The Great Depression was the worst economic collapse in American history, and for a decade millions of Americans suffered under the heavy weight of poverty, unemployment, homelessness, and hunger. The Depression officially began with the stock market crash on “Black Thursday”—October 24, 1929. The panicked selling of stocks in the United States then led to further stock market crashes all over the world. The 1920s had, at first, seemed like a decade of great prosperity for Americans, so it was a crushing blow when the stock market continued to plummet throughout October and November 1929. By the time the United States entered World War II in 1941, the Great Depression had brought untold suffering to people across the globe and had dramatically altered the nature of the relationship between the American people and their government.