The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to mind the Great Depression because of its economic impact—more than 30 people million filed jobless claims between mid-March and this week. 

Less appreciated are the parallels on how America’s youth were and are being affected. 

The Great Depression wrought a youth crisis of unprecedented proportions—a crisis that threatens to resurface 90 years later.

Fortunately, our 20^th-century responses offer guidance, from both President Franklin Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, on how to diminish the damage of the coronavirus.

In the 1930s, children and teens were among the most economically, educationally, and psychologically vulnerable to the ravages of the Depression. The Relief Census of 1933 revealed that…