The Great Depression of the 1930s was the economic event of the 20th century. The history of the depression is fascinating because it is a reference point for economic misery and fear. The Great Depression began in October 1929, when the stock market in the United States dropped rapidly. Thousands o...

At the Democratic Convention in 1936 in the midst of the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt decried what he termed economic royalists in his acceptance speech1. He was referring to the wealthy industrialists and other members of society’s upper echelon. Roosevelt’s message was clear â...