The Great Depression was the longest and worst period of high unemployment and low business activity. It began on October 1929 when thousands of stockholders lost large sums of money. Banks, factories, and stores closed, leaving millions of Americans without a job. The Great Depression affected almost every nation and caused some nations to change their leaders. This led to the rise of the German dictator Adolph Hitler and the Japanese invasion of China.
Many causes contributed to the Great Depression. During the 1920's, prices of farm products fell about 40 per cent. Some farmers lost so much money that they could not pay the mortgage for their farm. About nine thousand banks went out of business because farmers experienced such poor conditions. Industrial production increased about 50 per cent, but the wages of the workers in coal, railroad, and textile industries rose much slower. As a r
more concerned with material possessions. This affected their relationships with their children. The new generation didn't know the experience of having to struggle for money and a job. A lack of understanding and communication became known as the "generation gap" of the 1960's and early 1970's.
Most Americans felt that President Hoover did not do enough to fight the Depression. They elected Franklin Roosevelt as president in 1932. "We are", Roosevelt said at the beginning of his term, "definitely in the era of building the best kind of building, the building of great public projects for the benefit of the public and with the definite objective of building human happiness." Roosevelt believed the federal government had the responsibility of fighting the depression. The new government established laws. These laws:
Many died of disease from the lack of food during t
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