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The stock market crashes.
On a day called "Black Thursday," stock market prices start to drop. The stock market "crashes" when prices keep dropping and by the end of November, the stock market loses $30 billion. -
During the Year of 1929
-Herbert Hoover becomes President.
-Annual per-capita income is $750. More than half of all
-Americans are living below a minimum subsistence level.
-Backlog of business inventories grows three times larger than the year before. -
Hoovers says the worst is over.
President Herbert Hoover tells Americans that the economy will start to improve within the next 60 days. The Great Depression is actually just getting started. -The prime interest rate was cut from 6 to 4 percent.
-Supreme Court rules that the monopoly U.S. Steel does not violate anti-trust laws as long as competition exists, no matter how negligible.
-The GNP (Gross National Product), falls 9.4 percent from the year before. The unemployment rate climbs from 3.2 to 8.7 percent. -
The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act is Passed
The Smoot-Hawley Tariff caused an increase in import duties by as much as 50%. The goal of the tariff was to increase U.S. farmer protection against agricultural imports. Once other sectors realized these changes, a large outcry to increase tariffs in all sectors of the economy followed. The increase in this tariff added economic strain to the U.S during the Depression. A petition was urged for President Hoover to not pass the act, but it was signed and passed anyway. -
Food riots break out in the United States.
Food riots start in cities across the U. S. Hungry Americans smash grocery store windows, take food, & run away because they do not have any other way of getting food to eat. Food riots began in parts of the U.S., including Minneapolis, where men and women demolished a grocery store and took canned goods, fruit and meat. The shop owners were injured & a force of 100 police officers put an end to the riot, & arrested seven people. -The GNP falls another 8.5 percent; unemployment rises to 15.9%. -
Roosevelt promises a "new deal."
While campaigning for president of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt promises Americans "a new deal." The programs he creates after he is elected will be called The New Deal. -
The Federal Home Loan Bank Act is passed
The Federal Home Loan Bank Act, enacted July 22, 1932, was a U.S. federal law passed under President Herbert Hoover in order to lower the cost of home ownership. It established the Federal Home Loan Bank Board to charter and supervise federal savings and loan institutions. It also created the Federal Home Loan Banks which lend to building and loan associations, cooperative banks, insurance companies, savings banks, and insured depository institutions in order to finance home mortgages. -
Roosevelt is elected president.
Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected president for the first time. Many Americans did not think that President Hoover did enough to help them and hope that Roosevelt will end the Depression. -GNP falls a record 13.4%t; unemployment rises to 23.6 percent. Over 13 million Americans have lost their jobs since 1929.
-Industrial stocks have lost 80% of their value since 1930.
Top tax rate is raised from 25 to 63%.
-10,000 banks have failed since 1929.
-GNP has also fallen 31 percent since 1929. -
The Glass-Steagall Act is passed
The Glass-Steagall Act, also known as the Banking Act of 1933, was passed by Congress in 1933 and prohibits commercial banks from engaging in the investment business. It was enacted as an emergency response to the failure of nearly 5,000 banks during the Great Depression. -
The Emergency Banking Act is passed.
Congress passes the Emergency Banking Act. By the end of the month, almost all of the banks that had closed when the Depression started are open again. -
The Civilian Conservation Corps is created.
The first New Deal program, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) is created. Thousands of young men go to camps to work on projects such as building parks, building roads, and fighting forest fires. -
The Tennessee Valley Authority is created.
The Tennessee Valley Authority, another New Deal program, brings electricity and jobs to Americans living in the southern part of the United States. -
The economy turns around.
-Congress authorizes creation of the Federal Communications Commission, the National Mediation Board and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
-GNP rises 7.7 percent, and unemployment falls to 21.7 percent. A long road to recovery begins.
-Sweden becomes the first nation to recover fully from the Great Depression. -
The Works Progress Administration puts Americans to work.
The Works Progress Administration is created. It puts Americans to work doing many types of jobs such as writing, acting, building bridges, and building airports. -Economic recovery continues: the GNP grows another 8.1 percent, and unemployment falls to 20.1 percent. -
Social security is created.
The Social Security Act is signed. The Act provides money every month for senior citizens. -
Dorothea Lange takes the Migrant Mother photo.
Photographer Dorothea Lange takes photographs of a poor family working at a pea-picking camp in California. One of the photos, called "Migrant Mother," is one of the most famous photographs to come from the Great Depression. -
The economy goes through another recession.
Unemployment begins to rise again, despite the New Deal programs. After showing some improvement, the economy starts to suffer again when more Americans lose their jobs. Many people begin to lose hope that things will ever get better. -
Year-long recession makes itself noticed.
-The GNP falls 4.5 percent, and unemployment rises to 19.0 percent. -
"The Grapes of Wrath" is published.
The book "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck is published. The book is about a family that is forced to leave home and try to find work in California during the Great Depression. -The United States will begin emerging from the Depression as it borrows and spends $1 billion to build its armed forces.
-The Depression is ending worldwide as nations prepare for the coming hostilities. -
The Great Depression ends.
The United States declares war on Japan and joins World War II. Because the war creates so much money and jobs for the economy, the Great Depression ends soon after the U.S. goes to wa -
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor.
Japan bombs American ships at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Thousands of Americans are killed in the attack. -When the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, U.S. manufacturing shoots up a phenomenal 50 percent!
