Starting in 1929, one of the most devastating events occurred and originated in America. The great depression was a severe worldwide economic depression which lasted until the late 1930s. It was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century. The great depression was the result of the stock market crashing, which later on wiped out many of investors. This caused steep declines in industrial output and a majority of people became unemployed. Unemployment led to families not being able to support their children. When the Great Depression began, the United States was the only industrialized country in the world without some form of unemployment insurance or social security. By 1933, when the Great …show more content…
Right around the time japan attacked Pearl Harbor and World War II started, the stock market was fully back to the top. On the surface World War II seems to mark the end of the Great Depression. During the war more than 12 million Americans were sent into the military, and a similar number toiled in defense-related jobs. Those war jobs seemingly took care of the 17 million unemployed in 1939. Most historians have therefore cited the massive spending during wartime as the event that ended the Great Depression. Even President Roosevelt sensed that war spending was not the ultimate solution; they feared that the Great Depression—with more unemployment than ever—would resume after Hitler and Hirohito surrendered. Yet FDR’s team was blindly wedded to the federal spending that had perpetuated the causes of the Great Depression during the 1930s. After the Great Depression, buying things on credit was a strictly avoided and if people didn't have the money to buy something, they didn't buy it. Men traveled far and wide in search of better opportunities, while others who resigned to their fate spent time indoors, playing card games with neighbors or listened to radio. People were not able to pay back their debts and many were not able to pay their rents, forcing them to live in