Bonnie and Clyde: Depression Era Robbers
Like many of the gangsters and outlaws of the 1930's the couple captured the imagination of the public, possibility because people felt they coutd relate to the aspect of Bonnie and Clyde being outsiders. People who feel like outsiders themselves may feel they have a kinship with the Depression era outlaws.
Depression Era in America
Historian and writer E.R. Milner, an expert on Bonnie and Clyde, wrote a book named the Lives and Times of Bonnie and Clyde. Milner credits the outlaws appeal to the Depression era, when many people were left out in the cold and considered themselves outsiders. Milner described dazed men roaming the streets looking for jobs, breadlines for food and foreclosures forcing over 38 percent of farmers from their lands.
American citizens felt they had been abused by the government and big business. During the Depression, 38% of the country's money simply disappeared, according to Milner. Disenchanted citizens heard about Bonnie and Clyde striking back at the system and it struck a chord with the public.
Current news is filled with joblessness and the foreclosure crisis, even while big business is being bouyed up by government bailouts. The alienation of people from big business and government is understandable.
Bonnie and Clyde Legend
Bonnie and Clyde were Depression era criminals that have been romanticized by legend and the movie starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. The couple, died in a blazing hailstorm of bullets in Louisiana in 1934, ending their traveling crime spree,
The FBI website, as part of their 100 year anniversary of 2008, has Headline archives of the Top 100 cases in history. The story of Bonnie and Clyde is spotlighted as one of the top FBI historic cases.
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were immediately smitten with each other when they met in Texas in 1930. Clyde Barrow, 21, was a fast talking ex-con. Bonnie, 19, was separated, but not divorced, from her husband who was in jail himself. Parker was a petite woman, less than five feet tall and weighing 90 pounds.
Very early in their relationship Bonnie had to help Clyde break out of jail. Clyde was an ex-con who was thrown into jail shortly after the couple met. Bonnie smuggled a gun to him in the Waco jail and helped him to escape.
The two started their life of crime together by working their way across the Midwest and robbing stores and gas stations. Clyde was captured once again and thrown back into jail. In 1932 he was released and Bonnie and Clyde returned to their life of crime.. The couple made news and were pursued as they traveled through Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Kansas, Arkansas, Illinois and Iowa.
Bonnie and Clyde spent 1932 to 1934 on a crime spree that crisscrossed the countryside as they stole cars, robbed stores and gas stations and even a few banks. Clyde was the killer, allegedly killing at least a dozen people. Bonnie followed along, although it is believed that she never killed anybody herself. There is a lesson there about picking a good man, because Bonnie's seeming obsession with Clyde ended up getting her killed violently.
State law officials had been pursuing the pair within their jurisdictions. In 1933, the FBI was able to get involved because they found that Bonnis and Clyde had taken a stolen car across state lines.
On May 23, 1934, nearly 75 years ago, Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed by agents and killed in a hailstorm of 130 rounds of bullets.
Resources
FBI website, Bonnie and Clyde
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5 Comments
Post a CommentBeca - I imagine that there are a number of people who would be interested in purchasing or having that photo. A museum that has a crime exhibit or that collects crime memorabilia would probably take good care of it. The FBI also keeps a photo archive and may be interested.
Beca - I imagine that there are a number of people who would be interested in purchasing or having that photo. A museum that has a crime exhibit or that collects crime memorabilia would probably take good care of it. The FBI also keeps a photo archive and may be interested.
I have a photo that was in my Grandmother's belonging. My Father, said it was a photo that my Grandmother took of Bonnie & Clyde, when she feed them a meal, while on the run from the law. There is also another man in the photo. Does anyone know where I could turn this photo in for historial puposes?
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Hard times brings out the best and the worst in people! Maybe if they had the gov. programs for behavior problems!