The Great Depression Begins
October 24, 1929 · 20th Century
The Great Depression began with the Wall Street stock market crash of October 1929, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 25% in two days. By 1933, U.S. GDP had contracted by approximately 30%, unemployment reached 25%, and nearly half of American banks had failed. The crisis spread globally through trade and financial linkages, affecting economies across Europe and Latin America. Industrial production, international trade, and commodity prices all declined sharply. Recovery measures included the New Deal programs enacted under President Franklin Roosevelt beginning in 1933.
Key Figures
Herbert HooverRichard WhitneyCharles E. Mitchell
Locations
New York Stock ExchangeWall StreetFederal Reserve Board
Topics
great depressionpovertyeconomic hardshipwall street crashcurriculumdow jones industrial average5th grade
Connected Events — 2 Connections
The financial instability of the Great Depression motivated the creation of international monetary institutions at Bretton Woods Bretton Woods Conference
Gatsby depicted the speculative excess of the 1920s; the novel was commercially revived after the 1929 crash reframed it as prophecy of the hollow materialism that preceded the Depression The Great Gatsby Published
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