Today In History, October 24th

Stock Market Crash of 1929, First Picture in Space, Paul McCartney & More

Author

Cameron Bartkoski
October 24, 2023

Good morning and welcome to Today In History. Your daily dose of history and nostalgia.

Read time ~ 5 min

  • The Stock Market Crash of 1929

  • U.S. In Focus

  • Shaping the World

  • Just For Fun

  • Births & Deaths

Black Thursday (1929)

Setting The Scene

Let’s travel back to 1929, a big time for change in the world and the peak of the Roaring Twenties in the United States. European nations are still recovering from World War I and Germany is paying heavy reparations. Meanwhile, Joseph Stalin leads the Soviet Union and Japan is increasingly hungrier for power and influence.

Today, we focus in on the thriving yet unsuspecting United States. At the height of their wealth, American citizens are dancing to jazz music and investors line their pockets thanks to a booming stock market. Women were emerging more powerful with the suffrage movement and new technology like radios and cars are in the beginning phase of widespread adoption. Speakeasies are popular thanks to Prohibition and Charlie Chaplin ushers Hollywood into the Golden Age.

What Happened?

Investors and Americans alike are preparing for yet another incredible day in the Roaring Twenties. They’re 9 years into a non-stop bull market, what’s there to worry about? Unfortunately, Wall Street doesn’t have the same plan as the stock market opens down 11% lower than yesterday. Panic spreads across the country and the massive selloffs begin. Remember, it’s 1929 so trading is done face-to-face on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. It’s pure chaos as people are shouting, watching as the market plummets.

Considering that investors are generally overconfident and believe the stock market is an easy way to get rich, there was a considerable amount of margin trading (using borrowed money). The ill-fated cocktail of speculative trading, overconfidence, and margin trading create a bubble around stock prices. 12.9 million shares are sold throughout the day, bursting the bubble as prices soar downward.

Impact

This record selloff kickstarted the Stock Market Crash of 1929, and ultimately the Great Depression. Millions of Americans lost their jobs and life savings, causing poverty and homelessness levels to surge. As a result, Americans lost faith in financial institutions, which led to government intervention and the New Deal. American life took an unexpected downturn, only the beginning of a 12-year fall from grace, ending in 1941 during World War II.

What else happened?

United States In Focus

  • The 40 hour work week is introduced as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act. (1938)

  • A camera on the V-2 rocket, departing from White Sands, New Mexico takes the first photograph of earth from space. (1946)

  • The stock market crashes due to predatory mortgage lending, also known as Bloody Friday. (2008)

Shaping the World

Just For Fun

  • Levi P. Morton drives the first rivet into the Statue of Liberty. (1881)

  • Harry Houdini performs for the last time in Detroit. (1926)

  • Paul McCartney is recognized as the all-time best-selling singer-songwriter by the Guinness Book of Records. (1979)

Births

Deaths