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NOTE Paragraph

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♪ (music) ♪

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The stock market crash of October 1929

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brought the economic prosperity
of the 1920s to a symbolic end.

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For the next ten years,

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the United States was mired in
a deep, economic depression.

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By 1933, unemployment soared
to 25% -- one in four Americans.

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Industrial production declined by 50%,
international trade plunged 30%,

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and investment fell 98%.

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The Great Depression was
steeper in the United States

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than in any other industrialized country.

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As it deepened, the depression had
far reaching political consequences.

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It expanded the scope and scale
of the federal government

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and created the modern welfare state.

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It gave rise to a philosophy that
the government should provide

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a safety net for the elderly, the jobless,
the disabled, and the poor.

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And that the federal government
should be responsible

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for the health of the nation's economy.

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The human toll of the depression
impacted African Americans, the elderly,

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Mexican-Americans, labor, and women
in different and unique ways.

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And the New Deal policies adopted

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to combat the Great Depression
varied in effectiveness.

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Why did the Great Depression
last for over a decade?

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And why did the seemingly boundless
prosperity of the 1920s end so suddenly?