In August 1929, a severe worldwide economic depression took place. People lost their jobs, homes, and business, and banks began to fail. Many people became homeless because housing prices became unaffordable. The economy shrank by 50% in the first five years of the Great Depression. Many people blamed President Herbert Hoover because the stock market crashed shortly after he took the office. They thought Hoover failed to recognize how serious the situation was, and by the time he did people were already suffering. Things started to get better in 1932 when the nation elected Franklin D. Roosevelt for president. America experienced both good and bad things after The Great Depression.

     Around 1930 the economy was making enormous strides. Television was invented, railroads became faster and roads became wider and easier to drive on.  The year 1930 is known to be “the most technologically progressive decade of the century.” Since then technology has gotten more and more advanced each year. Now we have smartphones, laptops, tablets, and even display monitors in our cars. 

     Herbert Hoover was president during most of the Great Depression and did his best to help the American people find jobs again. From 1929 and 1936, Hoover deported around 2 million Mexicans because he thought it would help Americans find more jobs. However, that did not happen, as small businesses couldn’t afford to pay the workers. 

     Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected in 1932, and America started to notice positive changes. Roosevelt was supported by many Americans because he established the Social Security Act in 1935, which we still use today. The act protected and provided benefits for people who physically couldn’t work, victims of industrial accidents, handicapped people, and mothers who struggled to take care of their kids. This helped a lot of people after the Great Depression. 

     During the Great Depression, hundreds of small banks shut down across the country. This was due to the stock market crash of Oct. 1929, when Americans started to lose their money. Throughout the Great Depression, both Roosevelt and Hoover tried to get the small banks up and running again by asking for money. Roosevelt reached out to Congress for $4.88 billion to help the banks recover. Nothing seemed to work. 

     The Great Depression lasted about 10 years. A combination of the New Deal and World War II got America out of the Depression. Jobs started to open again and housing prices went back down. During the war around 12 million Americans were sent into the military, others were ordered to work in defense-related jobs. These war jobs took care of the 17 million unemployed people during 1939. After the war ended people were able to return to their normal lives.