Final answer:
The U.S. government responded to the Great Depression by implementing New Deal programs to stimulate the economy and provide jobs, and during World War II, increased its control over the economy even further to ensure peak productivity.
Step-by-step explanation:
The U.S. government took several actions during the Great Depression to combat its long-term effects. An increased level of activism among workers and the pressures from widespread unemployment, which had reached 25 percent by 1933, drove the government to intervene more directly in the economy. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal, initiated after the 1932 election where Democrats overwhelmingly won, included various programs such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Social Security Administration, aimed at reviving the economy and providing employment.
By 1940, the persistence of high unemployment and underutilization of manufacturing plants led the government to take even more control over the economy, including ordering the cessation of civilian auto production in 1942 to focus on military vehicle production. The government's direct involvement in providing jobs and managing the economy was seen as essential to ensuring the nation's return to peak productivity, especially as World War II approached.
World War II itself became a significant impetus for increased governmental control and spending on the national economy, which in hindsight, could have potentially alleviated the effects of the Depression much sooner had similar measures been tolerated in peacetime. The policies of the era reflected a shift in expectations towards the federal government to play a more active role in economic stabilization and the social welfare of its citizens.