We keep hearing from conservative commentators that FDR didn't end the Great Depression, it was WW2 . . . it is true that GDP did not recover to the level of 1929 again until 1941, but FDR was not President in 1929, and if you graph GDP for the years he was President, it looks a lot like a recovery:

Year GDP (Billions)
1933 $56.4
1934 $66.0
1935 $73.3
1936 $83.8
1937 $91.9
1938 $86.1
1939 $92.2
1940 $101.4

www.bea.gov/national/nip...TableView.asp

This becomes even more clear when you consider economic growth:

Year Growth
1933 -1.3%
1934 10.8%
1935 8.9%
1936 13.0%
1937 5.1%
1938 -3.4%
1939 8.1%
1940 8.8%

www.bea.gov/national/nip...TableView.asp

This averages out to an annual growth of 6.25%, a strong recovery by any standard. FDR understandably believed in 1937 that he could afford to raise taxes in order to balance the budget, which accounts for the dip in 1938.

An honest appraisal of the unemploment data paints a similar picture:

edgeofthewest.wordpress.com/2008...cord/