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Period: to
great depression
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Great Depression began
began in 1929 -
black tuesday
On “Black Tuesday,” October 29, 1929, the market lost $14 billion, making the loss for that week an astounding $30 billion. This was ten times more than the annual federal budget and far more than the U.S. had spent in WWI.e Thirty billion dollars would be equivalent to $377,587,032,770.41 today. -
herbert hoover
Herbert Hoover (1874-1964), a Republican, was president when the Great Depression began. He infamously declared in March 1930 that the U.S. had “passed the worst” and argued that the economy would sort itself out. The worst, however, had just begun and would last until the outbreak of WWII (1939). -
street vendors
Some 6,000 street vendors walked the streets of New York City in 1930 trying to sell apples for 5 cents each. -
Period: to
great depression
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largest Hoovervilles in the nation
One of the largest Hoovervilles in the nation was built in 1930 in St. Louis. It had its own mayor, churches and social institutions. The shantytown was funded by private donors and existed until 1936. -
what was the cause
Causes of the Great Depression are widely debated but typically include a weak banking system, overproduction, bursting credit bubble, the fact that farmers and industrial workers had not shared in the prosperity of the 1920s, and a government-held laissez faire policy -
great structures
A number of great structures, including the Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Bridge, were completed during the Great Depression, providing many jobs to the unemployed. -
wifes
The Great Depression changed the family in several ways. Many couples delayed marriage, and divorce rates and birth rates dropped. Some men also abandoned their families; a 1940 poll revealed that 1.5 million married women were abandoned by their husbands.