When was the great depression4/30/2023 ![]() Roosevelt’s immediate goal was to provide relief in the form of food, clothing, and shelter to the needy. Roosevelt was elected president in 1932, and with his inauguration the New Deal was launched in 1933. Clearly, more drastic measures were required to avert further tragedy. While the federal government under President Herbert Hoover’s administration attempted to provide some work and financial relief, the effects of the Depression nonetheless worsened from 1929 to 1932. Economic losses can hardly be calculated in monetary terms, and the social and psychological damages caused by such a prolonged crisis were staggering. As the Depression wore on, depositors lost their savings in banks that failed or closed workers and suppliers could not be paid by bankrupt businesses and many public servants were dismissed or not paid by state, county, and city agencies. Private charities, church and civic groups, and the many who were compassionate toward human misery tried to offer relief, but it was never enough. With millions of people jobless and desperate, charitable organizations such as the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross were soon unable to satisfy urgent needs. Unemployed and homeless, they hoped to join parents or relatives and somehow eke out a living from the land. The most poignant incidents that I can recall took place when destitute families from cotton mill towns- carrying their personal belongings in tattered suitcases and boxes-came by our family farm in western North Carolina begging for food and shelter. Those who endured the Great Depression still have vivid memories of this trying time. It was indeed the most severe economic crisis in American history, and recovery had not been accomplished fully by 1939 when World War II broke out in Europe. ![]() The stock market crash of October 1929 ended abruptly this age of promise and ushered in what we call the Great Depression. Economists and political leaders of those years expected unending material growth and only a few questioned the giddy optimism of boosters and promoters. The decade that followed World War I, 1919 through 1929, has often been called an era of prosperity, the “ roaring twenties”-a boom time for stock market gambling and speculation. See also: Great Depression Public Schools in the Great Depression 1920's Agriculture During the Great Depression "A New Deal for the American People" Tar Heel Junior Historian Association, NC Museum of History Reprinted with permission from the Tar Heel Junior Historian.
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