The Great Depression was the worst worldwide economic crisis of the modern industrial era. It began in late 1929 and lasted until after the outbreak of World War II in 1939. From 1929 to 1933, industrial production in U.S fell by nearly 50 percent and unemployment rose from about 4 percent to at least 25 percent. Stock prices fell about 20 percent of their 1929 worth, and well over 30 percent of the nation’s bank failed, wiping out the life savings of depositors.

Previous economic collapses had usually been called “panics”. Therefore, when U.S president at first referred to this new economic crisis as a “depression”, he was trying to avoid the frightening implications associated with the word “panic”. “Depression” implied that the economy had merely taken a brief downturn –a small dip –and was not in the same category as the panics that had hit the same category as the panics that had hit the economy repeatedly in the 1800’s.