The Great Depression began with the 1929 stock market crash in the United States and spread worldwide. Unemployment rose sharply in Western nations as industrial production and GDP declined. The economic crisis weakened democracies and led some countries to elect radical leaders who increased government intervention in the economy. Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected US president in 1932 and established New Deal programs that created jobs and unemployment insurance to help the American people and lead the US economy out of the Depression.