US History 1 CP
Mr. Villante
05/10/13
Block: 5

How did the Wall Street crash affect the entire economy and usher in the Great Depression? September 18th 1929, or Black Tuesday, will forever remain a horrible day in American history. The roaring twenties was a great time in history. America became the wealthiest country in the world. There were many opportunities for people, and American growth. The stock markets boomed, and so did America’s economy. On September 3rd, the stock market was at an all time high. The Wall Street Stock Market offered millions of jobs to people. It became many people’s way of life. The Stock Market helped America become a wealthy country. As a matter of fact, Weimar Germany was built on loans.

On March 15th, the stock market suffered a mini-crash. This made stockholders nervous. When Charles Mitchell, a banker, made an announcement that his bank would keep lending, his reassurance stopped the panic. Although Mitchell and others tried the tactic of reassurance again in October, it did not stop the big crash. On October 24th, 1929, some shareholders began to lose confidence and believe that the prices of shares would continue to rise forever, so they decided to sell. A panic began, and so many shares were sold on that day, that it became known as Black Tuesday. The stock market began to plummet. Since the stock market was such a big part of New York’s population, when the market crashed everybody was affected. This brought the roaring twenties to a screeching halt. 12,000 people became unemployed every day, leaving 12 million in total unemployed civilians. 20,000 companies and 1616 banks went bankrupt. Some people thought they had nowhere to turn. Even though there were organizations that helped families in need, there was not enough room for everybody, some people starved to death. 23,000 people committed suicide. Since so many people were out of work, they made their own. For example, some men deliberately set fires to get temporary employment as firefighters. Even though there was a great hunger, farmers were killing their animals because nobody could afford to buy them in the cities.
"It is not the function of the government to relieve individuals of their responsibilities to their neighbors, or to relieve private institutions of their responsibilities to the public." said President Herbert Hoover. Although Hoover believed