We began with an overview of the causes of the Great Depression in the U.S.: supply exceeds demand, stocks purchased on margin, over speculation in the stock market, the Stock Market Crash on Oct. 24, 1929. President Franklin D. Roosevelt guides the U.S. through the Great Depression Era of the 1930s with his New Deal programs which begin to stabilize the economy with reforms such as: reducing unemployment, insuring banks, creating jobs that improve America's infrastructure, social security, minimum wage, and welfare for the needy. When democracy is challenged it is not uncommon to see instability in society and government. While FDR brings stability to the U.S., nationalist, aggressive and authoritarian regimes emerge in the USSR, Japan, Italy and Germany in the 1920s & 30s. We examined the rise of Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler. Fascism and Nazism were defined. Italy, Germany and Japan (and for a brief time, the USSR) form the Axis Powers in 1936. We will continue our study of WWII in our next class on Mon., 4/27/20 at 3:00pm.