Great Depression in the United States/Timelines

1921-23

Post-war recession [1].

1921

Warren G Harding becomes President [2]

1922

The Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act [3]

1923

Calvin Coolidge becomes President [4].

Start of "Coolidge Prosperity" [5].

1924

1925

Florida land boom bubble bursts [6]

1926

1927

Long Island meeting of central bankers to discuss UK plea to help the £ by raising the US discount rate [7].

Federal Reserve Bank cuts its discount rate cut from 4% to 3% and purchases US government securities [8][9].

Renewed economic upturn

1928

Death of Benjamin Strong, Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York [10]

Federal Reserve Bank raises its discount rate to 5%

1929

Herbert Hoover becomes President [11]

August

Start of a downturn in economic activity [12]

Federal Reserve Bank raises discount rate to 6%.

October

The stock market crash of 1929.

24 Black Thursday DJIA falls by 13%

28 Black Monday DJIA falls by 12.8%

29 Black Tuesday DJIA falls by 11.7%

1930-33

The "Great Contraction"

Banking crises

Three waves of panic create a progressive collapse of the United States banking system, with the failure of nearly half of the banks and heavy. losses by the others.

1930

Failure of the Bank of United States [13].

Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act [14][15]

GNP drops 9.4% from the previous year. The unemployment rate climbs from 3.2 to 8.7%. By the end of the year, 1,350 banks have closed.

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1931

Banking crisis, with the failure of over 1800 banks.

1932

Chicago Banking Panic [16].

Revenue Act: income tax rates increased and allowances reduced [17].

Reconstruction Finance Corporation [18] created

Federal Home Loan Act [19]

Recorded unemployment reaches 25 percent.

1933

Trough of depression and start of recovery [20]

March

Inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt [21]

4-day banking holiday (temporarily closes all U.S. banks using the Emergency Banking Act) 1933[22].

Reforestation Relief Act.

April

Departure from gold standard

May

Federal Emergency Relief Act [23].

Agricultural Adjustment Act.

Federal Securities Act.

June

National Employment System Act.

National Industrial Recovery Act[24].

The National Recovery Administration and the Public Works Administration created by the National Recovery Act 1933 [25]

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation [26] created

Approximately 4,000 commercial banks and 1,700 "Savings and Loans" fail.

1934

Social Security Act: unemployment compensation introduced [27].

GNP rises 7.7 percent, and unemployment falls to 21.7 percent.

1935

GNP grows another 8.1 percent, and unemployment falls to 20.1 percent.

1936

1937

Recession of 1937 [28]: industrial production down 40 percent; unemployment rises by 4 million; stock market drops by 48 percent.

1938

Start of upturn