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Herbert Hoover believed a free-market economy would allow the forces of capitalism to fix any economic downturn. As a result, he lowered the top income tax rate from 25% to 24% -
Severe drought hits the Midwestern and Southern Plains. As the crops die, the “black blizzards” begin. Dust from the over-plowed and over-grazed land begins to blow. -
The federal government forms a Drought Relief Service to coordinate relief activities. The DRS buys cattle in counties that are designated emergency areas, for $14 to $20 a head. -
At a meeting in Pueblo, Colorado, experts estimate that 850,000,000 tons of topsoil has blown off the Southern Plains during the course of the year, and that if the drought continues, the total area affected would increase from 4,350,000 acres to 5,350,000 acres by the spring of 1936. -
The Social Security Act provided income to the elderly, the blind, the disabled, and children in low income families. It was paid for with payroll taxes and the Social Security Trust Fund. -
Twelve additional states experienced temperatures at or above 110 degrees, including four that broke 120 degrees. -
Roosevelt addresses the nation in his second inaugural address, stating, “I see one-third of the nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” -
The economy started to grow again. The Great Depression was over. -
In the fall, the rain comes, finally bringing an end to the drought. During the next few years, with the coming of World War II, the country is pulled out of the Depression and the plains once again become golden with wheat. -
The Dow closed at 382.74. That was the first time it exceeded 381.7, the record set on Sept. 3, 1929.