President Franklin D. Roosevelt set up the New Deal, a comprehensive and broad set of government-directed projects aimed at helping the United States economy recover from the Great Depression. It was proved in the early 1930s with the goal of boosting the US economy, lowering unemployment, supplying a social safety net, and instilling trust in the government's ability to protect individuals. On October 24, 1929, the stock market crashed, dubbed "Black Thursday." It marked the end of a period of explosive growth. Companies and banks across the country began to fail, and the unemployment rate soared to about a quarter of the workforce.