Cleo Francis James

George V's reign saw the rise of socialism, communism, fascism, Irish republicanism, and the Indian independence movement, all of which radically changed the political landscape. The Parliament Act 1911 established the supremacy of the elected British House of Commons over the unelected House of Lords. As a result of the First World War (1914–1918), the empires of his first cousins Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany fell, while the British Empire expanded to its greatest effective extent.

In 1917, George became the first monarch of the House of Windsor, which he renamed from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as a result of anti-German public sentiment. In 1924 he appointed the first Labour ministry and in 1931 the Statute of Westminster recognised the dominions of the Empire as separate, independent states within the Commonwealth of Nations.

Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American engineer, businessman and politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 during the Great Depression.

A Republican, as Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s he introduced themes of efficiency in the business community and provided government support for standardization, efficiency and international trade. As president from 1929 to 1933, his domestic programs were overshadowed by the onset of the Great Depression. Hoover was defeated in a landslide election in 1932 by Democratic Franklin D. Roosevelt. After this loss, Hoover became staunchly conservative, and advocated against Roosevelt's New Deal policies.

James Ramsay MacDonald FRS (12 October 1866 – 9 November 1937) was a British statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1929 to 1935. He was the first Labour Party politician to become Prime Minister, leading minority Labour governments in 1924 and in 1929–31. He headed a National Government from 1931 to 1935, dominated by the Conservative Party and supported by only a few Labour members.

MacDonald's second government was in a stronger parliamentary position than his first, and in 1930 he was able to raise unemployment pay, pass an act to improve wages and conditions in the coal industry (i.e. the issues behind the General Strike) and pass a housing act which focused on slum clearances. In 1931, in the aftermath of the Great Depression, he was forced to form a National Government with the Conservatives and Liberals.

Richard Bedford Bennett, 1st Viscount Bennett, (3 July 1870 – 26 June 1947), was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician. He served as the 11th prime minister of Canada, in office from 1930 to 1935. Bennett was born in Hopewell Hill, New Brunswick, and grew up in nearby Hopewell Cape.

He served in the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories from 1898 to 1905, and later in the Alberta Legislature from 1909 to 1911. He was the inaugural leader of the Alberta Conservative Party from 1905, resigning upon his election to the House of Commons in 1911. Bennett became prime minister after the 1930 election, where the Conservatives won a landslide victory over Mackenzie King's Liberal Party. He was the first prime minister to represent a constituency in Alberta.

The main difficulty during Bennett's prime ministership was the Great Depression. He and his party initially tried to combat the crisis with laissez-faire policies, but these were largely ineffective. However, over time Bennett's government became increasingly interventionist, attempting to replicate the popular "New Deal" enacted by Franklin Roosevelt to the south. This about-face prompted a split within Conservative ranks, and was regarded by the general public as evidence of incompetence. Bennett consequently suffered a landslide defeat at the 1935 election, with Mackenzie King returning for a third term.

The Statute of Westminster received royal assent after being passed by the British Parliament. By establishing complete legislative equality between the parliaments of Britain and Canada, it is the closest Canada has come to a declaration of independence.

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