It is a common debate among people today which American historical event had the greatest impact on the United States and the world. The Great Depression of the 1920s and 1930s, or the recession of 2007 to 2009. The Great Depression was an economic slump in North America, Europe, and other industrialized regions of the world. The Great Depression began in 1929 and lasted until around 1939. It was the longest and most severe depression ever experienced by the industrialized Western world. The recession is known as the sharp decline in economic activity in the early 2000s; it is generally considered the largest downturn since the Great Depression. The term "Great Recession" applies both to the US recession – which officially lasted from December 2007 to June 2009 – and therefore to the global recession that followed in 2009. The Great Depression was far more severe than the recession due to bank failure. , a global economic slowdown and high unemployment rates. On the first of 1929, also known as Black Thursday, interest rates rose and seventeen million shares were sold. On October 29, 1929, also known as Black Tuesday, prices fell to incredibly low levels; investors sold more than sixteen million shares in the market. “President Herbert Hoover, underestimating the severity of the crisis, called it a passing blip in our national lives and assured that education was declining because children were dropping out of school for many reasons. “A third of a million children were out of school during the Great Depression” (Pillai). Across America, children could no longer afford school supplies, or even shoes to wear to school, because the economy was so poor that they would not allow them to go to school. “The price of school supplies ranged from a dollar for a pen to three dollars and eighty-five cents for a pair of shoes” (American