The Great Depression: Full Timeline (1929-1939)
1929: The Crash
After a five-year bull market fueled heavily by margin buying, the U.S. stock market cracked in late October 1929. October 24 ("Black Thursday") saw panicked selling, followed by an even sharper drop on October 29 ("Black Tuesday") — the most severe single-day decline of the crash.
1930-1932: The Collapse Deepens
Thousands of banks failed in waves of bank runs, with no federal deposit insurance to stop depositors from losing their savings. The 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act raised import duties and is widely blamed for worsening the global downturn by shrinking international trade. By 1932, unemployment approached 25% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average had lost roughly 89% of its 1929 peak value.
1933: Roosevelt's Hundred Days
Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in March 1933 and immediately declared a national bank holiday, closing all U.S. banks to stop the panic. The Emergency Banking Act let sound banks reopen, and Congress passed a wave of New Deal legislation in Roosevelt's first hundred days, including the Glass-Steagall Act (separating commercial and investment banking) and the creation of the FDIC to insure bank deposits.
1933-1938: The New Deal
Programs like the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Works Progress Administration, and the Social Security Act (1935) aimed to provide relief and rebuild the economy. The Securities and Exchange Commission was created in 1934 to regulate stock markets. Recovery was slow and uneven — the economy didn't fully return to pre-Depression output for years, and the Dow didn't reclaim its 1929 peak for about 25 years.