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1507;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\f0\fs24 Samuel DeMartin o\par \par \tab After the economic boom of the 1920s, the United States experienced a drast ic, longterm downfall in its economy, known as the Great Depression. Many citize ns were greatly affected by this depression. The Great Depression was caused by a multitude of economic problems during Hoover's reign of presidency. Hoover's u se of a trickle down theory was unsuccessful, and Franklin Roosevelt came into p residency. Roosevelt introduced the New Deal, which successfully brought economi c growth to the United States, killing off the Great Depression and allowing Ame rican citizens to live a life of success.\par \par \tab Economic problems were one of America's trends after the economic boom of t he roaring twenties. One of the biggest problems, leading to the great depressio n, was the stock market crash of 1929.The stock market is a place where shares a nd stocks are bought and shared by the people of America. Companies buy and sell stocks to the American people in order to expand their business, and make more money. In 1929, the American stock market lost 16 billion dollars in value (Docu ment 2.) With this massive loss of stock value, the American people became scare d and started to sell their stocks. This is known as The Panic of 1929. The stoc k market crash not only led to the Panic, but it also led to a huge increase in unemployment rates in the United States. Before the stock market crash less than 2 million Americans were unemployed. Between 1929 and 1932, the number of unemp loyed incrased by over 10 million people (Document 3.) By this time, 25% of Amer icans were unemployed. Farmers also experienced a vast amount of difficulties at this time. In 1941, the mid-west region of America experienced a drought. Farme rs were not able to produce agriculture for years, and the great plains became a lmost useless. This led to farmers losing large amounts of money (Document 1.) W ithout the rain, there were no ways to keep the soil anchored into the ground. T his led to all of the soil turning into dust, and strong winds blowing the dust around the skies, making living in the great plains very difficult. People were forced to move out of the great plains, and many of them migrated to other state s, where they found economic conditions no better than in their original homes. With all of these problems, someone had to step up and make economic growth poss ible again. As president, Herbert Hoover made it his responsibility to rid these problems, and started to think of strategies to rid the United States of its ec onomic depression.\par \par \tab Herbert Hoover was forced to deal with the burden of the Great Depression. During his reign in presidency, America's economy experienced a major downfall. Herbert Hoover was left to try and pick up the pieces of the American Economy, a nd attempt to put them back together. Hoover came up with a plan he referred to as the "trickle-down theory." Hoover belieced that if government lgislation prot ected the wealth of big corporations, and the wealth of the rich, their investme nts would expand economy (Document 5.) Hoover was wrong. Doing this only lead to more problems. Homeless people referred to their outdoor living spaces as hoove rvilles, and the newspapers they used as blankets, as hooverblankets. The homele ss blamed Hoover for all of their problems, and even used his name with a negati ve connotation to describe their harsh living conditions. The reactions of the A merican citizens toward Hoover imply that his methods of economic rebirth were u nsuccessful. In 1932, Franklin Roosevelt defeated Herbert Hoover and became pres ident. Roosevelt was now left to bring change to the American economy, and get r id of the Great Depression.\par \par \tab Franklin Roosevelt took a different approach toward bringing about economic success to the United States. According to Roosevelt, inflation, high taxes and our lack of ability to pay, are the main problems concerning the depression. Ro osevelt feels that if banks, credit, and investments are placed under strict sup

ervision, the problems surrounding the United States will come to an end (Docume nt 4.) After eliminating these problems, Roosevelt figured that increasing gover nment programs would lead to an increase in business activity, keeping the econo my growing from here (Document 5.) These ideas are known as "The New Deal." Alon g with these ideas, Franklin Roosevelt came up with many New Deal Programs. Thes e programs include the National Youth Administration, which provided part time j obs for 2 million college and high school students; the Social Security Act, whi ch provided pensions, unemployment insurance, and aid to the blind, deaf, disabl ed and dependent children; and twelve others which led to the circulation of Ame rican wealth and economic stability. Roosevelt decided to become active in World War II in 1942. This led to the production and distribution of a large amount o f weapons, bringing more wealth into America (Document 6.) Roosevelt was success ful in leading America out of the Great Depression, and brought economic stabili ty back into the lives of American citizens.\par \par \tab The Great Depression was a hard time for many United States citizens. Herbe rt Hoover was unsuccessful in getting rid of these problems, and left Franklin R oosevelt to clean up after him. Franklin Roosevelt's ideas proved to have succes s, and later led to economic expansion. Roosevelt's New Deal Programs, and his a ctions in World War II made up for decades of economic depression, and later all owed American's to live a life with an ideal economy. \par }