{"id":2058,"date":"2016-06-03T22:52:39","date_gmt":"2016-06-03T22:52:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/?p=2058"},"modified":"2026-02-18T07:32:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T07:32:12","slug":"impacts-of-the-great-depression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/impacts-of-the-great-depression\/","title":{"rendered":"Impacts of the Great Depression: A Detailed Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Historians have identified several important impacts of the Great Depression<\/a>. For instance, the Great Depression has had a lasting impact on the world and the United States.\u00a0 Specifically, it led to several key impacts, including: the 1932 election of\u00a0Franklin D. Roosevelt<\/a>, the creation of the\u00a0New Deal<\/a>, a general shift left in American politics, and the rise of extremist ideologies around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

WHAT WAS THE GREAT DEPRESSION?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0Great Depression<\/a>\u00a0was a significant event in world history and of particular importance to American history.\u00a0 It was a worldwide economic recession that occurred throughout the 1930s and ended with the beginning of\u00a0World War II<\/a>.\u00a0 In general, a recession is a downturn in the economy that is often accompanied by high levels of unemployment and a significant drop in consumer spending.\u00a0 As well, the events of the\u00a0Dust Bowl<\/a>\u00a0worsened life for many working-class people and farmers and caused a migration of people out of the American Midwest<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Great
Unemployed people lined up outside a soup kitchen opened in Chicago in February of 1931.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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ELECTION OF FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The first major impact of the Great Depression was the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt<\/a> in 1932.\u00a0\u00a0Herbert Hoover<\/a>\u00a0was the President of the United States at the start of the Great Depression and held a general view based on self-reliance.\u00a0 This means that he believed it was the responsibility of individuals to take care of themselves and not rely on assistance from the government.\u00a0 As such, he did not agree that the government should intervene in the economy and referred to the economic hardship of the Great Depression as \u201ca passing incident\u201d.\u00a0 As a result of his presidency, many working-class people began to name aspects of their poverty after Hoover.\u00a0 For example, shanty-towns that were constructed on the edge of cities in the 1930s were often referred to as \u2018Hoovervilles<\/a>\u2019.\u00a0 In the 1932 presidential election, Hoover faced off against Democratic candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt.\u00a0 Roosevelt offered a completely different view of the recession and ran on the platform of a \u2018New Deal\u2019 for the American people.\u00a0 With unemployment over 20% in 1932, Roosevelt blamed the worsening economic conditions on Hoover\u2019s mishandling of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, Roosevelt won the election in a landslide victory winning 472 electoral votes to Hoover\u2019s 59.  Roosevelt also dominated the popular vote with 23 million votes to Hoover\u2019s 16 million.  Roosevelt\u2019s presidency was one of the most significant in all of American history due to his role in major world events such as the Great Depression and World War II.  When he took office on March 4th, 1933, the economy was in a downward spiral.  Unemployment had increased and industrial production had dropped drastically.  As a result, he set out right away to begin implementing many of the measures of his New Deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Franklin<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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THE NEW DEAL<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The New Deal<\/a> was a series of government initiatives and programs aimed at ending the economic devastation of the Great Depression.\u00a0 Many historians agree that the New Deal included two distinct stages.\u00a0 The First New Deal occurred from 1933, when Roosevelt took office until 1934, and focused on issues related to banking.\u00a0 The Second New Deal occurred from 1935 until 1938 and focused on several important programs including the Social Security Act.\u00a0 In general, Roosevelt\u2019s plan was for the federal government to spend money in an attempt to achieve three goals:\u00a0 economic recovery, job creation, and investment in public works projects.\u00a0 The policies of the New Deal had a profound effect on the United States and created several different programs that are still in existence today.\u00a0 For example, the Social Security Act established old age pensions, unemployment insurance and benefits for the disabled and dependent children.\u00a0 This idea of federally-funded social assistance programs emerged out of the New Deal and continues today.\u00a0 Over the next 80 years, many more social-assistance programs were created, but they were generally built upon the foundation of the Social Security Act of 1935.\u00a0 The emergence of federally-funded social assistance programs fundamentally changed the political landscape of the United States for several decades following the Great Depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"New
‘Construction of a Dam’ by William Gropper. (1939)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

