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Black Tuesday
A record breaking crash on the New York Sock Exchange, investors lost vast amounts of money. When the stock market plummeted, shareholders quickly sold their stocks at a much lower price than the value a few days prior to Black Tuesday. Approximately 12.8 million shares were sold by the evening.This led to a chaos and panic, people rushed to the bank to withdraw their money. Soon after, the bank also ran out of money to hand out. -
Smoot-Hawley Tariff
The congress passed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff. This raised import duties, an tempt to protect American manufactures from foreign competition. The tariff increase has little impact on the American economy, but plunges Europe farther into crisis, This lowers the trade happening between countries and limits the money flowing.All in all the Smoot-Hawley Tariff had a negative impact on the American and European economy. -
The Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl was an area that suffered from drought.The soil became so dry that it turned to dust. Farmers couldn't grow crops as the land turned into a desert.It was hard for people to breathe and piled to the point that houses were buried under and livestock were choked to death.Farmers migrated to CA but jobs were hard to come by.They were desperate for any work, they had to work long days just for enough food to survive. With the farmlands destroyed, there was a shortage of food -
Bank of Tennessee Failed
The Bank of Tennessee failed. That led to failures of affiliate banks.The economy was improving but weakness in banking system pulled it back down. Only 1/3 of the nation's 24,000 banks belonged to the Federal Reserve banking system.Depositors rushed to banks to pull out their savings. Banks only hold 10% of all deposits so a bank run will quickly put it out of business. In the fall of 1930, bank runs spread throughout the United States. By the end of the year, 1,300 banks had failed. -
The Bank of United States Failed
The Bank of the United States failed, the fourth-largest bank in the nation, and the largest bank failure in history at that time. Worried about budget deficits, Hoover returned the top income tax rate to 25%. The economy shrank 8.5%. The unemployment rate went up 8.7%. Deflation set in as prices fell 6.4%. Led to worse economic conditions. -
Second Round of Bank Failures-1931
This round was centered on banks in Chicago, which suffered from real estate loan defaults. Of the 193 state-chartered banks in the Chicago area in 1929,only 35 survive by end of 1933.Chicago area banks engaged heavily in real estate lending between 1923-1929, and banks that had greater exposure to the real estate bust were very likely to fail. The deflationary spiral that began earlier in the year rapidly and severely intensifies.This year the unemployment averages 16.3% for the year -
New York Bank Collapse
New York's Bank of the United States collapses in the largest bank failure to date in American history. $200 million in deposits disappear, and the bank's customers are left holding the bag. -
Revenue Act of 1932
Hoover signed the Revenue Act of 1932. It increased the top income tax rate to 63%. He wanted to reduce the federal deficit, and believed it would also restore confidence within the consumers. Instead, higher taxes worsened the Depression. -
The New Deal Begins
President Roosevelt begins to implement the new deal, this began to help the economy, it implemented things like minimum wage and maximum work week, and child labor laws, and unemployment compensation. As well as agricultural loans, civilian conservation corps were formed, and bank reform was put into action.All these laws were put into action right away to fight the Great Depression. -
Hitler Comes to power
Thanks to Germany's economic desperation, hitler was able to push his way to the top, and gain the people's love by turning the economy around.Doing this made the people feel a bit more confident in the government, which was a democracy before Hitler came to power. The President of Germany had appointed him Chancellor in January but he started gaining people's trust in feb and march. -
Longshoremen's Strike
A West Coast longshoremen's strike, conducted with significant aid from the Communist Party, paralyzed shipping/trade in California, Oregon, and Washington.Strike ends with a victory for the longshoremen's union. Cooperation between the longshoremen and West Coast communists represent a first successful venture of the "Popular Front" b/w communists and liberals, which won't officially be authorized by the Comintern in Moscow until 1935. -
Second New Deal
The Works Progress Administration is established. It will employ 8 million workers over the next several years building things like roads, bridges, and airports.The Social Security Act is signed into law.The unemployment rate also falls to 16.9 percent because of Second New Deal. -
Emergency Relief Appropriation Act
Congress passes the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act creating the Works Progress Administration(WAP). This provided almost $5 billion for work relief for the unemployed for projects such as construction of airports,schools,hospitals,roads,and other public buildings.This act marked beginning of the Second New Deal. -
Agricultural adjustment act
The agricultural adjustment act established a minimum wage and maximum work week -
Nazi Rally in New York City
The German-American Bund stages a huge rally of fascist sympathizers supporting what they call "True Americanism" in Madison Square Garden in New York. Anti-Semitic Hitler admirer and Bund leader Fritz Kuhn calls Franklin Roosevelt "Frank Rosenfeld," the New Deal the "Jew Deal."The German American Bund group promoted Nazi propaganda in the United States, combining Nazi imagery with American patriotic imagery. -
World War II Begins
When World War II hit, it pulled the vast majority of the world out of the Great Depression through all of the government spending on the war. -
America Enters World War II
When the United States enters the war in 1941, it destroys the last remnants of the great depression, and American unemployment decreases to below 10 Percent.Mobilization lifts the economy.The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor officially draws United States into World War II before the US was supplying weapons. Mobilization for war slowly lifts the American economy permanently out of the Great Depression.
