1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:11,480 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 1: a show that tally's the gains and losses of everyday history. 4 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:21,080 Speaker 1: I'm Gay Bluesier, and in this episode we're talking about 5 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: something truly scary, sweeping financial insolvency, or in Layman's terms, 6 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 1: everyone going broke. The day was October. In an event 7 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:45,880 Speaker 1: known as Black Tuesday, the United States stock market crashed, 8 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:50,440 Speaker 1: wiping out the savings of thousands of investors and erasing 9 00:00:50,479 --> 00:00:55,120 Speaker 1: a hundred billion dollars from the nation's economy. The losses 10 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:59,279 Speaker 1: sustained in just that one day would take over a 11 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:04,400 Speaker 1: decade to recover. The stock market crash of nineteen twenty 12 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:08,480 Speaker 1: nine came at the end of a decade of unparalleled growth. 13 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:14,000 Speaker 1: Speculation ran wild in the Roaring twenties, causing share prices 14 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 1: to rise higher than ever. The boom hit its peak 15 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:22,040 Speaker 1: in August of twenty nine, when the Dow Jones Industrial 16 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:27,679 Speaker 1: average spiked sixfold, from sixty three points to three hundred 17 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:31,160 Speaker 1: and eighty one over the course of just a few weeks. 18 00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 1: When the market hit this dizzying high, an economist named 19 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:41,520 Speaker 1: Irving Fisher was bold enough to declare quote stock prices 20 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:46,919 Speaker 1: have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau. Fisher 21 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:51,000 Speaker 1: was incorrect. By the time of his claim, most stocks 22 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 1: were being valued far beyond their actual value. The country's 23 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:59,280 Speaker 1: production had fallen sharply due to all sorts of factors, 24 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:04,480 Speaker 1: include being a struggling agricultural sector, low wages and excess 25 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:08,960 Speaker 1: of bank loans, and arise in unemployment. This decline in 26 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:13,120 Speaker 1: the nation's productivity dragged the worth of most stocks down 27 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:17,200 Speaker 1: with it. Prices began to slump in late September and 28 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:22,640 Speaker 1: early October. By October they were falling fast, and on 29 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:28,480 Speaker 1: October Black Thursday, a record number of shares were unloaded 30 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:34,320 Speaker 1: nearly thirteen million. Banks and investment companies tried to stop 31 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:38,680 Speaker 1: the bleeding by buying up huge bundles of stock on Friday, 32 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 1: but to no avail. On October Black Monday. Are you 33 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 1: sensing a pattern, the market plunged into free fall. The 34 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:54,200 Speaker 1: Dow dropped nearly thirteen percent. The following day, Black Tuesday, 35 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:58,399 Speaker 1: it fell another twelve percent, with many stock prices bottoming 36 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:03,519 Speaker 1: out altogether. At the time, Black Monday was the largest 37 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:07,799 Speaker 1: stock market crash in history. But it's Black Tuesday that's 38 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:12,239 Speaker 1: remembered as the day the market crashed completely. This kicked 39 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:15,640 Speaker 1: off a chain of events that ultimately sank the US 40 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:19,440 Speaker 1: and the rest of the industrialized world straight into the 41 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:24,840 Speaker 1: Great Depression. In the aftermath of Black Tuesday, prices continued 42 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:28,359 Speaker 1: to drop as people rushed to unload their stock as 43 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:32,840 Speaker 1: quickly as possible. By mid November, the Dow had fallen 44 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 1: to nearly half its peak value. That decline would continue 45 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:41,040 Speaker 1: through the summer of nineteen thirty two, when the Dow 46 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:45,760 Speaker 1: closed at eighty nine percent below its peak value. That 47 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: was the lowest the Dow would go in the entire 48 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 1: twentieth century, and it wouldn't return to its pre crash 49 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:58,280 Speaker 1: peak until nineteen fifty four, over three decades later. To 50 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:02,560 Speaker 1: be clear, the crash of nineteen twenty nine wasn't solely 51 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:06,520 Speaker 1: responsible for the ten year economic slump that followed, but 52 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: it did speed up that decline. By nineteen thirty three, 53 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:14,320 Speaker 1: almost half the banks in the United States had failed, 54 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:18,039 Speaker 1: and nearly