Summary

The Great Depression jolted the American economy as no previous economic event had ever done. The result was hardship on an unprecedented scale for millions of Americans. Government, too, responded in unprecedented ways, as President Franklin Roosevelt's administration implemented the so-called New Deal, a package of programs through which the federal government tried to help individual citizens and restore the economy. But recovery was relatively slow in coming, and the Great Depression forced Americans to think critically about their nation's economic policies.