The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from 1929 to 1939. Explore every angle of the crisis and how it affected everyday Americans, from the stock market crash of 1929, to the Dust Bowl, to FDR’s response to the economic calamity—the New Deal.
By 1929, a perfect storm of unlucky factors led to the start of the worst economic downturn in U.S. history.
As they traveled west from the drought-ravaged Midwest, American-born migrants were viewed as disease-ridden intruders who would sponge off the government.
As Americans confronted a banking crisis, the Great Depression and then World War II, FDR talked to Americans through radio broadcasts.
The Hoover Dam, LaGuardia Airport and the Bay Bridge were all part of FDR's New Deal investment.
By giving support to an army of creative workers, the government was able to lift the prospects of an entire nation.
FDR's New Deal aimed to revive the American economy.
Drought, farming practices and economic forces caused the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, devastating the Great Plains during the Great Depression.
In 1936, the future looked bright for rigid airships, the hydrogen-filled, lighter-than-air zeppelins. The Hindenburg, Nazi Germany’s pride and joy, spent one glorious season ferrying passengers across the Atlantic. The following year, the airship era screeched to a spectacular halt when the Hindenburg burst into flames while landing in Lakehurst, New Jersey.
The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from the stock market crash of 1929 to 1939.
With millions of Americans unable to find employment, working wives became scapegoats.
Hoovervilles, named after unpopular President Herbert Hoover, were encampments of crude dwellings for poor and homeless people during the Great Depression.
More women entered the workforce during the economically tough era, but the jobs they took were relegated to "women's work" and poorly paid.
And why they’re probably not going anywhere.