fifteen million people, almost a third of the 55 00:04:18,080 --> 00:04:24,240 Speaker 1: country's workforce, were unemployed. The average family suffered immensely during 56 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:28,400 Speaker 1: the Great Depression, especially African Americans and those who lived 57 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:31,679 Speaker 1: in the dust bowl of the southern Plains, where severe 58 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:37,039 Speaker 1: drought and harsh winds made life unbearable. President Roosevelt's New 59 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:41,120 Speaker 1: Deal offered some relief to those most affected, but it 60 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 1: wasn't until the early nineteen forties that wartime production finally 61 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:49,679 Speaker 1: put an end to the country's decade long depression. Because 62 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:53,520 Speaker 1: we're telling scary stories this week, you may have expected 63 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:57,360 Speaker 1: to hear about the surge in window jumpings that supposedly 64 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:01,520 Speaker 1: occurred in the wake of the stock market crash. For decades, 65 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: rumors have claimed that dozens or even hundreds of investors 66 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:11,400 Speaker 1: leapt to their deaths after losing it all on Wall Street. Thankfully, 67 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:15,800 Speaker 1: these reports are greatly exaggerated. The myth likely got its 68 00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:19,680 Speaker 1: start on the day after Black Thursday, when New York 69 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:23,320 Speaker 1: Times columnist Will Rogers made a dark joke in the 70 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:27,680 Speaker 1: day's paper. He said, quote, when Wall Street took that 71 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:30,400 Speaker 1: tail spin, you had to stand in line to get 72 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:33,680 Speaker 1: a window to jump out of, and speculators were selling 73 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:38,200 Speaker 1: spaces for bodies in the East River. Rogers column was 74 00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:42,039 Speaker 1: read by about forty million people on average, and it 75 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:44,680 Speaker 1: seems that many of them took him at his word. 76 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:47,920 Speaker 1: But he wasn't the only one who spread the rumor 77 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:52,800 Speaker 1: through comedy. Eddie Canter, a vaudeville comedian who lost money 78 00:05:52,839 --> 00:05:56,920 Speaker 1: in the crash, himself, joked afterward that when he asked 79 00:05:56,920 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 1: for a hotel room on the nineteen floor in New York, 80 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:05,479 Speaker 1: the clerk asked him what for sleeping or jumping. These 81 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:08,520 Speaker 1: bad taste jokes convinced the public there had been a 82 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:12,320 Speaker 1: mass wave of suicides after the crash, and that myth 83 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:16,479 Speaker 1: has persisted in some corners to this very day. But 84 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:20,640 Speaker 1: that doesn't mean the event wasn't deadly. In reality, there 85 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:24,159 Speaker 1: were two documented cases of people jumping off buildings in 86 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:28,800 Speaker 1: the Financial District following the crash in ninety nine, one 87 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:31,720 Speaker 1: of whom had lost money in the market, and in 88 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:35,960 Speaker 1: the final months of that year, American newspapers did report 89 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 1: multiple cases of bankrupt investors taking their lives, though by 90 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:45,480 Speaker 1: other means. There's also the sad fact that the beginning 91 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:50,000 Speaker 1: of the Great Depression did correspond to an increase in suicides. 92 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:54,200 Speaker 1: This dark truth at the heart of the building jumping 93 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:58,440 Speaker 1: myth shows what a frightening time this was in America 94 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:02,279 Speaker 1: and in the world, a time that, if we're lucky 95 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:08,720 Speaker 1: won't be seen again. I'm Gabe Lousier and hopefully you 96 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: now know a little more about history today than you 97 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:15,880 Speaker 1: did yesterday. If you're so inclined, you can keep up 98 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 1: with the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t 99 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: d i HC Show, and if you have any suggestions 100 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:26,280 Speaker 1: or general feedback to share, you can send it to 101 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:30,400 Speaker 1: This Day at I heart media dot com. Thanks to 102 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:33,800 Speaker 1: Chandler May's for producing the show, and thank you for listening. 103 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:37,320 Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another spooky 104 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:47,080 Speaker 1: day in History class. For more podcasts for my Heart Radio, 105 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:49,760 Speaker 1: vis the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 106 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:51,080 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.