Today in history: Stock Market Crash

[Callalily]

The Stock Market Crash

October 29, 1929

On this day in 1929, Wall Street investors faced tremendous losses as a then-record 16.4 million shares were traded, and billions of dollars were lost, on what became known as “Black Tuesday.” The stock market crash marked the end of nearly a decade of unprecedented growth in the United States, spurred by a post-World War I economic boom that saw the nation emerge as a global power. Many Americans took advantage of a new system of credit, or “buying on margin,” which allowed them to put down small amounts to purchase everything from clothes to washing machines and stocks, leading to years of increasing speculation on Wall Street as investors borrowed more money to buy more stocks.

The dizzy extravagance of the Roaring 20s came to an abrupt halt on Black Tuesday, after months of declining economic factors. The collapse helped trigger a global Great Depression, which saw tremendous suffering and ushered in a sweeping new economic policy under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. His “New Deal” put millions of Americans back to work and introduced programs to protect workers, including the creation of the Social Security program for retired Americans. Massive military spending during World War II, more than a decade after the crash on Wall Street, finally brought the United States out of the Depression in the 1940s.