At the end of the 1920s, the Great Depression plunges much of the world into economic hard times. In the West, there is growing support for the Soviet Union -- where socialism offers an alternative to the harsh realities of capitalism. Around the same time, Stalin begins the first of the Soviet Union's five-year plans for economic development. Many in the United States and elsewhere chose to ignore reports of the widespread calamities caused by Stalin's policies of collectivization.

In the United States, President Roosevelt promises a New Deal, a series of sweeping reforms. And among those policy changes, the United States recognizes the Soviet Union.

American politics also shifts to the left during the Depression, especially as the trend toward fascism grows in Europe.
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