​In 1928 Senator James Couzens of Michigan proposed that in times of economic depression the federal government should create public works programs to provide jobs for the unemployed.  Couzen's suggestions were ignored.  A year later, the stock market crash brought on the Great Depression, which had a devastating effect upon heavily industrialized states like Michigan.  The crash was followed by a cycle of economic collapse.  Workers lost their jobs because of cutbacks; industries could not hire workers because there was no market for their products; there was no market because the workers had no money; the workers had no money because industries could not hire them.  No one escaped the effects of the Depression, but among the hardest hit were autoworkers.  Throughout the 1920s auto production grew, by 1932 production had dropped by more than half.  Poor sales reflected in growing unemployment numbers.  One of every two agricultural workers in Michigan was without a job.  People stood in bread lines for relief but the need was too great.  Many looked to the federal government, and President Herbert Hoover who claimed, "Prosperity was just around the corner."  He designed programs that relied upon state and local governments to deal with the problems but nothing would halt the economic downslide.  

​As the Depression entered its third year with no sign of relief, an increasingly vocal minority urged a revolution.  On the morning of March 7, 1932, 3 thousand unemployed men and women set out on a peaceful march to the Ford Motor Company's River Rouge Plant in Dearborn.  At he Rouge plant, police and Ford security used tear gas and water hoses on the crowd.  When demonstrators started throwing things, the police opened fire.  The Battle of the River Rouge (also called the Ford Hunger March) left 5 dead and 60 wounded.  Five days later, thousands of mourners paraded Woodward Avenue carrying red banners.  

​In November of 1932, Michigan supported Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt.  

​One of the most notable Michigan politicians of the 1930s was Frank Murphy.  Elected mayor of Detroit in 1930, Murphy received national attention for his determined and imaginative efforts to lessen the danger and uncertainty of the city's unemployed.  Declaring that "no one in Detroit... must be allowed to go hungry, or cold, or unhoused, or unclothed." Murphy strained the city's resources to aid the unfortunate.  In 1936, Murphy was elected governor of Michigan.   After a short stint as U.S. attorney general, Murphy was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court where he served until his death in 1949.  

​5 days after his inauguration, Roosevelt outlined his conservation relief measure. The proposed Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) would recruit 250,000 unemployed young men to work on federal and state owned lands for the "prevent of fire, flood and soil erosion." The CCC's job was to preserve our precious natural resources while placing a large number of unemployed in healthful surroundings. The CCC arrived in Michigan in 1933. During the next 9 years, over 100,000 Michigan males joined and operated out of camps located all over the state. Michigan enrolees planted 484 million trees, spent 140,000 days fighting forest fires, plated 156 million fish and constructed 7,000 miles of truck trails, 504 bridges and 222 buildings. The CCC, in addition to providing families money, also taught the boys how to take orders, and other helpful skills that really helped as they joined the armed forces to fight World War II.

​During the first 100 days of his administration, Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced sweeping legislation in Congress to deal with the many emergencies confronting the nation because of the Depression.  To combat unemployment, he created the Civil Works Administration, which later became the Works Progress Administration.  Nationally, the WPA spent $11 billion and put 8.5 million people back to work.  Among its many components were public works programs, the Federal Theater Project, the Federal Writer's Program, the Federal Arts Project and the National Youth Administration.  In Michigan, about $500 million was spent on WPA projects.  One of the WPA's most lasting programs was the painting of murals in U.S. post offices.