The Great Depression

During the Great Depression, many Americans suffered hardships and life changing misfortunes. On October 29, 1929, also known as "Black Tuesday", many American investors, who practiced the use of buying stock on margin, panicked and dumped unprecedented 16 million shares, losing tens of billions of dollars. This shocking event caused the stock market to crash, sparking the beginning of the Great Depression. The Depression was characterized by high unemployment, the lost of farms and business, the closing banks, the drying up of credit, low purchasing power, and hunger in mist of plenty. Although not everyone suffered, many Americans grew concerned that capitalism had failed and that democracy could not provide solutions to the problem. Suffering through financial crisis, the Great Depression affected the United States politically, socially, and economically.

The prosperity of the 1920s finally ended when the "bull market" showed damage of over evaluation in the fall of 1929. The value of the stock market had more than quadrupled during the 1920s because many Americans had purchased stock on margin by using future earnings from their investments to buy even more stock. Even though buying stock on margin distinct the actual value of the investments, most people assumed the market would keep on rising. Therefore, they funded their lavish life style on credit. When the market collapsed and stock prices began to decrease drastically, brokers made "margin calls" requesting Investors to pay off the debts owed from stock purchase on margin. Unfortunately, many Americans did not have the money to pay back brokers. This led many investors to sell all of their investments quickly to come up with extra money to pay their debts. Unsurprisingly, many people abused the system to invest huge sums of imaginary money that existed only on paper. The heave in stock dumping caused the stock market to crash on Black Tuesday.

The Great Depression was a huge turmoil to the economy and greatly affected the United States in political terms. The Republican President, Herbert Hoover, was a strong believer in "rugged individualism". He believed in minimal government interference to deal with the depression. The president argued, "If American families steeled their determination, continue to work hard, and practice self reliance, the United States could quickly pull out of the recession". However, during the Great Depression, President Hoover and his Republican party were blamed for the depression. Hoover simply did not have the courage or knowledge to resolve the economic crisis. In the summer of 1924, 20,000 World War I veterans formed the "Bonus Army" and marched on Washington D.C. Many veterans demanded their bonus early from Congress; however, the government refused to pay up. Refusing to leave, the Bonus Army was forcibly removed by President Hoover's federal troops. Showing no remorse, Hoover used tear gas and fire to destroy the makeshift camps. The brutal treatment of American veterans led Hoover to lose his re-election of 1932 against Franklin D. Roosevelt. After defeating Hoover for presidency, Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), had a plan to pull the nation out of the Great Depression. FDR set out to provide relief for the poor, recovery from the depression, and reform of the economic system in his bundle of programs, collectively known as the New Deal. Many critics from both ends of the political field opposed Roosevelt's New Deal. Some politicians believed the deal threatened to sabotage capitalism, while others claimed that the President did not do enough to help the people and stabilize the economy. In this case, President Roosevelt improvised the Second New Deal through Congress in 1935. Putting great effort on the New Deal and to decrease budget deficit, the U.S economy fell back into recession in 1937. Although President Roosevelt did not resolve the economic crisis with his New Deal, many Americans supported his idea which allowed FDR to be re-elected for two more terms, being the only president to be elected four times.

In the course of the Great Depression, many Americans faced economic misfortunes, which led to social changes in the lives of people. For example, many farmers were unable to borrow money from closed banks and grow crops in the Dust