I Didn't Learn That in High School: 199 Facts About Being a U.S. Citizen by Jessica E. Piper

Author:Jessica E. Piper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc.
Published: 2017-07-18T17:47:25+00:00

The Great Depression

The 1920s were a good time for many Americans. The economy flourished following World War I, and people thought the country would keep growing. It turned out they were very wrong.

Fact #84

Following the stock market crash in October 1929, the United States entered a severe economic recession known as the Great Depression.

The stock market crash of 1929 was followed by one of the most severe economic downturns in history. Unemployment rose to 25 percent, and many Americans lost their jobs. Agricultural prices dropped substantially, and many farmers could not afford to keep growing their crops. To make matters worse, many Midwestern states were hit with severe weather, further damaging farms and destroying people’s livelihoods.

The United States was not the only country affected by the Great Depression. Global trade declined substantially during the depression, making every country worse off. Many European countries, which were still facing debts from World War I, especially struggled.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president of the United States. Roosevelt promised to restore the American economy. He enacted a policy known as the New Deal, which focused on three principles: relief for poor and unemployed people, economic recovery, and reform to ensure that such a crisis would never happen again.

Fact #85

Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in 1932. He guided the country through both the Great Depression and World War II.

Roosevelt’s policies were more effective than those of the previous president, Herbert Hoover. Unemployment slowly dropped during the 1930s, although the economy was still struggling compared to the 1920s. As it turned out, the economy would soon cease to be Roosevelt’s biggest problem — instead, the United States once again found itself involved in a world war.

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