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LM - Chapter 24 focuses on the Great Depression's impact on Americans. Inspiring unprecedented political approaches and resulting in a new form of national unity, national leaders shaped the US throughout the Great Depression. Hoover's overly optimistic perceptions of the 1929 crash drove some to invest more in the sinking economy and others to realize the incompitency of government. Despite his reform attempts, Hoover failed to plug the holes that were sinking US economic security. The stock market crash baffled Americans, driving them to clam up their investments and cease audacious business ventures. The bank rush also precipitated further uncertainty concerning economic traditions' efficacy. Industry laid off workers, farms lost any profit margins to heavy surplus cost, and middle and lower class Americans became more apt to radical reform. Overall, the advent of economic calamity created a scared, impoverished America ready for new leadership. Overall, the Great Depression precipitated audacious government policies that rocked both sides the political ship.

FDR charged into the White House; although his campaign promises were sweeping and ambitious, he largely implimented effective reform during his first two terms. In what he called the New Deal, FDR offered America three areas of governmental reform and proactive promotion they were thursty for: relief, recovery, and reform. These three foci provided the foundation for myriad programs that returned the US to economic functioning. Backed by a unified Congress, FDR attacked reform during the 100 Day Congress. His programs providing work and security were so numerous and hardy they become known as "Alphabet soup". Lowering unemployment, reforming banking, encouraging better farming practices, and increasing American faith in the economic and governmental system led to large scale recovery. Several New Deal programs invovled such government participation and intervention that they were thrown out by a conservative Supreme Court fearful of executive power extensions. The Court's stance against several policies did not, however, inspire any loss in faith with the president. FDR had what many qualify as a charming radio personality - or one that people had faith in regardless of occasional failure. Yet, certain factions on what emerged as the radical fringe opposed FDR; the radical left (including Coughlin, Townsend, and Long) felt reforms were not going far enough to socialism, while others on the right feared the national migration towards a society reliant on the state. Earning further opposition, FDR's attempts to circumvent the Court's reform roadblocks resulted in a widespread weariness that although FDR was well intentioned, the government - specifically the executive brach - was becoming too ubiquitous in everday life. This skepticism arrived late in his second term, and it did not end support for relentless reform.

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