The October 1929 stock market crash signaled the beginning of the Great Depression which would continue until the outbreak of World War II. At its depth, the jobless in New Jersey ranged between a quarter to a third of its work force with African American unemployed estimated at over half of workers.  New Jersey per capita income fell from $839 in 1929 to $433 in 1933 and some 140 banks closed between 1928 and 1933.

Confronted with sharply reduced revenue, the state government cut its budget from 34.5 million in 1931 to 19.7 million in 1933. Municipalities were forced into bankruptcy as their principal source of revenue, the local property tax, plummeted with the decline of real estate prices.  The difficult fiscal situation of some cities were exacerbated  by the debt which had ben incurred during the optimism generated in the 1920s; both Atlantic City and Asbury Park opened new convention halls in 1929  and 1930 and faced the need to pay off their debt through the depression. Lacking enough cash to pay their bills and their employees, some towns were forced to issue scrip--future promises to pay when they could, The CEO of New Jersey Bell Telephone volunteered to chair the states' emergency relief board, submitting a report to the governor in 1933 that recommended providing state funds to assist some 100,000 families unable to pay their rents and facing eviction.

In 1932, New York Governor Franklin D Roosevelt declared his candidacy for president, winning the nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Jersey City mayor Frank Hague had been a supporter of one of Roosevelt's opponents. Al Smith, the party's 1928 nominee and former New York Governor who had backed Hague's election as vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

After Roosevelt's nomination, however, Hague quickly shifted his loyalty from Smith to Roosevelt, hosting the nominee in a campaign kick-off tour on August 27 through New Jersey culminating in a rally at Sea Girt which drew an estimated 100,000 people, most of whom were brought by train and bus from Hague's stronghold in North Jersey. Hague's demonstration to Roosevelt of his political strength later made him the conduit in the state for implementation of Roosevelt's New Deal policies, which included financing for many jobs projects under the Works Progress Administration 

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