2008mar16. “What about now?”-type excerpts from Hard Times, An Oral History of the Great Depression (1970) by Studs Terkel.
Lily, 18: I think we’d hurt more now if we had a Depression. You don’t see how they’d make it if it happened to ‘em again. Because they take a lot of things for granted. I mean, you see ‘em now and they have everything. You can’t imagine how they would act if they didn’t have it. If they would even remember what they did. ‘Cause they’re past it now. They already done it, and they figure they’re over it. If we fell now, I think everybody would take it a lot harder. ¶ Everybody’d step on each other. They’d just walk all over and kill each other. They got more than they ever need that they’d just step on anybody to keep it. They got cars, they got houses, they got this and that. It’s more than they need, but they think they need it, so they want to keep it. Human life isn’t as important as what they got. [pg 23]
Dr. David J. Rossman, psychiatrist: Now people think it’s coming to them. The whole ethos has changed. There is a great deal more hatred and free-floating aggression all over the country. We have reached unprecedented prosperity. Everybody says “Why not me_?” The affluent society has made itself known to people ... how the better half lives. It’s put on television, you can see it. And everybody says, “Who the hell are they? What’s the matter with me? My skin is black, so what?” You don’t accept responsibility for your own fate. It’s the other fellow who is to blame. It’s terrible. It could tear our country apart. [If Depression ... revolution?] It would be an inchoate affair. It wouldn’t be as organized. ¶ Today nobody is permitted to starve. Now they think it’s coming to them. As a matter of fact, it was the government that brought this idea to the people, in the Thirties. The people didn’t ask the government. They ask the question they can’t answer themselves: Why am I the goat? Why _me_? They want the pie in the sky ... [pg 81]
Robert Langston, 43, jazz singer: I think it could. But it would behoove the Federal Government not to let it come. Because you’re dealing with a different breed of cat now. If they really want anarchy, let a Depression come now. My sixteen-year-old son is not the person I was when I was sixteen. He has manly responsibilities. And he doesn’t want any shit. When I was sixteen, I wasn’t afraid to die. But the kid, sixteen now, is not afraid to kill. [pg 92]
Julia Walther: I don’t know. I’ve been told it can never happen again. However, there is one thing that does trouble me. I went to Germany in ’34 and ’38. I saw what Nazism did. I was troubled by Americans saying: “But this could never happen with us. The Germans are a strange people with whom we have nothing in common – beasts.” I knew this wasn’t true. This kind of thing can happen any place, given certain circumstances ... ¶ There was a terrible depression in Germany. Along comes a man who tells them they’re a great nation, all they have to do is believe in themselves and follow him. He promised them the sun, the moon and the stars. The German intellectuals and comedians made fun of him and the Nazis in their night clubs. I heard one in the Platzl in Munich. The audience loved it, adored it. But it didn’t stop Nazism. They won over the lower middle classes ... ¶ The Depression overwhelmed us, yes. It was terrible. But we had hope: This is not going to kill us. I don’t think people can say that nowadays. If a Depression came now, I’d be afraid, terribly afraid ... [pg 164]
Sally Rand: I truly believe we shall have another Depression. I think people will just go out and take what they need. I don’t think there will be any more people queueing up on bread lines waiting to be fed by charity, God damn it. I’m not condoning this, but we’ve let it happen. Take the television. It isn’t food they’re hungry for now, it’s a different kind of food. Not only the Negroes. All the poor. ¶ The middle class look upon the deprived smugly: the poor we’ll have with us always. Oh yeah? [pg 174]
Doc Graham, self-described con/heist man: Very simple. They’d commit suicide today. I don’t think they’re conditioned to stand it. We were a hardier race then. We’d win wars. We didn’t procrastinate. We’d win them or lose them. Today we’re a new race of people. They’ll quit on a draw – if they see any feasible way to see their way out to quit with any dignity, they’ll quit. Back then, you had a different breed of people. You got $21 a month going into the army or the navy. So them guys, they went to win the war. There’s been an emancipated woman since the beginning of the war, also. [pg 186]
Dr. Nathan Ackerman, psychiatrist: I think a depression today would have a paradoxical effect, at least temporarily. Political upheaval, on one hand -- and bringing people closer together, on the other. Greater consideration for one another. Something like the quality of caring in London during the blitz. Everybody’s suffering was everybody’s concern. They drew together and gave each other solace. [pg 197]
Edward Santander, director of adult education at a small Midwestern college: If we had a severe depression today – I’m basically an optimist -- I don’t think this country would survive. Many people today are rootless. When you have this rootlessness, we’re talking about Germany of the Twenties. You’d see overt dictatorship take over. You would see your camps ... [pg 210]
Harry Terrell: But I can see a Depression ahead right now. If we go to pot, it would make that one look like a Sunday school picnic. A Depression today would cut deep, quick. Today, in the machine age, like everything – it would be sudden. ¶ In the Thirties, my sister’s family lived on their own production. They had gardens, they had eggs, they had flocks of chickens. Now the eggs are all produced in these large establishments. Machines turn out thousands of dozens. Then, they had their own and were more self-sufficient. Today, the milk is supplied by the same company that supplies this dining room here. They didn’t have money to buy new clothes or cars or machinery. But they had enough to keep body and soul together. Today, the money would be gone. They wouldn’t have the food ... [pg 216]
Dorothy Day: Another Depression might be a relief to many people. They know our prosperity is built on war. It might be so much better than war. People won’t have to keep up a front any longer. They wouldn’t have to keep up the payments any more. There would have to be a moratorium. The threat of Depression is nothing to worry about. I wish to goodness the stock market would collapse for good and for all. I’d like to see a nonviolent revolution take place and an end to this Holy War ... [pg 306]
