ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the following eight areas: economics, economic policy, and labor questions; relations among the three branches of the federal government and the role and powers of the federal government; constitutional change, constitutional law developments, and citizen rights; significant political developments and socio-political movements; immigration and relations among racial, ethnic, and religious groups and economic classes; foreign affairs and war-making; sociocultural developments; and currents in political and social thought. The chapter notes the situation of the economy on the eve of World War II after nearly eight years of an interventionist New Deal. Once World War II spending kicked in, federal deficits exploded to over twelve times more than their high in the 1930s. The United States began to mobilize for World War II before her entry into the war, as a result of the Lend-Lease Program and the increased American preparations following the fall of France in 1940.
