Woody Guthrie's Song 'This Land Was Made For You And Me'

The Great Depression, which occurred during the 1920s and 1930s, was a time period of extreme economic crisis affecting all American citizens in some sort of way. During the Great Depression, Americans questioned their future, the government’s role in containing the economic turmoil, and the president at the time Herbert Hoover. Woody Guthrie’s song “This Land Was Made for You and Me” expresses some of the feelings many Americans experienced during this time period. Folk singer and victim of the Great Depression Woody Guthrie, wrote the song “This Land was Made for You and Me” to express how U.S. citizens once viewed the nation as prosperous, now viewed the nation as desperate. In the song, Guthrie explains that the beauty and bounty of America’s land belongs to everyone. Poignantly, the song ends with “As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if [God blessed America for me.]” This line stressed how confused citizens felt about their country during this time. Citizens did not know what to think about living in America anymore. Should they leave? Where would they go? What about the

Citizens lost all hope and looked to President Hoover to do something about the climbing poverty and unemployment rates. Author of Give Me Liberty, Eric Foner, mentions that people were evicted from their homes and, “moved into ramshackle shantytowns, dubbed Hoovervilles” because the president’s policy on fighting the Depression, which consisted of Americans helping each other and the government having no part in assisting its citizens. They doubted the president’s ability to get the nation out of poverty. The song emphasizes the changing definition of freedom for citizens as meaning economic security, which comes with employment and government regulation of labor, companies, and the stock market. Citizens did not have these things during the Depression, and it perpetuated their