| II.
|
 |
Background |
The stock market crash in October 1929 marked the beginning of the Great Depression, a difficult economic period for the United States and other countries. Unemployment increased and the economic security of many people was threatened. Farmers lost their land, homeowners their homes, and workers their jobs. In the years following the stock market crash, thousands of banks closed and many Americans lost their savings. The incumbent president, Herbert Hoover, lost the election of 1932 to Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt campaigned on promises of a new deal for the American people. In his first inaugural address he declared:
...in the event that
Congress shall fail to take these courses and in the event that the national emergency
is still critical I shall not evade the clear course or duty that will then confront
me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis—broad
executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that
would be given to me if we were in fact to be invaded by a foreign foe.
Roosevelt's course of action became known as the New Deal.
© 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
