Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2021/Summer/105/Section 10/Federal Writers Project - Buck Sanders

Overview

Douglas Carter interviewed Buck Sanders for the Federal Writers Project between 1936-1940 about his personal and professional life. He highlighted Sanders' many years and multiple roles in the workforce in Florida and North Carolina

Biography

1929 Rolls Royce released the same year as the Great Depression

Buck Sanders was born in North Carolina in 1905 where he lived a lot of his life on his own. Despite having seven siblings, including three sisters and four brothers, Sanders’ family was not very present, leaving Sanders to survive on his own. After repeating the seventh grade three times and exhibiting little interest in education, Sanders dropped out and entered the workforce. While Sanders was not successful in academics, he excelled in mechanics, dropping out early to pursue a career in automobiles. He started out as a delivery wagon driver for a grocer in North Carolina before becoming a driver for a wealthy family in Palm Beach Florida. This family adored Sanders so much they offered to adopt him, which he declined. For the following few months, Sanders stayed with this family in Florida working in a garage before quickly becoming a mechanic. Following the time in Florida, Sanders moved back to North Carolina to pursue a mining enterprise with two other men and turned to the aviation field when it was unsuccessful. Eventually, Sanders purchased a gas station in the mountains that also served as an auto repair garage where he hoped for a busy flow of tourists to keep his bills paid. Sanders was the mechanic his peers came to if troubled with a car or unable to solve the issue. While Sanders played a role in a variety of positions such as mining and aviation, his main occupation in life was as a mechanic.

Throughout most of Sanders’ life, he was in constant pursuit of invention and innovation. Sanders claimed to have come up with inventions like an electric scooter, toothbrush, and razor. He claims, however, that his main idea was a specific motor that used cheaper fuel, did not have any valves, and created a large amount of power. Sanders' believed he was robbed of all of these inventions because of a lack of funding and pursuit of a patent. Later in Sanders’ life, the motor he came up with was similarly created by the United States army.

Social Issues that Impacted Sanders' Life

How the Great Depression Lead to an Increase in Inventing

Blue Comet Red Bank in 1929

The Great Depression caused a cascade of unemployment throughout the United States. People were forced into poverty with limited jobs available. However, while people were sitting at home, ideas were being created. Despite all of the negative results and experiences of the Great Depression, there was a boom in inventing and innovating. But an idea is not all it takes to become a real product. Banks and private investors that would usually be able to pursue any new ideas or innovations suffered greatly from the depression. The number of patents filed during the Great Depression declined significantly because of the bank closures, making it harder for investors to fund new ventures From this, an excess of ideas never reached the market or were patented before one could pursue them. The negative effects of the Great Depression are undeniable, but the market of innovation and invention grew positively during this time period as the standard of inventing was set for years to come. While new products were being created at a low rate, ideas were being formed for later pursuit.

How the Great Depression Affected the Automobile Industry

The early 1920s held a rapid growth of the automobile industry due to the increasingly affordable model and the economic prosperity. This rush to buy automobiles created a major expansion in the market as a whole, leading to many different manufacturers and companies across the country. Unfortunately, as a growing market, they were not stable enough to take such a major hit as the market crash of 1929. This crash had a devastating impact on the industry slimming down the many manufacturers to the major three we see today, Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler. Along with the cutting of the smaller companies, the treatment of the workers started to decrease too. Longer hours, pay cuts, and more dangerous and unenjoyable working conditions ensued resulting in a large amount of protests, walk outs and labor unions. After the Great Depression, a unionization took place to shape the automobile industry for years to come as one of the most important parts of the American economy.

Bibliography

1. Clausen, John A., and John A Clausen. “Adolescents Interests and Activities in the 1930s.” Essay. In American Lives: Looking Back at the Children of the Great Depression. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995.
2. Nanda, Ramana, and Tom Nicholas. “Did Bank Distress Stifle Innovation During the Great Depression?” SSRN Electronic Journal, July 11, 2012. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2024195. (Accessed July 15, 2021).
3. Nicholas, Tom. “Innovation Lessons from the 1930s.” The McKinsey Quarterly. Harvard Business School, 2008. https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/Tom_McKinsey_Quarterly_8421a1a0-0104-4cf1-843d-fc32fa51dd0a.pdf. (Accessed July 15, 2021).
4. Duchardt, Hannah. “THe Great Depression and Effects on the Auto Industry.” https://hdhistoryblog.weebly.com/revised-posts/the-great-depression-and-effects-on-the-auto-industry. (Accessed July 15, 2021).
5. Jaffe, Eric. “How an Economic Crisis Impacts Innovation: Lessons from the Great Depression.” Medium. Sidewalk Talk, April 9, 2020. https://medium.com/sidewalk-talk/how-an-economic-crisis-impacts-innovation-lessons-from-the-great-depression-318037143a29. (Accessed July 15, 2021).