In response to an endless array of contributing factors which had developed in chorus over the past several years, the Stock Market crashed on October 29, 1929, plunging the United States into severe economic depression unparalleled in history. The fiscal irresponsibility of the 1920s had come to fruition. President Herbert Hoover (and Secretary of Treasury Andrew Mellon) counseled voluntary cooperation between business sectors and farming interests—and a heavy dose of patience—as the best formula to address the crisis, assuring American citizens that "any lack of confidence in the economic future…is foolish." Clearly, the Hoover administration's "business as usual" approach vastly underestimated the magnitude of the situation.
In his acceptance speech at the 1932 Democratic National Convention, Franklin Delano Roosevelt boldly declared, "I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American public." Americans' steadily-increasing dissatisfaction with Hoover was evident. John Garner, Roosevelt's running mate, remarked to FDR during the campaign that to reach the White House "all you have to do is stay alive until election day." True enough, for Roosevelt scored a solid November victory.
When the new President took office in 1933, the devastating effects of the Great Depression had already come to weigh heavily on the nation. Unemployment had reached an astounding 25%—some 14 million Americans were jobless—with no end in sight. Public panic and government confusion were rampant. There were no precedents for this level of economic calamity. The task ahead for FDR was daunting. How effective would his New Deal outpouring be?
