The Stock Market Crash
"During the 1920s, approximately 20 million shareholders took advantage of post-war prosperity and set out to make their fortunes in the stock market . . ."
-U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission "But on October 24, 1929, the stock market bubble finally burst, as investors began dumping shares en masse. A record 12.9 million shares were traded that day . . . overall millions of shares ended up worthless, and those investors who had bought stocks with borrowed money were wiped out completely."
-PBS film The American Experience: FDR |
The Great Depression
"The Great Depression (1929-39) was the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world . . . As consumer confidence vanished in the wake of the stock market crash, the downturn in spending and investment led factories and other businesses to slow down production and construction and begin firing their workers. For those who were lucky enough to remain employed, wages fell and buying power decreased. Many Americans forced to buy on credit fell into debt, and the number of foreclosures and repossessions climbed steadily."
-PBS film The American Experience: FDR
-PBS film The American Experience: FDR
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". . . one in four farms went into foreclosure, and an average of 100,000 jobs vanished each week . . . For tens of millions, it was a time of panic and poverty, hunger and hopelessness. The nation's will sagged and its future seemed in doubt." ". . . I now see nothing to give ground to hope . . ." |
Hoover Administration's Response: The Need for a Good Leader
"The country under Hoover was in utter despair, sunk in a moral apathy so profound that it was practically in a coma. Unemployment was increasing, banks were failing, suffering and want were on every side and nothing could be done about anything . . . For nearly a generation the public had been taught that it was criminal folly to believe that political action offered any direct relief from economic distress."
-John Franklin Carter, Pseudonym: "Unofficial Observer" from his 1934 book, The New Dealers
"While the [Stock Market] crash only took place six months ago, I am convinced we have now passed the worst and with continued unity of effort we shall rapidly recover." |
President Hoover's conviction that the economy would heal itself and his opposition to government intervention, combined with the catastrophic effects of the Great Depression, caused people to lose hope and confidence in their government and despair about the future.