The post-World War I Years in America: 1918 to 1932

     Following the carnage of World War I, Americans yearned for peace and a restorative dose of isolation from the rest of the world.  As articulated by President Warren Harding in 1920, the country needed a "return to normalcy" and a focus upon its internal problems; its refusal to join the League of Nations served as the sounding bell for these efforts.  Accordingly, the United States proclaimed its desire to build the domestic economy by supporting business growth, encouraging industrial development, imposing import tariffs, and limiting immigration.  During the 1920s, the United States far exceeded this desire through industrial and technological innovation, unabashed consumerism, private investment and speculation, and business-friendly legislation.  Radio, movies, and newspapers extolled the virtues and availability of American goods and commodities, including the stars of the day ranging from Babe Ruth to Red Grange to Bill Tilden to Charles Lindbergh to Harry Houdini to Louis Armstrong to Clara Bow, and yes, Al Capone.  Prohibition and the Jazz Age provided an electric undercurrent to the times.

     On October 29, 1929, known as Black Tuesday, Wall Street investors traded 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange, losing more than $14 billion in a single day.  In the coming weeks and months, the United States and the rest of the world plunged into the Great Depression.  From 1929 to 1932, nearly 12 million Americans--22.9% of the population--were unemployed.  In 1933, the nation's Gross Domestic Product fell to its lowest recorded level of $57 billion.  Banks started to fail; farmers lost their homes and fields; many families split up and lived a migratory existence, often settling in Hoovervilles, shantytowns built from construction scraps, packing crates, and abandoned automobiles.

     As Americans struggled for income and employment, President Herbert Hoover focused on indirect relief from individual states and the private sector as well as volunteerism.  As the Great Depression worsened, President Hoover received calls for increased federal intervention and assistance.  He resisted such efforts, believing that placing workers on "the dole" would erode public morale.  Enter Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  During the Presidential election of 1932, the Democratic nominee, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, offered a different and reassuring message to the "common man," advocating hands-on assistance from the federal government.  Upon accepting the Democratic nomination in 1932, Roosevelt pledged, if elected, "A New Deal for the American people."  On November 8, 1932, President Roosevelt won the presidential election, beating incumbent Republican President Hoover.  

     The photo gallery and primary documents that follow provide firsthand accounts of American life from the Stock Market crash to the early years of the Great Depression.