How did the dust bowl effect the population?

Answer 1

According to the US census statistics, America lost 10 million of its population from 1931 to 1940. A Russian researcher, Boris Borisov worked on uncovering the death toll during the American Famine and his estimates are that 5 million children died of starvation and 2.5 million adults. This is equal to all the Jews that died during the WWII Holocaust, so an event equal in magnitude. Boris Borisov describes the movement of the American population out of the Dust Bowl affected region as a Hunger March. President Hoover ordered regular military soldiers to crush all social unrest. A large majority of the population fleeing the Dust Bowl region headed to California. These Americans were met at the boarder by police and state national guard who beat them back into the Mojave and Sonoran Desert. Thirst and starvation was the final outcome. "Bound for Glory", an autobiography of Woody Guthrie records a striking account of these events. Besides blocking the roads into California, freight trains were stopped by police in the most desolated desert regions and the unwanted refugee passengers were rounded up, beaten and removed of any food, water or personal identification. They were left to die in the desert as the train moved on. The Woody Guthrie song "This Train" turns out to be a eulogy to the victims of these events. "This Train" describes how the refugees did nothing to deserve the treatment experienced on the American Death Trains.