Back to the front page
American History

How Food Stamps Really Started

The Great Depression - Dairy
Customers were buying groceries in 1939. Russell Lee/inyourstate.

31. Food Stamps Were A Way To Get America Out OF The Great Depression

The first food stamps are examined right off the press. Washington Post.

Even though many people talked about the idea of a coupon that unemployed Americans could receive for food in the early 1930s, food stamps didn’t get off the press until 1939. Ten years after the start of the Great Depression, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt needed to find a way to end the worldwide depression. 

Once the government sat down and developed a food program plan, food stamps became the first item to come off the press. While the United States government wanted to make sure food stamps would help Americans, they felt more pressure to ensure the program would push America out of the Great Depression.

Written by

Keep reading

Advertisement