Studs Terkel #2

Ed Paulsen 

In this story Ed Paulsen talks about his own experiences in the city of San Francisco, during the Great Depression. His hometown had not been affected by the Crash of 1929, since almost no one had invested in or even knew what stocks were. He came into the city of San Francisco looking for work, which turned out to be unsuccessful without a college degree. He recounts the experiences of watching African American and white men both protesting for the sake of food in front of City Hall. Paulsen himself was a scavenger, searching for food, money and work. Paulsen explains that people had a “coyote mentality….He’ll run but when he’s cornered, he’ll fight….He’s not as powerful as a wolf. He has a small body….A coyote is nature’s victim as well as man’s. We were coyotes in the thirties, the jobless” (98). Paulsen believes this because he saw that people fought for food and survival. The coyote is symbolic of the people’s struggles during the Depression. During the recent housing crisis, lots of people lost their homes. There are thousands of people who are homeless and starving even today in America. This story helps us reflect on the importance of our government and population in fighting this problem that is rampant in both America and around the world. Paulsen argues that the only way to deal with is for people to band together in their time of need.

Arthur A. Robertson
Mr. Robertson recounts his story as a stock broker being affected by the Depression. He watched his friends and allies fall economically, leading them to end their own lives because of the poverty. Terkel chose to include this story because he wanted to show that the Depression didn’t just affect the lower class. The rich and educated were greatly hurt by the Depression because the American economy relies on individual spending. During this time period, in a sense all classes were removed and everyone had to struggle to survive. This difficult time period led directly to lots of new legislation which got government more involved in business. Another outcome from the depression was the establishment of new public works programs that helped get everyone back to work. This has set a precedence for government involvement to help restore consumer confidence in difficult time periods and the people’s expectations that the government is responsible for job creation. For example, recently the Obama administration has made several bailouts to large organizations in order to protect jobs.