Miami prospered during the 1920s but weakened after the collapse of the Florida land boom of the 1920s, the 1926 Miami Hurricane and the Great Depression in the 1930s. When World War II began, Miami, well-situated due to its location on the southern coast of Florida, played an important role in the battle against German submarines. The war helped to expand Miami’s population to almost half a million. After Fidel Castro rose to power in 1959, many Cubans emigrated to Miami, further increasing the population. In the 1980s and 1990s, various crises struck South Florida, among them the Arthur McDuffie beating and the subsequent riot, drug wars, Hurricane Andrew, and the Elián González uproar. Miami remains a major international financial and cultural center.
This speculation boom started to falter because of building construction delays. The transport system was constantly overloaded with bulky building materials. In January 1926 the Prinz Valdemar, an old Danish warship on its way to becoming a floating hotel, ran aground and blocked Miami Harbor for weeks. Already overloaded, the three major railway companies soon declared an embargo on all incoming goods except food. The cost of living had skyrocketed and finding an affordable place to live was nearly impossible.
This economic bubble was already collapsing when the catastrophic Great Miami Hurricane in 1926 ended what was left of the boom. According to the Red Cross, there were 373 fatalities. Other estimates vary, since there were a large number of people listed as “missing”. Between 25,000 and 50,000 people were left homeless in the Miami area. The Category 4 storm was the 12th most costly and 12th most deadly to strike the United States during the 20th century. The Great Depression followed, in which more than sixteen thousand people in Miami became unemployed. A Civilian Conservation Corps camp was opened in the area.
In the mid-1930s, the Art Deco district of Miami Beach was developed. On February 15, 1933, an assassination attempt was made on President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt by Giuseppe Zangara, an Italian anarchist, while Roosevelt was giving a speech in Miami’s Bayfront Park. Mayor Anton Cermak of Chicago, who was shaking hands with Roosevelt, was shot and died two weeks later. Four other people were wounded, but President-elect Roosevelt was not harmed. At his sentencing Zangara said, “I decide to kill him and make him suffer. I want to make it 50-50. Since my stomach hurt I want to make even with capitalists by kill the President. My stomach hurt long time.” Zangara was quickly tried for Cermak’s murder and was executed by the electric chair on March 20, 1933 in Raiford, Florida.
Source: WikiPedia
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Tags: Art Deco District, Arthur Mcduffie, Civilian Conservation Corps, Construction Delays, Cubans, Drug Wars, Economic Bubble, Fidel Castro, Florida Land Boom, German Submarines, Great Depression, Half A Million, Hurricane Andrew, Incoming Goods, Miami Area, Miami Hurricane, Mid 1930s, Railway Companies, Uproar, World War Ii
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