The 1929 Stock Market Crash "We’d like to thank you, Herbert Hoover/ For really showing us the way/ You dirty rat, you Bureaucrat, you/ Made us what we are today (www.stlyrics.com)." These lyrics from the musical Annie place the blame for the 1929 Stock Market Crash solely on the then former president Herbert Hoover. The truth of the matter is that placing the blame for the Stock Market Crash on Mr. Hoover is very unfair. Herbert Hoover was only one of many causes of the Stock Market Crash. It is easy to try to place the blame for one of the most destructive events in the history of the American economy on one person, but the real causes lie in the rampant speculation, the lack of regulation of the stock market, and the questionable ethics of many of the companies and brokers that were involved in the market. Although the 1929 Stock Market Crash is generally blamed on a few scapegoats, it was actually caused by a multitude of factors, which makes finding a scapegoat impossible. While there may be some arguments among historians, speculation is obviously one of the major causes of the Crash. Speculation (In the context of the stock market) is the buying of stocks with the purpose of profiting not from the dividends that the stock pays, but by the fluctuations in the price (Axon 31). Speculation is often looked down upon by the market as a profession, as it is seen as a form of gambling with possible serious repercussions. The secret is that speculation is actually very important in making a stock market appear healthy as it increases the amount of trading of more risky stocks, as well as increasing the overall amount of stocks that are traded on the market floor(Galbraith 16). Speculation does not become a major problem until the speculator no longer has enough capital to keep buying stocks. To get the capital, most speculators will turn to a loan. The only problem is, what will the speculator use as collateral for the loan? Using something like a house or property was far too dangerous, so the speculator would use the stock itself as collateral, in a process known as buying on margin. The process of buying on margin allows the speculator to acquire much more stock than they would normally have the money to buy.
After nearly a decade of optimism and prosperity, the United States took a turn for the worse on October 29, 1929, the day the stock market crashed, better known as Black Tuesday and the official beginning of the Great Depression. The downfall of the economy during the presidency of Herbert Hoover led to much comparison when his successor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, took office. Although both presidents had their share of negative feedback, it is evident that Hoover’s inaction towards the crisis and Roosevelt’s later eccentric methods to simulate the economy would place FDR in the positive limelight of fixing the nation in one of its worst times. Herbert Hoover was sworn into office when the economic status of the country stood at its highest and the nation was accustomed to a prosperous way of living. When the stock market plummeted and took its toll on the citizens from coast to coast, it was out of his control.
The stock market crash of 1929 was one of the main causes of the Great Depression. Before the stock market crash, many people bought on margin, which caused the stock market to become very unbalanced, which led to the crash. Many people had invested heavily in the stock market during the 1920’s. All of these people who invested in the stock market lost all the money they had, since they relied on the stock market so much. The stock market crash also played a more physiological role in causing the Great Depression.
This led to investors not knowing what the true value of a company. Instead of knowing the true value, investors just followed the hype of the stock market growth by investing in stocks with no little concern about the real value of that stock =. “From an August 1921 to a September 1929 peak, asset prices increased 334 more than quadrupling in nominal value” (Field 490). This allowed a discrepancy to occur between the actual value of a stock and the stock price that was being traded at the stock market. With this huge amount of demand it contributed to the crash of the
Because of the plague known as the Great Depression, Herbert Hoover is often seen as one of the worst presidents in American history. He enacted policies such as the Hawley-Smoot Tariff that flushed America deeper into the depression. Hoover didn't understand that to solve a crisis such as a depression, he needed to interact directly with the people by using programs such as social security and welfare. Instead, Hoover had the idea that if he were to let the depression run its course, it would eventually end. There are three things that can be used to define Hoover's presidency during the depression, his actions, his mentality toward fixing things, and the fact that he helped pave the way for the “New Deal”
He quickly moves from the panic of 1929 to the ‘30’s and how many of the popular governmental sentiments during the election were no longer so. Hoover quickly moved from a position of public acceptance and admiration to that of a scapegoat. That the Depression was his fault is not entirely true, though. Hoover did not have much of the information needed to foretell the economic situation. In the laissez-faire form of government he prescribed, there was no place for a department that would document these things for the use of the president’s office.
