Great Depression

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.

Featured Overview

Learn more about the 1930s, a particularly tumultuous decade in world history that got its start with a bang - or, more accurately, a crash.

1:08m watch

Great Depression Illustrated Collage

Illustration by Eduardo Ramón Trejo. Photos from Getty Images.

Featured Overview

Learn more about the 1930s, a particularly tumultuous decade in world history that got its start with a bang - or, more accurately, a crash.

1:08m watch

Start Here

5 Causes of the Great Depression

By 1929, a perfect storm of unlucky factors led to the start of the worst economic downturn in U.S. history.

dust bowl migrants

As they traveled west from the drought-ravaged Midwest, American-born migrants were viewed as disease-ridden intruders who would sponge off the government.

How FDR's 'Fireside Chats' Helped Calm a Nation in Crisis

As Americans confronted a banking crisis, the Great Depression and then World War II, FDR talked to Americans through radio broadcasts.

9 New Deal Infrastructure Projects That Changed America, Lincoln Tunnel construction

The Hoover Dam, LaGuardia Airport and the Bay Bridge were all part of FDR's New Deal investment.

How Artists Helped End the Great Depression

History Shorts: How Artists Helped End the Great Depression

By giving support to an army of creative workers, the government was able to lift the prospects of an entire nation.

1:04 watch

Explore All Related Topics

Great Depression
Government official in suit sitting at a desk signing a document, as a group of men in Indian clothing and headdresses stand behind him.

An economic relief program aimed specifically at helping Native American communities during the Great Depression, the legislation marked a sharp U-turn in federal policy toward Indigenous peoples.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act on 14th August 1935. From left to right, Robert Lee Doughton, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Edwin E. Witte, Director of the President's Social Security Committee, with Senator Robert F. Wagner, co-author of the bill behind him, Senator Robert La Follette, Senator Augustine Lonergan, Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, Senator William H. King, Rep. David John Lewis, co-author of the bill and Senator Joseph F. Guffey.

Social Security differed from other New Deal programs in that it wasn’t a short-term solution to the Great Depression. It was a long-term investment.

5 Causes of the Great Depression

By 1929, a perfect storm of unlucky factors led to the start of the worst economic downturn in U.S. history.

The airship Hindenburg burning after it crashed on May 6, 1937 in Lakehurst, New Jersey.

Theories ranged from negligence to sabotage to an 'act of God.'

Why the Tennessee Valley Authority was the New Deal’s Most Ambitious—and Controversial—Program

The TVA was a model for rural electrification in the South, but it displaced thousands and attracted a slew of lawsuits.

How Bank Failures Contributed to the Great Depression

Were financial institutions victims—or culprits?

Dorothea Lange captured the reality of the Great Depression in the faces of those who struggled most.

1:01m watch

By giving support to an army of creative workers, the government was able to lift the prospects of an entire nation.

1:04m watch

6 People Who Made Big Money During the Great Depression

Even amid America’s worst economic downturn, a select few accumulated vast fortunes.

9 New Deal Infrastructure Projects That Changed America, Lincoln Tunnel construction

The Hoover Dam, LaGuardia Airport and the Bay Bridge were all part of FDR's New Deal investment.

Civilian Conservation Corps camp (CCC)

On the heels of the Great Depression, the federal government under FDR hired young people to work on projects across the country. Here’s what the Corps got done.

Migrant Mother, photographed by Dorothea Lange

Uncovering the woman behind Dorothea Lange’s famous Depression-era photograph.

How FDR's 'Fireside Chats' Helped Calm a Nation in Crisis

As Americans confronted a banking crisis, the Great Depression and then World War II, FDR talked to Americans through radio broadcasts.

During the 20th century, Americans’ lifespans tended to rise and fall depending on the economy—but not in the way you might think.

By the time Thanksgiving became an official U.S. holiday in 1863, wild turkeys had nearly disappeared. But Depression-era shifts in land use helped the animals rebound.

Desperate times call for creative measures.

Up to 1.8 million people of Mexican descent—most of them American-born—were rounded up in informal raids and deported.

In 1934, the heiress' mother fought her aunt for custody in a very public trial.

Ida May Fuller

Over her lifetime, the first Social Security recipient received nearly 1,000 times what she paid into the system.

More women entered the workforce during the economically tough era, but the jobs they took were relegated to "women's work" and poorly paid.

With millions of Americans unable to find employment, working wives became scapegoats.

Herbert Hoover was not a “do-nothing” president during the Great Depression. In fact, his actions may have made things worse.

Wall Street

The truth behind those stories of Wall Street stockbrokers leaping to their deaths.

dust bowl migrants

As they traveled west from the drought-ravaged Midwest, American-born migrants were viewed as disease-ridden intruders who would sponge off the government.

How the Great Depression Became the Golden Age for Monopoly

When times got tough during the Great Depression, people turned to diversions like Monopoly and Scrabble—cheap, reusable fun for a wide age range.

The New Deal

While the New Deal did have a lasting impact on the U.S. economy, other significant factors contributed toward ending the Great Depression by June 1938.

