Oregonians watched helplessly as the nation's economy collapsed. Federal leaders seemingly had no answers as the despair deepened and shook the confidence of the entire nation.

The chain of events that followed the crash of the stock market in 1929 seemed unending and unstoppable. Those who owned stock certificates found themselves holding worthless pieces of paper. Banks nationwide went bankrupt leaving their depositors' savings wiped out.

Failing banks led to foreclosures on businesses, homes, and farms, further eroding the national and local economies. As money dried up, so did factory orders. Fewer factory orders meant more layoffs. More layoffs meant less money to spend in local merchandise shops and restaurants as the downward spiral continued.

Despondent Americans looked for help to stop the spiral. But President Herbert Hoover, who grew up in Newberg, Oregon, held the belief that government was not the solution. While he took some measures to attempt to stem the bleeding, he shared a strong philosophy with his Republican Party stalwarts that prevented a large scale government response.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Democratic Party rival in the 1932 presidential election, was not so encumbered. Desperate Americans voted him into office in the hope that at least some action would be better than none.

Seizing the mandate, Roosevelt unleashed a whirlwind of federal government action dubbed the "New Deal." Many of his initiatives were aimed at restoring the battered confidence of Americans. Soon after taking office, he declared a "bank holiday" in which he closed financial institutions across the country until federal auditors could examine their books and decide on their solvency. Thousands of banks were closed permanently, but those that reopened could be trusted, assured Roosevelt.

Roosevelt recognized that he needed to get the millions of unemployed Americans back to work, as much for psychological reasons as for economic ones. While he met substantial political and legal resistance to his plans for unprecedented expansion of the federal government, most Americans supported him. The creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) yielded far reaching consequences for Oregon. Not only did it provide employment for thousands of young Oregonians, but it left a myriad of functional and attractive improvements to the state's infrastructure. Bridges, roads, campgrounds, buildings, ranger stations, guard stations, fire lookouts and reservoirs numbered among the achievements of the CCC in Oregon.

Meanwhile, the Works Projects Administration (WPA) employed more Oregonians who worked as writers, teachers, lawyers, historians, painters, architects, masons, and in other arts, professions and trades. Their efforts resulted in numerous books such as the fascinating tour of Oregon entitled Oregon: End of the Trail. They also left monuments to the artists and craftsmen of the day with works such as the magnificent Timberline Lodge on the flanks of Mount Hood. And, the WPA, along with other federal agencies such as the Public Works Administration (PWA), built post offices, libraries, and federal buildings across Oregon. The agencies also commissioned numerous projects resulting in the creation of murals, furniture, decorative iron work, and other enduring pieces of art.

The New Deal reshaped the landscape and the future of the state in other ways as well. Most notably, the federal government began an ambitious plan to build dams on the Columbia River. Soon, construction started on the massive Bonneville Dam, one of the striking engineering achievements of the period. The project employed 4,000 laborers directly and created thousands of other jobs in support industries and services. It provided irrigation water for the surrounding arid land, electricity to power factories and homes, a navigation route for barges carrying grain, and most of all hope for a brighter future.

These and other public programs kept Oregon and the nation moving forward through the 1930s even as the Depression stubbornly persisted. While they did not end economic problems, they did succeed in providing Americans with jobs and hope. As the clouds of war gathered in Europe and Asia in the latter years of the decade, the national economy gradually transitioned to supplying materials for another far off war. On Dec. 7, 1941 America turned from the hardships of the Depression to the horrors of the next world war.

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