It is often said that perception outweighs reality and that is often the view of the stock market. News that a certain stock may be on the rise can set off a buying spree, while a tip that one may be on decline might entice people to sell. The fact that no one really knows what is going to happen one way or the other is inconsequential. John Kenneth Galbraith uses the concept of speculation as a major theme in his book The Great Crash 1929. Galbraith’s portrayal of the market before the crash focuses largely on massive speculation of overvalued stocks which were inevitably going to topple and take the wealth of the shareholders down with it. After all, the prices could not continue to go up forever. Widespread speculation was no doubt a major player in the crash, but many other factors were in play as well. While the speculation argument has some merit, the reasons for the collapse and its lasting effects had many moving parts that cannot be explained so simply.
There is no doubt that the stock market crash contributed to the great depression, but how? One way that the Crash contributed to the depression was the loss of money it caused to the average man. It is believed that in the first day of the crash almost a billion dollars were lost, this took a large amount out of the pocket of the common man. Without this money people were unable to purchase consumer goods, which the United States economy was based on. Another way the Crash contributed to the depression was the loss of confidence in the market. When t...
In response to the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt was ready for action unlike the previous President, Hubert Hoover. Hoover allowed the country to fall into a complete state of depression with his small concern of the major economic problems occurring. FDR began to show major and immediate improvements, with his outstanding actions during the First Hundred Days. He declared the bank holiday as well as setting up the New Deal policy. Hoover on the other hand; allowed the U.S. to slide right into the depression, giving Americans the power to blame him. Although he tried his best to improve the economy’s status during the depression and ‘pump the well’ for the economy, he eventually accepted that the Great Depression was inevitable.
The Stock Market Crash of 1929 was the most devastating crash in U.S. history. It started on October 24, 1929 and the downfall ended in July 1932. I always wondered what caused this calamity. Before starting this report, I knew basic idea about the crash. It was a time of decline and huge fortunes were lost. Now I can figure out just why.
October 29th, 1929 marked the beginning of the Great Depression, a depression that forever changed the United States of America. The Stock Market collapse was unavoidable considering the lavish life style of the 1920’s. Some of the ominous signs leading up to the crash was that there was a high unemployment rate, automobile sales were down, and many farms were failing. Consumerism played a key role in the Stock Market Crash of 1929 because Americans speculated on the stocks hoping they would grow in their favor. They would invest in these stocks at a low rate which gave them a false sense of wealth causing them to invest in even more stocks at the same low rate. When they purchased these stocks at this low rate they never made enough money to pay it all back, therefore contributing to the crash of 1929. Also contributing to the crash was the over production of consumer goods. When companies began to mass produce goods they did not not need as many workers so they fired them. Even though there was an abundance of goods mass produced and at a cheap price because of that, so many people now had no jobs so the goods were not being purchased. Even though, from 1920 to 1929, consumerism and overproduction partially caused the Great Depression, the unequal distribution of wealth and income was the most significant catalyst.
The Great Depression was a period, which seemed to go out of control. The crashing of the stock markets left most Canadians unemployed and in debt, prairie farmers suffered immensely with the inability to produce valuable crops, and the Canadian Government and World War II became influential factors in the ending of the Great Depression.
On October 24th, 1929 one of the most devastating events in American history occurred. Nearly half of America’s banks had failed and over 13 million people were unemployed. As a result of the Stock Market Crash of 1929, America spiraled downward into the Great Depression. Many people believed that Herbert Hoover was to blame for the Depression, because Hoover believed that the government should not do anything to the economy because the economy would eventually fix itself.
The stock market crash of 1929 was the primary event that led to the collapse of stability in the nation and ultimately paved the road to the Great Depression. The crash was a wide range of causes that varied throughout the prosperous times of the 1920’s. There were consumers buying on margin, too much faith in businesses and government, and most felt there were large expansions in the stock market. Because of all these positive views that the people of the American society possessed, people hardly looked at the crises in front of them.... ...
] This catastrophic event is caused by the accumulation of a large scale of speculation by not only investors but also banks and institutions in the stock market. Though the unemployment rate was climbing during the 1920s and economy was not looking good, people on Wall Street were not affected by the depressing news. The optimism spread from Wall Street to small investors and they were investing with the money they don’t have, which is investing on margin as high as 90%. When the speculative bubble burst, people lost everything including houses and pensions. The main reason ...
In early 1928 the Dow Jones Average went from a low of 191 early in the year, to a high of 300 in December of 1928 and peaked at 381 in September of 1929. (1929…) It was anticipated that the increases in earnings and dividends would continue. (1929…) The price to earnings ratings rose from 10 to 12 to 20 and higher for the market’s favorite stocks. (1929…) Observers believed that stock market prices in the first 6 months of 1929 were high, while others saw them to be cheap. (1929…) On October 3rd, the Dow Jones Average began to drop, declining through the week of October 14th. (1929…)