Great Depression
The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from 1929 to 1939. Explore every angle of the crisis and how it affected everyday Americans, from the stock market crash of 1929, to the Dust Bowl, to FDR’s response to the economic calamity—the New Deal.
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By 1929, a perfect storm of unlucky factors led to the start of the worst economic downturn in U.S. history.
As they traveled west from the drought-ravaged Midwest, American-born migrants were viewed as disease-ridden intruders who would sponge off the government.
As Americans confronted a banking crisis, the Great Depression and then World War II, FDR talked to Americans through radio broadcasts.
The Hoover Dam, LaGuardia Airport and the Bay Bridge were all part of FDR's New Deal investment.
3 Pillars of FDR’s New Deal
How Artists Helped End the Great Depression
History Shorts: How Artists Helped End the Great Depression
By giving support to an army of creative workers, the government was able to lift the prospects of an entire nation.
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Theories ranged from negligence to sabotage to an 'act of God.'
Dorothea Lange Documents America in Crisis
Dorothea Lange captured the reality of the Great Depression in the faces of those who struggled most.
The Truth of the Hindenburg Disaster
For decades, experts believed they knew what caused the Hindenburg disaster. But there may be more to this story.
FDR's New Deal aimed to revive the American economy.
Drought, farming practices and economic forces caused the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, devastating the Great Plains during the Great Depression.
In 1936, the future looked bright for rigid airships, the hydrogen-filled, lighter-than-air zeppelins. The Hindenburg, Nazi Germany’s pride and joy, spent one glorious season ferrying passengers across the Atlantic. The following year, the airship era screeched to a spectacular halt when the Hindenburg burst into flames while landing in Lakehurst, New Jersey.
The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from the stock market crash of 1929 to 1939.
With millions of Americans unable to find employment, working wives became scapegoats.
Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal
How did President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal get the American economy back on track?
Tennessee Valley Authority - Nature's Power Harnessed
In the early 1930s, the Tennessee River Valley used to flood every spring. FDR created the Tennessee Valley Authority to fix the problem.
The Fireside Chats
Elected in 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt was a reassuring presence for many Americans through the trials of the Great Depression.
Stock Market Crash of 1929
Black Thursday brings the roaring twenties to a screaming halt, ushering in a world-wide an economic depression.
Hoovervilles
Discover how one of the darkest economic times in American history helped the nation reinvent itself.
What Was the Dust Bowl—And Its Causes?
In the 1930s, families were driven out of the once fertile great plains by massive dust clouds.
Hoovervilles, named after unpopular President Herbert Hoover, were encampments of crude dwellings for poor and homeless people during the Great Depression.
More women entered the workforce during the economically tough era, but the jobs they took were relegated to "women's work" and poorly paid.
