Depression, New Deal, and World War (1929–1945)
Depression, New Deal, and World War (1929–1945)
The stock market crash of 1929 plunged the nation into the Great Depression, the worst economic catastrophe in its history. In response, Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal redefined the role of government and forged a political coalition that would dominate for decades. Then a second world war remade both the nation and its place in the world.
10.1The Great DepressionAfter the 1929 crash, the economy spiraled downward. Banks failed by the thousands, businesses collapsed, and unemployment soared to…10.2The New DealFranklin D. Roosevelt won the presidency in 1932 promising a "New Deal" and radiating confidence.10.3The New Deal coalitionRoosevelt's response transformed the parties. He assembled a broad and durable alliance—the New Deal coalition—that made the Democrats the…10.4The coalition's contradictionsThe New Deal coalition held together an unstable mix. Northern Black voters and white Southern segregationists belonged to the same party…10.5The road to warThrough the 1930s, most Americans wanted no part of the world's mounting crises, and Congress passed Neutrality Acts to keep the nation out…10.6World War IIThe United States mobilized on a staggering scale, its factories becoming the "arsenal of democracy" and its armed forces swelling to…10.7Meanwhile, elsewhere (1929–1945)The Depression was global, and its misery helped fascism and militarism rise in Germany, Italy, and Japan, as desperate peoples turned to…