The Great Depression & World War 2 versus Reforms.

The Great Depression was the worst economic slump in the U.S History and had a devastating effect throughout the industrial world. The main causes for the depression was the combination of the greatly unequal distributions of wealth throughout the 1920's, and the extensive stock market speculation that took place during the latter part that same decade.

The poor distribution of wealth in the 1920's existed on many levels. Money was distributed divergently between the rich and the middle - classes, between industry and agriculture within the United States, and between the U.S. and Europe. The imbalance of wealth created large market crashes. These market crashes, combined with the maldistribution of wealth, caused the American economy to capsize.

Another main cause of the Great Depression happened during the 'roaring twenties'. The

'roaring twenties' was an era when our country prospered tremendously. The nation's total income had rose drastically from 1923 to 1929.

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However, the rewards of the prosperity of the 1920's were not shared evenly among all Americans.

The growing disparity of wealth between the well - to - do and the middle - income citizens made the U.S. economy unstable. This made the economy function poorly which also lead to the Great Depression. For an economy to function properly, total demand must equal total supply. Essentially what happened in the 1920's was there was an oversupply of goods. It was not that the surplus products of industrialized society were not wanted, but rather that those whose needs were not satisfied could not afford more, whereas the wealthy were satisfied by spending only a small portion of their income.

PRESIDENTIAL INVOLVEMENT

Both Presidents Roosevelt and Hoover tried their best to resolve the Great Depression. Each of them had their own ways of solving the many problems. First, President Hoover took action.