Great_Depression

Great Depression What Led to the Great Depression of the 1930s The Great Depression that beset the United States and other countries in the 1930s was unique in its magnitude and its consequences. At the depth of the depression, in 1933, one American worker in every four was out of a job. In other countries unemployment ranged between 15 percent and 25 percent of the labor force. This great industrial slump continued throughout the 1930s, shaking the foundations of Western capitalism and the society based upon it (Roark). President Calvin Coolidge had said during the long prosperity of the 1920s that "The business of America is business." Despite the seeming business prosperity of the 1920s, however, there were serious economic weak spots, a chief one being a depression in the agricultural area. Also depressed were such industries as coal mining, railroads, and textiles. Throughout the 1920s, U. S. banks had failed--an average of 600 per year--as had thousands of other business firms. By 1928, the construction boom was over (Garraty 12). The spectacular rise in prices on the stock market from 1924 to 1929 bore little relation to actual economic conditions. In fact, the boom in the stock market and in real estate, along with the depression, economic, garraty, countries, 1932, 1929, people, business, about, years, world, through, roosevelt, president, over, national, market, industrial, average, administration, watkins, war, united, unemployment, throughout, stock, states, public, out, one, new, million, lost, industries, however, hoover