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The Wall Street Crash of 1929 not only signalled the end of a booming era(The Roaring Twenties), but it was the beginning of the harshest poverty conditions the world has yet known.
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected to the presidency, and the Great Depression eases slightly with his influence and programs.
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World War II would mean the end of the Great Depression, with industrialism forcing the country beyond its low state of poverty and unemployment.
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Harry S. Truman succeeds FDR as president, and WWII is won during his presidency. The economy has begun to lift itself out of the serious poorness brought about by the depression.
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The modern credit card is invented and spending on credit becomes a major part of the economy.
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The rates of poverty and unemployment are at a record low since the Great Depression.
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Michael Harrington publishes his book The Other America, exposing the unseen poverty that Americans still experience after the depression.
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Lyndon B, Johnson is elected to the presidency, and his Great Society programs focus largely on the poor of America.
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Groundbreaking legislation is passed for the war on poverty, creating more jobs and lowering the unemployment rate.
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The United States experiences a fall in the living conditions, something that has happened repeatedly since the 1960s.
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The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act was one of the first important welfare acts enacted by President Bill Clinton.