From the moment the leaders of the victorious Allied nations arrived in France for the peace conference in early 1919, the post-war reality began to diverge sharply from Wilson’s idealistic vision.

An apple seller during the Great Depression.

A historic surplus and a bright idea led to relief for thousands of unemployed men during the height of the Depression.

During the Great Depression, St. Louis residents who were down on their luck built their own city on the banks of the Mississippi River.

As Americans suffered through the Great Depression, the Roosevelts dined on bread and butter sandwiches and cold jellied soup.

(Credit: KT Design/Science Photo Library)

A number of complex factors helped to create the conditions necessary for the Great Depression—adherence to the gold standard was just one of those factors.

Farm Security Administration photographers (left to right) John Vachon, Arthur Rothstein, and Russell Lee with Roy Stryker, reviewing photographs. (Credit: The Library of Congress)

To justify the need for New Deal projects, the government employed photographers to document the suffering of those affected, producing some of the most iconic photographs of the Great Depression.

Meant to exhibit the "World of Tomorrow," the 1939 World's Fair in New York City tried to predict what life would be like beyond the 20th century. "Elektro" is a perfect example - a humanoid robot who could enjoy a cigarette while cracking a joke.

2:42m watch

Explore how the Great Depression of the 1930s forced America to consider having a social safety net, leading President FDR to sign the Social Security Act into law via his New Deal programs. Learn how Social Security has changed over time.

3:11m watch

Rural Electrification Program poster featuring a woman sliding baked rolls out of an oven, 1940s. (Credit: Found Image Holdings/Corbis via Getty Images)

90 percent of rural homes in the U.S. didn’t have electricity in 1935. Ten years later, almost all of them did.

FDIC Created The Glass-Steagall Act set up a firewall between commercial banks, which accept deposits and issue loans and investment banks which negotiate the sale of bonds and stocks. The Banking Act of 1933 also created the Federal Deposit Insurance C...

Gangsters in a patrol wagon, New York, USA, mid 1930s. Hiding their faces from the camera as they are on their way to the office of Special Prosecutor Thomas E Dewey. Dewey (1902-1971) was appointed Special Prosecutor to lead the fight against crime and corruption in New York. He later went on to serve as Governor of the state of New York (1943-1954) and was the unsuccessful Republican candidate for the US Presidency in 1944 and 1948. (Photo by Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

The Great Depression saw a rise in criminal activity and the glorification of the characters involved, from daring bank robbers to the G-men hunting them down.

A migrant family in California looking for work in the pea fields during the Great Depression. (Credit: Corbis/Getty Images)

In 1930, raising tariffs across the board hurt the U.S. economy.

The accused Scottsboro Boys (left to right): Clarence Norris, Olen Montgomery, Andy Wright, Willie Roberson, Ozie Powell, Eugene Williams, Charlie Weems, Roy Wright, and Haywood Patterson.

The Scottsboro Boys, nine Black teenagers accused of raping two white women on a train near Scottsboro, Alabama, in 1931, endured several lengthy court trials.

Men sitting down to dinner in the poorhouse, 1840. (Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In a time before social services, society’s most vulnerable people were hidden away in brutal institutions.

Franklin D. Roosevelt. United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the Social Security Bill (Act) in 1935. (Photo by: Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Early Social Assistance in America Economic security has always been a major issue in an unstable, unequal world with an aging population. Societies throughout history have tackled the issue in various ways, but the disadvantaged relied mostly on charit...

Federal employees working on Social Security records, c. 1935.

And why they’re probably not going anywhere.

migrant mother

New Deal Photographers The field of photography benefitted hugely from the New Deal. In the mid-1930s, the Farm Security Administration’s Resettlement Administration hired photographers to document the work done by the agency, which launched the careers...

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

The FDIC, or Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, was created in 1933 to protect bank depositors and ensure financial trust during the Great Depression.

Tennessee, Tennessee Valley Authority - Tva - Weir Dam, South Holston Dam.Tennessee, Tennessee Valley Authority - Tva - Weir Dam, South Holston Dam. (Photo by Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

The TVA, or Tennessee Valley Authority, was established in 1933 as one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Depression-era New Deal programs, providing jobs and electricity to the rural Tennessee River Valley. The TVA was envisioned as a federally-owned electric utility and regional economic development agency.

WPA Workers Repairing Sidewalks

The Works Progress Administration or WPA was a New Deal employment and infrastructure program created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression.

Participants in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study

In order to track the disease’s full progression, researchers provided no effective care as the study's African American participants experienced severe health problems including blindness, mental impairment—or death.

Learn more about the 1930s, a particularly tumultuous decade in world history that got its start with a bang - or, more accurately, a crash.

1:08m watch

Threaded boondoggles. (Credit: Laurence Mouton/Getty Images)

“The Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang” defines a “boondoggle” as “an extravagant and useless project,” but behind the funny-sounding name is actual history. During the late 1920s and early 1930s, Boy Scouts at summer camps spent their days not only swimming and playing games but participating in the latest scouting craze in which boys […]

A dust storm approaches Stratford, Texas in April 1935.

