The Great Depression and the New Deal 1929–1941

The Great Depression (1929–1941) was the most severe economic crisis in American history and a transformative event in the development of the modern American state. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal represented a fundamental shift in the relationship between the federal government and American society — yet its effectiveness, its legacy, and its limitations remain subjects of intense historiographical debate.

Key Definition: The New Deal refers to the series of federal programmes, public works projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt between 1933 and 1939 in response to the Great Depression.

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The Scale of the Catastrophe

The Depression's impact was staggering by any measure:

Indicator	1929	1933 (worst point)
Unemployment	~3.2%	~24.9% (12.8 million people)
GDP	$104 billion	$56 billion (a 46% decline)
Industrial production	Index 100	Index 54
Bank failures	659	4,004 (cumulative: over 9,000 banks failed 1930–1933)
Farm income	$6.2 billion	$2 billion
Stock market (Dow Jones)	381 (September 1929)	41 (July 1932)