The Great Depression

The stock market crash in 1929 triggered the Great Depression, the most severe economic crisis in U.S history. The impact on Americans was staggering. In 1933 unemployment rose to sixteen million people, about one-third of the available labor force. During the early years of the Depression, men and women searched eagerly and diligently for any type of work However, after several months of no sustained employment, they became discouraged. President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal policies, which offered the country substantial economic relief, helped mitigate the effects of the Depression Full economic recovery was not complete until the government channeled money into the war effort in the early 1940s.

World War II in the Pacific

In 1940 two events occurred that exacerbated the growing tension between the United States and Japan: Japan invaded Indochina and signed the Tripartite Pact, which created an alliance between Japan, Germany, and Italy...