The Dust Bowl’s worst storm blotted out the sun and terrified the Great Plains’ already struggling population.

Explore 10 surprising facts about America's epic drought disaster—the Dust Bowl.

Did you know that the Hoover Dam supplies electricity to more than 20 million people? Get all the facts on this marvel of engineering.

3:20m watch

Black Thursday brings the roaring twenties to a screaming halt, ushering in a world-wide an economic depression.

2:25m watch

See how Henry Kaiser's love for a young lady spurred him to build the Hoover Dam and the great military war ships.

3:48m watch

President Franklin Roosevelt creates a series of programs designed to help America cope with, and recover from the Great Depression.

2:05m watch

In the early 1930's, every spring in the Tennessee River Valley brought on an onslaught of rain which totaled six feet each year. Roosevelt created the Tennessee Valley Authority to fix the problem.

2:44m watch

How did President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal get the American economy back on track, and which components still have a major impact on today's society?

1:54m watch

Families were driven out of the once fertile great plains by massive dust clouds--one that rose to 10,000 feet and reached as far as New York City.

2:49m watch

Elected in 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt was a reassuring presence for many Americans through the trials of the Great Depression.

4:06m watch

Discover how one of the darkest economic times in American history helped the nation reinvent itself.

3:37m watch

Explore nine surprising facts about the massive German airship and its fiery demise.

September 1932: Steel workers atop the 70 story RCA building in NYC's Rockefeller Center get all the air and freedom they want by lunching on a steel beam with a sheer drop of over 800 feet to the street level.

The 1930s were the decade of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl and other problems, but also the Franklin D. Roosevelt presidency and Hollywood’s Golden Age.

Civilian Conservation Corps

CCC and the New Deal President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC, with an executive order on April 5, 1933. The CCC was part of his New Deal legislation, combating high unemployment during the Great Depression by ...

HISTORY: Stock Market Crash 1929

The Stock Market Crash of 1929 ushered in the Great Depression, as some 16 million shares were traded on Black Tuesday, Oct. 29, 1929, wiping out many investors.

Investors rush to withdraw their savings during the stock market crash of 1929.

The stock market crash of October 1929 left the American public susceptible to rumors of impending financial disaster. A phenomenon that compounded the nation’s economic woes during the Great Depression was a wave of banking panics or “bank runs,” during which large numbers of anxious people withdrew their deposits in cash, forcing banks to liquidate loans and often leading to bank failure.

(Original Caption) President Roosevelt is shown as he addressed the people of the United States in a nation wide broadcast where he told them that "we are going to win the war and the peace that follows." President Roosevelt is shown here as he made his "fireside" chat and where for the first time in the picture, the fireplace of the room shows.

The Fireside Chats refer to some 30 speeches President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed to the American people via radio from March 1933 to June 1944. Roosevelt spoke on a variety of topics from banking to unemployment to fighting fascism in Europe. Millions of people found comfort and renewed confidence in these speeches.

LAKE MEAD NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, ARIZONA - JUNE 15: The Arizona Intake Towers (L) and Nevada Intake Towers on the upstream side of the Hoover Dam are shown on June 15, 2021 in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Arizona. Last week, The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reported that Lake Mead, North America's largest artificial reservoir, dropped to 1,071.53 feet above sea level, the lowest it's been since being filled in 1937 after the construction of the Hoover Dam. The declining water levels are a result of a nearly continuous drought for the past two decades coupled with increased water demands in the Southwestern United States. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The Hoover Dam was devised as a means for controlling the wild waters of the Colorado River and became the world's largest dam upon its completion in 1935.

Dweller in "Hooverville", Circleville, Ohio, c. 1938. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Hoovervilles, named after unpopular President Herbert Hoover, were encampments of crude dwellings for poor and homeless people during the Great Depression.

The airship Hindenburg burning after it crashed on May 6, 1937 in Lakehurst, New Jersey.

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.

Franklin Roosevelt Signing the Emergency Banking Act.

The New Deal was a series of programs and projects instituted during the Great Depression by President Franklin D. Roosevelt that aimed to restore prosperity to Americans. A Second New Deal was put in place shortly thereafter as a way to continue the country's economic recovery.

New York, USA 1931. New Yorkers celebrated Christmas in 1931, with a city-wide solicitude for those touched by misfortune during the year. The Municipal Lodging House fed 10,000 persons, including about 100 women and the Police Glee Club and the Police BNew York, USA, 1931, New Yorkers celebrated Christmas in 1931, with a city-wide solicitude for those touched by misfortune during the year, The Municipal Lodging House fed 10,000 persons, including about 100 women and the Police Glee Club and the Police Band entertained them, Here a line of hungrey men waiting to enter the Municipal Lodging House on East 25th street (Photo by Rolls Press/Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)

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.

A dust storm roars across an empty field.

The Dust Bowl refers to the drought-stricken southern plains of the United States, which suffered severe dust storms during the Great Depression of the 1930s.