What role did World war 2 have in helping to end the Great Depression?
While FDR’s “alphabet soup” and “make work” programs helped alleviate some of the suffering from the Great Depression, it was the huge expansion of manufacturing (and thus jobs and an influx of capitol) from the war time economy that actually ended the Great Depression for the US. Well before the US became directly involved in the war, FDR’s administration was selling weapons and equipment to the Allied nations, and was also in the process of expnding the US military. All of this meant jobs and money flowing through the economy again. During the US involvement in the war, the economy was running at maximum capacity, but there was little for the workers to spend their money on due to rationing and the lack of consumer products being manufactured. This meant there was a vast pool of wealth created and held in private hands (or loaned to the government in the form of war bonds), and when the war came to an end, that pool of wealth was converted into economic fuel to create prosperity unli
