How Did The Great Depression Affect The Economy

America is known as the land of the free, home of the brave and is deemed as one of the most prosperous countries with a booming economy and mass production of goods. But just as it took decades for America to build up this reputation, there were devastating periods of intense trial and error. During the Great Depression, 40% of Americans were living in poverty due to an unregulated economy. The New Deal soon followed after society had reached its apotheosis of poverty and served as a relief to jump-start the economy. The United States soon entered World War II due to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and went into the Cold War that divided the “free” and “first” world. The side effects of these events grew and continued into post war America; we still feel aftershocks in our society today.
There was an unprecedented amount of financial growth that was unable to be sustained due to the 1920s, but not everyone in the nation shared in this prosperity; this is a major contributing factor of the Great Depression. Herbert Hoover had an outdated belief on “rugged individualism” that kept him and his administration from intervening and regulating the government. The stock market was a big part of society, but “Black Tuesday” was the beginning of this recurring and prolonged cycle of booms and busts. There were multiple “black” days during this time, but October 22, 1929, “Black Tuesday” was the day millions of middle and working class people lost their life savings; this resulted in credit drying up, workers being laid off and “Hoovervilles” began to form (Globalyceum, “The Great Depression”). The unemployment rate in 1929 went from 3% to 25% all within a span of four years. The leading