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The Great Depression and the New Deal
Summary
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Herbert Hoover was president when the Great Depression struck, and despite his attempts to the contrary, the economy steadily worsened and he absorbed the blame. Franklin Roosevelt, elected president in 1932, initiated the New Deal and very quickly passed a large number of measures not only to end the depression but also to restore Americans' faith in themselves and the country. Roosevelt's Second New Deal, introduced in 1935, departed somewhat from cooperation with business and moved toward social reform and social-justice programs, like the WPA and Social Security. Despite this thrust, women, blacks, and other minorities gained little in the New Deal. The Depression's economic disaster was exacerbated by an ecological disaster, the Dust Bowl of the Plains, which Roosevelt addressed in his Third New Deal, which included the Farm Security Administration and the Agricultural Adjustment Act (1938). Finally, the Great Depression also had the perverse effect of enhancing Americans' leisure activities: with time on their hands thanks to unemployment, Americans turned to sports, games, radio, reading, and the movies for entertainment.
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