Great Depression, The

On October 29, 1929, better known as Black Tuesday, the stock market crashed, abruptly ending a decade of prosperity and catapulting the United States into the Great Depression, arguably the worst economic crisis the country has ever experienced.  During the years that followed, until U.S. entry into World War II in 1941, unemployment was at an all-time high, hundreds of banks foreclosed, and a sense of hopelessness pervaded the country.  During the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt instituted innovative and sometimes unconstitutional policies to pull the economy out of the depression, abandoning the laissez-faire practices of the past.  At the same time, troubling events in Europe and Asia were escalating, ultimately leading to World War II.  It was only when it was drawn into the war that the United States finally emerged from the Great Depression.