Historical Sources on the Great Depression

The stock market crash of 1929 triggered the worst economic crisis in U.S. history, the Great Depression. After Franklin Delano Roosevelt became president in 1933, he implemented the New Deal, a series of federal programs designed to ease unemployment and bolster the economy. These programs received mixed responses. The U.S. economy would ultimately continue to suffer until World War II started in 1939, when American industries were revitalized as they produced planes, ships, and weapons. In this book, students will read primary-source materials about the crash, the struggles of the American people, and the programs that helped pull the country out of the Great Depression.