A Timeline of the Great Depression

By Mateo's History

  • Black Thursday

    Kicked off the stock market crash of 1929. Stock prices immediately fell 11%. Wall Street bankers bought stocks, so only 2% was lost by the time the market closed, but it was only the beginning of the depression. Over the next few days, the prices of stocks fell over 30%. With the crash of the market, more effects would be felt in the coming years.

  • Bank Failures

    650 banks failed in the month of December alone. As banks failed, it reduced the money supply because there was less credit available. That meant each dollar was worth more. As the value of the dollar rose, prices fell. That reduced revenue for businesses. It also meant that debt cost more for lenders to pay back. That created a ripple effect of personal and business bankruptcies, further impacting the economy.

  • Massive Unemployment

    By March of 1930, US unemployment levels reach 3.2 million, over double the number before 1929. This represents the effects of the crash, after which employees were laid off in record numbers.

  • Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act.

    United States President Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which raised taxes on 900 imports. It originally was supposed to help farmers but ended up imposing tariffs on hundreds of other products. Other countries retaliated, setting off a trade war. As a result, international trade began to collapse. Without trade to stimulate the economy, the situation in both the individual countries and in the wider world worsened.

  • German Debt Crisis

    Germany's key problem in 1931 was foreign debts. Because the US was Germany's biggest creditor, Germany's debts were denominated in US dollars. When the value of the US dollar quickly changed due to the depression, the value of Germany's debts changed along with it. The debts were now nearly impossible to pay. In the summer of 1931, German banks began to fail, causing the country to go into a massive economic nosedive.

  • Emergency Banking Act of 1933

    Emergency Banking Act of 1933
    The Emergency Banking Act was a federal law passed in 1933. Signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) on March 9, 1933, the act granted the president, the comptroller of the currency, and the secretary of the treasury broader regulatory authority over the nation's banking system. A temporary banking holiday was declared to give time to figure out the issue. By the end of the month, 3/4 of the closed banks in the United States were reopened.

  • WPA

    WPA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was an employment and infrastructure program created by President Roosevelt in 1935, in order to stimulate the American Economy. Over its eight years of existence, the WPA put roughly 8.5 million Americans to work. Perhaps best known for its public works projects, the WPA also sponsored projects in the arts – the agency employed tens of thousands of actors, musicians, writers and other artists.