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The Great Depression plagued Americans following the stock market crash of 1929; by 1934 over 25 percent of the nation’s workforce was unemployed. In a nation that equated poverty and idleness with personal moral failure, millions of formerly employed men lined up at soup kitchens; wandered the country looking for work; or stayed at home, scrounging for food. The elderly were particularly vulnerable; state aid was meager, and families often offered little to no support.