The economy in Washington experienced a drastic change between World War I and World War II. This significant change was caused by the Great Depression which started in 1929 and lasted for ten years. The Depression was caused by the crash of the stock market which caused people to become nervous and behave erratically. Suddenly everyone rushed to get their savings out of the banks, but the banks didn’t have enough money to pay back the people. The loans that the bank had given were not all fully paid off so the banks didn’t have the money to return to their customers. This caused huge problem in the economy and for the people. Also companies lost great amounts of money in the stock market and couldn’t employ the people they once could. This is when the President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, proposed the New Deal. The New Deal helped give jobs to citizens through public works and provided a pay scale that would give the people enough money to live. One of the major public works projects was the creation of the Grand Coulee Dam located in central Washington.