world war ii forced the government to run huge deficits, or spend more than they were economically generating, in order to keep up with all of the production the us military needed. by running deficits, the economy recovered, and america rebounded from its drought of unemployment. the military strategy of full employment had a huge benefit: the government’s massive deficits were used to pay for the war, and ended the great depression. this phenomenon set the standard and showed just how necessary it was for the government play an active role in fiscal policy.