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The economic depression that fell upon the United States in the 1930s had devastating effects on the country. At the depth of the depression, in 1933, one American worker in every four was out of a job. The great industrial slump continued throughout the 1930s, shaking the foundations of Western capitalism. Despite the seeming business prosperity of the 1920s, however, there were serious economic weak spots, a chief one being a depression in agriculture. Also depressed …

…and public buildings in the years 1933-39. The depression years saw a burst of union organizing, aided by the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. The expanded role of the federal government came to be accepted by most Americans by the end of the 1930s. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography** Bernstein, Irving, A Caring Society: The New Deal, the Worker and the Great Depression(1985); Galbraith, John K., The Great Crash, 3d ed. (1972; repr. 1980); Garraty, John A., The Great Depression (1986)