As the Depression tightened its grip on the United States, millions lost their jobs. In 1932, 25 percent of American workers were out of work. The unemployment rate remained near 20 percent throughout the decade. Industrial cities were hardest hit. Workers who managed to keep their jobs worked only part-time or for reduced wages. The newly unemployed felt devastated. Long lines of hungry people snaked through the streets of the nation’s cities. They waited for hours to receive a slice of bread, a cup of coffee, or a bowl of soup from soup kitchens run by local governments or charities.

Unemployed people tried to earn a few cents by shining shoes or selling apples on street corners. Those who had lost their homes built shelters out of old boxes and other debris, sometimes grouped together in pitiful “shantytowns.” Some referred bitterly to the shantytowns as Hoovervilles because of Hoover’s failure to act. Across the country Americans wondered why the president did nothing to end the suffering.

Hoover thought the economic crisis was only temporary and that prosperity was “just around the corner.” He also believed that the “depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement.” Instead, Hoover called on business leaders not to cut wages or production of goods and on charities to do their best for the needy. Voluntary action by private citizens and local governments, Hoover said, would pull the nation through tough times.

Charities, churches, and volunteers worked heroically to provide relief, or aid for the needy. State and local governments did so as well. Some cities withheld part of city workers’ wages, already reduced, to fund soup kitchens. However, the number who needed help was simply overwhelming. Eventually Hoover recognized that the federal government had to take steps to combat the Depression. In 1931 he authorized additional federal spending on public works, projects such as highways, parks, and libraries, to create new jobs. State and local governments ran out of money, however, and the combined spending by all three levels of government declined 1932, when he asked Congress to create the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, or RFC. The RFC lent money to businesses. It also provided funds for state and local programs providing relief. However, the RFC’s directors were reluctant to make risky loans, and much of its budget remained unspent.

The march on Washington by the Bonus Army turned many Americans, who were already blaming Hoover for the Depression, firmly against the president. Congress had agreed to give each veteran of World War I a $1,000 bonus in 1945. Jobless veterans wanted the bonuses right away. In the summer of 1932, they formed the Bonus Army and marched to Washington, D.C., to demand their money. At its peak, the Bonus Army included about 20,000 veterans. Congress and the president turned the veterans down. Most of the veterans left, but about 2,000, joined by their families, vowed to remain until the bonuses were paid. When the police tried to disband the veterans’ camp, conflict broke out and two people were killed.

Hoover responded by calling in the army. With tanks, machine guns, and cavalry, troops led by Army chief of staff General Douglas MacArthur and his aide Dwight D. Eisenhower entered the protesters’ camp. Veterans and their families fled in terror as the troops burned their camp. Many Americans were horrified that the government had attacked its own citizens, particularly war veterans. Hoover seemed cold, distant, and out of touch with ordinary people. Many people thought the time had come for a change in government.

With the nation’s economy crumbling, the Democrats believed they had a good chance of winning the presidency. Meeting in Chicago in June 1932, the Democrats chose Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York as their candidate. Roosevelt, or FDR as he was called, seemed to bring a fresh approach to politics.

When Roosevelt learned that he had been nominated, he flew to Chicago to deliver the first acceptance speech ever made at a convention. He told the Democrats—and the nation—“I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.” As the Republicans and Democrats held their conventions in 1932, the Depression grew worse. The Republicans met in Chicago and nominated Hoover for reelection. With the country’s economy in trouble, Hoover’s chances for winning reelection looked poor. During the 1932 campaign, Roosevelt declared that “the country needs and... demands bold, persistent experimentation.” He also spoke of trying to help “the forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid.”

The American people were charmed by Roosevelt’s confidence and his promise of action. On November 8, they went to the polls and elected Roosevelt in a landslide. He captured all but six states and received 472 of the 531 electoral votes. Democrats won important victories in Congress, also. People clearly wanted a change. In the months before Roosevelt took office, the economy worsened. Protests in some cities erupted into violence. Meanwhile, the banking system was collapsing. As more people rushed to withdraw their deposits, more and more banks went out of business. People became desperately afraid.

At his inauguration on March 4, 1933, Roosevelt told the nation that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror.” He reassured people and pointed out that the “greatest primary task is to put people to work.” He also promised immediate action on the banking crisis.