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THE SECOND NEW DEAL In its early years, the New Deal sponsored a remarkable series of legislative initiatives and achieved significant increases in production and prices — but it did not bring an end to the Depression . As the sense of immediate crisis eased, new demands emerged . Businessmen mourned the end of “laissez-faire” […]

ROOSEVELT AND THE NEW DEAL In 1933 the new president, Franklin D . Roosevelt, brought an air of con- fidence and optimism that quickly rallied the people to the banner of his program, known as the New Deal . “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” the president de- clared in his

THE GREAT DEPRESSION In October 1929 the booming stock market crashed, wiping out many investors . The collapse did not in itself cause the Great Depression, although it reflected excessively easy credit policies that had allowed the market to get out of hand . It also ag- gravated fragile economies in Europe that had relied

CLASH OF CULTURES Some Americans expressed their discontent with the character of modern life in the 1920s by focus- ing on family and religion, as an increasingly urban, secular society came into conflict with older rural traditions . Fundamentalist preach- ers such as Billy Sunday provided an outlet for many who yearned for a return

TENSIONS OVER IMMIGRATION During the 1920s, the United States sharply restricted foreign im- migration for the first time in its history . Large inflows of foreigners long had created a certain amount of social tension, but most had been of Northern European stock and, if not quickly assimilated, at least pos- sessed a certain commonality

THE BOOMING 1920s Wilson, distracted by the war, then laid low by his stroke, had mis- handled almost every postwar is- sue . The booming economy began to collapse in mid-1920 . The Repub- lican candidates for president and vice president, Warren G . Harding and Calvin Coolidge, easily defeated their Democratic opponents, James M

POSTWAR UNREST The transition from war to peace was tumultuous . A postwar eco- nomic boom coexisted with rapid increases in consumer prices . La- bor unions that had refrained from striking during the war engaged in several major job actions . During the summer of 1919, several race riots oc- curred, reflecting apprehension over

WAR, PROSPERITY, AND DEPRESSION concessions, Wilson compromised somewhat on the issues of self-de- termination, open diplomacy, and other specifics . He successfully re- sisted French demands for the entire Rhineland, and somewhat moder- ated that country’s insistence upon charging Germany the whole cost of the war . The final agreement (the Treaty of Versailles), however,

UNITED STATES ENTERS WORLD WAR I On January 31, 1917, however, the German government resumed un- restricted submarine warfare . After five U .S . vessels were sunk, Wilson on April 2, 1917, asked for a decla- ration of war . Congress quickly ap- proved . The government rapidly mobilized military resources, indus- try, labor,

WAR AND NEUTRAL RIGHTS To the American public of 1914, the outbreak of war in Europe — with Germany and Austria-Hun- gary fighting Britain, France, and Russia — came as a shock . At first the encounter seemed remote, but its economic and political effects were swift and deep . By 1915 U .S .