America in 1929

US History – The Great Depression and New Deal, 1929-39

In this course, Professor David Kennedy (Stanford University) examines the Great Depression and New Deal in the United States. In the first module, we explore what America was like in 1929 before the Great Depression. After this, we examine the causes of the Great Depression in more detail. In the next two modules we look at the economic and social impact of the Great Depression on the American people. We then turn to look at the political response to the Great Depression - the New Deal. In the final module, we look at the legacies of the Great Depression and New Deal.

America in 1929

In this module, we explore what America was like in 1929 before the Great Depression. We examine what the American population looked like, who worked and how they worked. While the effects of the Great Depression were not felt in the cities until after the stock market crash of 1929, in the countryside an economic depression had been in force for nearly a decade. The American government was also vastly smaller than it is today, with its affect on people’s lives little felt.