Despite optimistic statements by the Hoover Administration that a new era of prosperity was about to begin, a Great Depression fell upon the United States, reverberating throughout the entire global economy. Factories closed, banks failed and unemployment grew until more than 10 million U.S. workers were out of jobs. In response to such a cataclysm, most people rallied to the Democratic cause and all but six states elected Franklin D. Roosevelt president in 1932.
Laborers stand next to men in business suits.
Lines of men move past, their feet shuffling along the ground.