the nazis demolished this memorial area during the second world war, it was quickly rebuilt. today the green square still proudly bears Hoover’s name in polish. Hoover’s efforts to save children during difficult times have been praised by others but never here. in the united states, president Hoover is simply viewed as the man who somehow caused the great Depression or the lackluster leader who would not consider the various dilemmas. But franklin roosevelt’s new Deal never solved the crucial economic and social dilemmas of the great Depression either—only world war ii ended the problems of unemployment while also destroying possible ideas of social and agricultural change. for years before the new Deal, the rural people of iowa struggled, debated, created, and survived. the idea for this book took shape shortly after i finished my dissertation, which became the book The Home Fronts of Iowa, 1939–1945. throughout graduate school, as i pored over the variety of primary documents from this rather wild and exciting era of the early 1940s, i felt that certain rural issues remained unresolved—that the war years had suddenly ended discussion on some rather crucial questions. so i wanted to leave the second world war and go back a decade to examine the state’s rural regions and residents. what concerned them? what ideas and solutions were presented? Dilemmas—problems with no easy answers—would be the word that kept coming to mind as i read the newspapers and examined the other documents of iowa’s early Depression years. i found within this changing era, despite the extreme fear and scarcity, a time when rural residents opened their arms and hearts as well as strengthened their minds and backs. the years of economic struggle for midwestern agriculture actually began in the early 1920s, a time of dramatically plummeting markets and land values. money concerns remained paramount, but so too did dilemmas of family and love. a headline in today’s paper asks an important question, “rural america fading away?” this population share has reached a new low of 16 percent in the 2010 Census. a hundred years ago rural america measured 72 percent, and rural residents remained the majority until 1950. with this demographic shift in today’s country, what has fundamentally changed within america? i wrote to the state Historical society of iowa, inc., with a new proposal for a postdoctorate project to examine four years of rural iowa from 1929 until 1933. although the foundation has funded several dissertation projects (including mine), this was a new venture for the small organization. the board answered my proposal with the surprising news that they not only acknowledgments xi liked my ideas but would also grant me a larger research check than i had requested. a second...