The Great Depression

Good Times

Stock Market Crash

Unemployment Low

In the fall of 1928, Herbert Hoover, future president of the United States, announced, "We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in any land."

Unemployment averages 3% for the year.

The American stock market collapses, signaling the onset of the Great Depression.

Smoot-Hawley Tariff

Congress passes the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, steeply raising import duties in an attempt to protect American manufactures from foreign competition. The tariff increase has little impact on the American economy, but plunges Europe farther into crisis.

Unemployment is Rising!

Unemployment averages 16% for the year.

Major Bank Collapse

New York's Bank of the United States collapses in the largest bank failure to date in American history. $200 million in deposits disappear, and the bank's customers are left holding the bag.

Roosevelt Elected

Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats incumbent Republican President Herbert Hoover in a landslide to win the presidency.

Unemployment at Highest Point

Unemployment averages 25% for the year.

Roosevelt Inauguration

Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated into office as 32nd President of the United States. He vowed to follow to make big changes following the three Rs: Relief, Recovery, and Reform.

FERA is Helping!

By 1935, FERA had helped more than 20 million workers.

Drought sweeps Great Plains.

Roosevelt Establishes Alphabet Agencies

CCC (the Civilian Conservation Corps)

FERA (the Federal Emergency Relief Agency)

CWA (the Civil Works Administration)

Unemployment Begins to Decrease!

Unemployment averages 20% for the year.

The Dust Bowl (Black Sunday)

Sunday, April 14, saw such terrible dust storms, that it was called Black Sunday. The area destroyed by the storms was nicknamed the Dust Bowl.

Roosevelt Reelected

Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected to a second term as president, winning in a landslide over Republican Alf Landon. Roosevelt wins every state but Maine and Vermont.

Mobilization Lifts Economy

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor draws United States into World War II. Mobilization for war finally lifts the American economy permanently out of the Great Depression.