Comparing The Stock Market Crash Of 1929 And The Great Depression

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The Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great depression had a major impact on Economic prosperity for blacks and whites in America. Black Tuesday was the day the stock market crashed and officially set off the Depression (1). The stock market crashed because “stocks were undervalued” and stock prices fell( McGrattan). The stock market had crashed before in 1907 in New York City, but not to the extent of the 1929 Crash ( Tallman). The stock market crash couldn’t have been prevented because the bubble was going to eventually burst and lead to a downturn (Thomas). The stock market crash ruined many individual investors and made banks have to close. 11,000 of the US’s 25,000 banks closed by 1933. The crash put many Americans in debt and 25% out …show more content…
The Great Depression was the longest and most severe “ economic slump in...industrialized areas of the world” from 1929-1939 and it’s important because it gave the federal government more control of people’s lives through the entitlement programs(2). Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt were both president during the Depression. FDR’s policies of “ banking reform laws, emergency relief programs, work relief programs, and agricultural programs” affected the Great Depression by helping to aid the unemployed and businesses(1). Hoover’s major policies as president were conservation, labor rights, higher taxes, a moratorium for debt payments, and stabilizing the country’s financial structures (Hamilton). Hoover’s policies didn’t help ease the Depression (“Herbert Hoover, millercenter”). Underlying economic weaknesses, agricultural overproduction, a fall in money supply, and the Wall Street Crash led to the Great Depression (1). Life for Americans was a struggle during the Great Depression. Farmers were hardest hit because crop prices were down, they already had large debts, and they couldn’t grow things because of droughts. Many farms and ranches were abandoned because of the Dust