SHIFT LEFT IN AMERICAN POLITICS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Due to the economic crisis facing the United States at the time, the federal government undertook a high level of intervention in the economy in hopes of helping working-class people. In general, this had a profound effect on the United States and resulted in a dramatic shift in American politics.\u00a0 The best example of this is the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the creation of the New Deal.\u00a0 As stated previously, the New Deal was a collection of policies and programs aimed at stabilizing the economy, combating unemployment and ending the panic of the economic collapse that began with the stock market crash in October of 1929<\/a>.\u00a0 The implementation of the New Deal saw the United States combine aspects of socialism with its more capitalist history.\u00a0 In general, socialism is a left-wing economic system that favors government intervention in the economy in order to try to solve economic issues.\u00a0 At the time, socialist policies were popular around the world and were causing many countries to change their policies.\u00a0 American politics and economics had been much more right-wing in the decades before the Great Depression.\u00a0 This meant that the United States was based upon the principles of capitalism<\/a>, which is the idea that the government should play as little a role as possible in the economy and allow people to have more control over their own economic wellbeing.\u00a0 The policies of Roosevelt and the creation of the New Deal fundamentally shifted the United States left on the economic spectrum to a form of capitalism that economists refer to as the\u00a0Welfare State<\/a>.\u00a0 For the next several decades, American politics were centered on a relatively increased role for the government in the lives of average citizens.\u00a0 The United States would not make another large shift right until the election of Richard Nixon in 1968 and again in the 1980s with the presidency of Ronald Reagan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Stock
Stock Market Crash of 1929<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

RISE OF EXTREMIST IDEOLOGIES<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many historians also acknowledge the impact that the Great Depression had on the rise to power of extremist ideologies in Europe and the events of World War II.\u00a0 For example, fascist dictators such as\u00a0Benito Mussolini<\/a> and\u00a0Adolf Hitler<\/a>\u00a0rose to prominence in Europe during the 1920s and 1930s.\u00a0 Fascism is an ideology that is led by a dictator who controls all aspects of the society.\u00a0 For example, Adolf Hitler became the leader of Germany in March of 1933 amid the worldwide effects of the Great Depression.\u00a0 When\u00a0World War I<\/a>\u00a0ended in 1918, Germany was forced to agree to the terms of the\u00a0Treaty of Versailles<\/a>. \u00a0In general, the terms punished Germany and forced the country to give up land, limit its army, accept blame for starting World War I and make reparation payments to the Allied nations.\u00a0 Economically, the German economy struggled to cope with the high reparations. \u00a0As a result, it printed off more of the German Mark which devalued the currency and led to hyperinflation. \u00a0The hyperinflation became so bad throughout the 1920s that Germans needed large sums of money to even buy everyday items such as groceries. Some Germans burned their money because it was worth more as a way of heating their home then as a means of spending.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As such, when the effects of the Great Depression began in 1929 and spread across the world, Germany was already economically devastated, and the situation only worsened.\u00a0 It was during this time that\u00a0Adolf Hitler rose to power<\/a>\u00a0in Germany with the promise of restoring the German economy and nationalistic pride in the country.\u00a0 Most historians agree that the harsh economic conditions created by the Treaty of Versailles, and made worse by the Great Depression, helped Hitler take control of the country.\u00a0 As a result the Great Depression can also be viewed as a\u00a0cause of World War II\u00a0since Hitler began the war with his aggressive militarism in Europe during the 1930s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Adolf
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in 1937. (Colorized by historycrunch.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

IMPACTS OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION – SUMMARY<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Great Depression had a profound effect on the world when it occurred but it also affected the decades that followed and left a legacy that is still important today.  Specifically, it led to several key impacts, including: the 1932 election of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the creation of the New Deal, a general shift left in American politics, and the rise of extremist ideologies around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The impacts of the Great Depression reshaped economies, societies, and political landscapes, leaving a legacy that continues to influence the United States and the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[57,66,15],"class_list":["post-2058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-great-depression","tag-american-history","tag-great-depression","tag-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2058"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5445,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2058\/revisions\/5445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}