When the Great Depression hit the nation was turned inside out.
             Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt each took a turn at working toward
             its demise. While their attempts were different their goal was the
             same. They each wanted it to end.
             Herbert Hoover reacted to the Great Depression with determination. He
             believed providing public work positions would be able to assist in
             the regrouping of Americans. He urged state senators to increase
             public construction and use the unemployed for the labor. He believed
             this would provide jobs as well as continue to improve the
             He spent a significant amount of time lobbying not only politicians to
             support his public works ideas, but also civic organizations including
             the Elks Lodges nation wide. He opposed the Wagner employment bill and
             worked to reduce immigration while the nation was in the throes of
             unemployment by those already living here(The Depression Papers of
             http://www.geocities.com/mb_williams/hooverpapers/employment.html).
             Even though he supported various efforts and attempts to deal with
             unemployment he focused for the most part on the public works programs
             that he believed were the answer to turning the nation's woes around.
             When Roosevelt was elected he took an entirely different approach.
             While Hoover focused on one program, Public Works, Roosevelt took the
             attitude that a wide variety of changes were the answer to the Great
             When he "took office in 1933, he feverishly created program after
             program to give relief, create jobs, and stimulate economic recovery
             for the U.S. These programs were called "alphabet soup" as well as the
             http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/depression/successes.html)."
             ...