Another central figure is introduced in these chapters: George Ehrlich. Ehrlich, too, is described as a last chancer because he is fleeing the Russian czar: “Oklahoma was their [the Ehrlich family’s] last chance, as Dalhart was to the cowboy Bam White, as No Man’s Land was to the Lucas and Folkers families” (68). Egan describes men like Ehrlich as “bound, each in their way to the High Plains […] because they knew this was the only roll of the dice left” (88). This contextualizes their later desperation to hold on to their land at any cost; homesteading is their only avenue to achieving the American Dream, and surrendering that dream in a country that idealizes hard work and independence feels shameful. 

By 1931, however, the High Plains is in environmental and economic crises, and Egan describes the region as taking on a meaner edge. As an example of the meaner edge, Egan presents Tom “Black Jack” Ketchum, a gang leader, who robs Levi Hertzstein’s clothier store in Dalhart. Hertzstein seeks justice by organizing a posse to find the bandit, and when Hertzstein’s posse overtakes Ketchum, he surrenders. As Hertzstein moves forward to disarm him, however, Ketchum shoots all the members of the posse, leaving them bleeding on the ground. This rise in crime and violence hints at The Limits of Hard Work and Self-Sufficiency, as people turn to illegal methods to try to get ahead in an inhospitable environment.

When the economy spirals downwards, as presented in these three chapters, High Plains citizens scramble to find other ways to make money. Many turn to bootlegging (prohibition began in 1920); however, most choose to over-plow the land. One character who capitalizes on over-plowing is young Ike Osteen, who hires himself and his tractor out making $1 per acre so that he can bring in some money for his widowed mother. Egan comments on Osteen’s actions and again weaves in the contrast between the ranchers’ philosophy versus the farmers’ philosophy: “A decade earlier Ike [Osteen] would have been cussed at or ridiculed—the thought of pulverizing Baca [County’s] grass being the stupidest idea a person could come up with” (81). The growing acceptance of practices once viewed as reckless is an early sign of the challenges of Confronting the Unprecedented: The economic crisis is so severe that unthinkable responses quickly become thinkable.

Chapter 6 opens the second section of The Worst Hard Time (“Betrayal, 1931-1933”) with an exploration of The Failures and Lies of the American Government. The High Plains farmers feel betrayed by the government that once promised them wealth when the wheat prices crash. To make things worse, President Hoover tells the farmers not to worry about the crash: “Americans had simply lost their confidence,” and “the worst effects of the crash [...] will have passed during the next sixty days” (95). When proud farmers beg President Hoover for relief to buy their wheat to at least feed it to hungry families, Hoover refuses, “but congratulations, the government men said. You [the High Plains] grew seven times as much wheat as you did a dozen years ago. A new national record” (87). The disjunct between the consolation the government offers and the farmers’ plight paints Hoover and his allies as deeply out of touch. In particular, the emphasis on the “national record” is an unintentional and ironic reminder of the role that appeals to patriotism and national interest played in convincing the farmers to settle there—a decision for which they, rather than the government, are now paying the consequences.