Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Summer II/Section 10/Tom Levine

Overview

Tom Levine was born into a Jewish family in Russia. After the Russo-Japanese war broke out in his country he moved to America to start a new life with his uncle. After his move to New York, he was eventually interviewed by John Abner and Edwin Massendgill as a part of the Federal Writers' Project where his life story was recorded. Levine lived through the Great Depression, with four kids and a wife. According to his article, since that economic decline, Levine and his tailoring business struggled immensely.

Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Summer II/Section 10/Tom Levine
Born	1892 Russia
Died	Unknown
Occupation	Tailor

Biography

Early Life

Tom Levine was born in Russia in 1892 into a small farming and agricultural centered village. He was born into a jewish family where he learned to speak both Russian and Jewish before by the time he was five year old. He was a part of his community's education program until he was twelve years old. Before he turned thirteen, the 1905 Russo-Japanese War broke out dismantling his education job where he taught kindergarten. Levine was too young for war and his father was too old and was already a veteran of a previous war. His father then died a year later and Levine then decided to pack his belongings and move to America to live with his uncle.

Late Life

When Tom Levine arrived in New York, he was treated with immense hospitality from his aunt and uncle. He helped out in their butcher shop but wished to work on his own. This is where Levine started his passion for tailoring and clothing. His first job related to that business was in a clothing factory. Then he got a job as a tailoring apprentice in Bowman, NY. He worked there for a time and even brought his sister over to America with him when he acquired some money. However that business failed and he got another job at the Bottle Tailoring Company of Bowman. The store manager of this company stole some of his earnings and that job eventually was closed as well. Afterwards, Levine decided to become a Tailor and built his own tailoring company. Throughout the next two decades, he built up his experience as a tailor and worked to make some good money.

During the late 1910’s, Levine met his future wife and they were married. They bought a home together and started having children in 1920. They moved to Bowman, NY in 1921 and he began spending more money on home improvements and his family. He eventually went broke by the end of the year. He worked to build up more money and him and his wife had three more children by 1927. As the 1920’s ended, Tom Levine's tailoring business went into a major decline. According to Levine, his wife still spent money even when they had none. His mother in law got very sick and died so his wife wanted to have a lavish life saying "I only have a short time to live since my mother died".. Because of the economic collapse of the Great Depression, Levines business failed and he barely made enough to pay their bills. By 1936, his wife left him and sold their house. She took their kids and left him broke and alone. He attempted to rebuild his business and sent money to his children. He moved to Johnstown and tried to restart there. Once he started making some money, his wife let him visit with the children. According to Levine, they moved back in together in Brooks, NY and were happy for a while. However, he lost money again trying to buy a bigger house and went almost completely broke. His wife left him for the final time, charging him with non child support. Levine was thrown in jail and he was forced by the judge to pay her fifteen dollars a week for the rest of his life.

Social Context

Bank being rushed at the start of the Great Depression

Jewish Businesses During the Great Depression

During the Depression era, Jewish families' money situation was split down the middle. Either the Jewish family was extremely poor or had a lot of income. Their socioeconomic status was what shaped this dividing factor between these New York families. The 1920’s era was the beginning for New Deal policies surrounding wages and production in an effort to aid in the Great Depression struggles. Families of the Jewish working class took the biggest economic hit when the Depression started. Specifically one third of those families involved in the clothing business or surrounding industries suffered large layoffs and unemployment. The cause of a lot of unemployment in the Jewish business population was loss in consumer confidence. With less and less people buying certain products everyday, there in turn was no money for companies, such as those in the tailoring business, to continue to keep a large amount of employees on payroll. As a result, a significant portion of Jewish families were laid off during the depression.

The Russo-Japanese War

The Russo-Japanese War lasted from 1904 to 1905. It can be categorized as a power grab between the two powerful countries of Russia and Japan. It was majorly a military and naval fight for imperialistic ambitions colliding between the two countries.The war started because Russia rejected the plan to divide the influence on Korean and Manchuria between them and Japan. Japan then attacked Russia causing them to retaliate, declaring war on Japan. The fighting between 1904 to 1905 took place mostly in Chinese territory in between the two countries. Over the course of two years a series of battles occurred, and Japan inevitably won the majority of these battles. Towards the end of 1905, United States President Theodore Roosevelt created a Peace Treaty ending the Russo-Japanese war.