The Depression turned politics topsy-turvy in the hardest-hit countries. In Britain, Ramsay Macdonald, founder of the Labour Party, became Prime Minister of a Parliament dominated by the largest Conservative majority ever. In Germany, Adolf Hitler became chancellor on January 30 1933, after three previous chancellors resigned. And in USA, Franklin D. Roosevelt became President, as champion of the working class.

Roosevelt’s campaign was not remarkable, except that it promised a "new deal" to rescue America from the Depression. In the November elections, the New York governor won with 22.8 million votes, in contrast with Hoover’s 15.8 million. Over the next twelve years, FDR would transform his country.