Kansas, state, United States: Wars and Depression
Wars and Depression
Wheat production greatly expanded during World War I, but the end of the war brought financial difficulties. During the 1920s and 30s, Kansas was faced with labor unrest and the economic hardships of the depression. As part of the Dust Bowl, Kansas sustained serious land erosion during the long drought of the 1930s. Erosion led to the implementation of conservation and reclamation projects, particularly in the northern and western parts of the state. In 1924 an effort of the Ku Klux Klan to gain political control was fought by William Allen White, editor of the Emporia
During World War II agriculture thrived and industry expanded rapidly. The food-processing industry grew substantially, the cement industry enjoyed a major revival, and the aircraft industry boomed. After the war agricultural prosperity once again declined when the state was hit by a severe drought and grasshopper invasion in 1948. Prosperity returned briefly during the Korean War, but afterward farm surpluses and insufficient world markets combined to make the state's tremendous agricultural ability part of the national “farm problem.”
Sections in this article:
- Introduction
- Modern Kansas
- Wars and Depression
- Life on the Prairie
- The Wakarusa War and Bleeding Kansas
- Pro- and Antislavery Factions
- Early Inhabitants, Exploration, and Relocations
- Government and Higher Education
- Economy
- Geography
- Facts and Figures
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