In the depths of the Great Depression, the Ohio River flood of 1937 caused enormous tragedy. Many thousands of people lost their homes, businesses and livelihoods. Bread lines proliferated throughout the Midwest. 

This photo was taken by Margaret Bourke-White outside of a flood relief agency in Louisville, Kentucky, just after the flood. 

A billboard for the National Association of Manufacturers shows a smiling white family of four riding in a car, under a banner reading “World’s Highest Standard of Living. There’s no way like the American Way.”