The 1930s (pronounced “nineteen-thirties” and commonly abbreviated as “the 30s”) was a decade that began on January 1, 1930, and ended on December 31, 1939.
The decade was defined by a global economic and political crisis that culminated in the Second World War. It saw the collapse of the international financial system, beginning with the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the largest stock market crash in American history. The subsequent economic downfall, called the Great Depression, had traumatic social effects worldwide, leading to widespread poverty and unemployment, especially in the economic superpower of the United States and in Germany, which was already struggling with the payment of reparations for the First World War. The Dust Bowl in the United States (which led to the nickname the “Dirty Thirties”) exacerbated the scarcity of wealth. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, elected in 1933, introduced a program of broad-scale social reforms and stimulus plans called the New Deal in response to the crisis.
In the wake of the Depression, the decade also saw the rapid retreat of liberal democracy as authoritarian regimes emerged in countries across Europe and South America, including Italy, Spain, and in particular Nazi Germany. With the rise of Adolf Hitler, Germany undertook a series of annexations and aggressions against neighboring territories in Central Europe, and imposed a series of laws which discriminated against Jews and other ethnic minorities. Weaker states such as Ethiopia, China, and Poland were invaded by expansionist world powers, with the last of these attacks leading to the outbreak of World War II on September 1, 1939, despite calls from the League of Nations for worldwide peace. World War II helped end the Great Depression when governments spent money for the war effort. The 1930s also saw many important developments in science and a proliferation of new technologies, especially in the fields of intercontinental aviation, radio, and film. (Wikipedia)
Young family, penniless, hitchhiking on U.S. Highway 99, California. November, 1936.Street vendor selling ices from 2 to 5 cents, New York City, 1938.Soho, London, 1935.The quays of the Seine, Paris, 1935.The Direct Fisheries in Osmaston Road, Allenton, UK, 1930.Margaret Mitchell holding her book, Gone with the Wind, 1938.Lucille Ball in 1933.Elvis Presley with parents Gladys and Vernon in 1937.Little girls feeding pigeons at the Lustgarten, Berlin, Germany, 1934.Young boy playing flute beside his camels, 1931.Young motorcycle gang, 1930.Summer on the Lower East Side, New York, 1937.Mae Clarke in the 1931 horror film “Frankenstein.”Bride of Frankenstein, 1935A Los Angeles drive-in in 1938.Hollendyke Wrecking Service, Clarksburg, West Virginia, 1933.A film fan uses a mirror to admire the image of film star Gary Cooper she has had tattooed on her back, 1936.Rome, 1938.Gary Cooper and his wife Rocky, 1934.A device that helps to correct the application of make-up. Invented by Max Factor (right) in 1930.Dancing at a nightclub on Central Avenue, Los Angeles, 1938.South Street Waterfront, Manhattan, 1935.Heavy black clouds of dust rising over the Texas Panhandle, March 1936.Angelo’s, Columbus, Ohio, August 1938.Tyrone Power in 1938.Resettled farm child, New Mexico, 1935.New York, 1938.Boy with his cat, 1930s.Boys diving into the Thames river during an April heatwave in London, 1933.Just a little peek, 1937.Hanging around in Swansea, April 1939.Amelia Earhart standing under the nose of her Lockheed Model 10-E Electra, 1937.Wedding of musical stars Madge Elliott and Cyril Ritchard at St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, 1935The University of Chicago Archery Team in 1935.The timeless beauty of actress Loretta Young, 1931.Jean Harlow poses next to the huge World Heavyweight Champion Primo Carnera (nicknamed the Ambling Alp) in 1933.The view from the top of the Empire State Building on opening day, New York, May 1st, 1931.New York City at Night, 1932.Ironworker plying his trade on the Empire State Building, New York, 1931.Long hours, RCA building, Rockefeller Center, New York, 1932.The German zeppelin Hindenburg floats past the Empire State Building over Manhattan, on August 8th, 1936.Flat Iron Building, Madison Square, New York, May 18, 1938.Notre Dame de Paris, 1935.Here’s a shield that protected the face during extreme cold temps and snow storms in Canada, 1939.Near Edinburgh, 1935Hamilton County, Ohio. Cincinnati slum dwellings. 1935A group of Native American men wearing their traditional attire while raising the Stars and Stripes at the Lincoln Memorial in 1936.Roland, a 4000-lb elephant seal, gets a snow bath from his handler at the Berlin Zoo in 1930.Ronald “Dutch” Reagan was a radio sportscaster for WHO in Des Moines and on a tobacco ad card in 1932.
Yesterday Today 