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he Great Depression was one of the worst periods of economic collapse in the history of the United States. It affected nearly everyone, and many people lost everything. The nation of America was in disarray. In 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt won the presidency in a landslide victory over Herbert Hoover (President at that time). He implemented many ideas to get the nation out of the depression. He based his ideas off of three principles; relief, recovery, and reform. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” was tremendously successful as it improved the nation’s economy and lowered the enormously high unemployment rate.
The event that started the Great Depression was “Black Tuesday.” On this day, the stock market crashed. The so called “bubble” had burst. The roaring twenties were over. Banks were forced to close, as they had no more money for the massive amount of people that were making withdrawals. Many lost their jobs, and were forced to look for work elsewhere. Numerous people were also forced to leave school to help pay the bills (Doc 1). Herbert Hoover, considered one of the worst presidents ever, did not help the situation very much. In 1930 he said that “The Depression is over.” However, the Depression did not end until 1937 when World War II began (Doc 2).
The country was fed up with Hoover’s help. Hoover was a firm believer in trickle-down economics, and basically only passed bills that would help the rich or raise the tariffs. Franklin Roosevelt opposed Hoover in the election of 1932 and won in a landslide. From day 1, Roosevelt was concerned with helping the “forgotten man.”