Well, the New Deal started in 1933 with unemployment at 25%. Five years later, in 1938 it was still at 19%.<p>Most historians agree that the New Deal was mostly ineffectual at recovery, and that WWII effected real results. (WWII started in 1939, and within two years unemployment was in single digits.)<p>---<p>That the New Deal was actively harmful (not just ineffectual) in the recovery is a popular opinion, though admittedly not the majority one.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;New_Deal#Recession_of_1937_and_recovery" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;New_Deal#Recession_of_1937_and...</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;New_Deal#Harmful" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;New_Deal#Harmful</a><p>---<p>A further opinion is that it wasn&#x27;t WWII at all, but rather just the <i>ending</i> of the New Deal and excessive spending itself.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.forbes.com&#x2F;sites&#x2F;peterferrara&#x2F;2013&#x2F;11&#x2F;30&#x2F;the-great-depression-was-ended-by-the-end-of-world-war-ii-not-the-start-of-it&#x2F;#1fed882e61cb" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.forbes.com&#x2F;sites&#x2F;peterferrara&#x2F;2013&#x2F;11&#x2F;30&#x2F;the-grea...</a>