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Events Surrounding the Great U.S. Depression
America's Great Depression is regarded as having begun in 1929 with
the Stock Market crash, and ended in 1941 with America's entry into
World War II. However, to fully understand the Great Depression, one
must look at it in context of events that happened before and after
those dates.
Original thanks to preliminary work from http://www.amatecon.com/gd/gdtimeline.html
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Lombard
Street,
by Walter Bagehot, published. The book goes on to become the
bible for central bankers. |
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May 6th, Chinese Exclusion Act passed, suspending the
immigration of Chinese Laborers for 10 years |
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Interstate Commerce Act passed, creating the Interstate Commerce
Commission |
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Sherman Antitrust Act passed |
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Chinese Exclusion Act extended for an additional ten years
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August 18th, Bureau of Immigration established |
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Countervailing Duty Law passed |
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Elkins Act passed, prohibiting the railroads from granting
secret rebates and from establishing discriminatory rates
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April 27th, Chinese Exclusion Act extended indefinitely
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June 30, Meat Inspection Act passed
June 30, Pure Food and Drug Act passed
Hepburn Act passed, extending the jurisdiction of the federal
government over interstate commerce to include express
companies, companies operating pipelines transporting petroleum
products, and companies operating sleeping cars on the railroads
The Jungle,
by Upton Sinclair, published |
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May, a business contraction begins, starting one of the most
severe depressions on record |
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January 27th, in
Adair v. the
United States, U.S. Supreme court rules that
yellow dog contracts are legal
June, depression ends
???, Federal Employers' Liability Act passed |
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Farm Loan Act passed, providing for the establishment of federal
land banks under Treasury Department supervision. |
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The Theory
of Money and Credit,
by Ludwig von Mises, published
First minimum wage law (for women only) enacted by Massachusetts
Lloyd-LaFollette Act passed, allowing unionization of postal
workers
July 31, Milton Friedman born
Woodrow Wilson elected President |
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February 3rd,
16th Amendment announced ratified when no such ratification
has ever taken place (income tax)
April 8, 17th Amendment ratified (direct election of Senators)
July 15th, Newlands Act passed, creates the U.S. Board of
Mediation and Conciliation to adjust disputes between railroads
and their operating employees.
In exchange for financial support for his presidential campaign
by he owners of the
Federal Reserve Bank,
during Christmas recess while most congressmen were absent, on December 23rd President Woodrow
Wilson quietly pushes the treasonous Federal Reserve Act through Congress.
Underwood Tariff Act passed, the first reduction in duties since
the Civil War, also established a modest income tax |
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June 28, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and wife are murdered by a
Serb terrorist in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Somehow this
assassination is employed to 'initiate' world War I.
August, World War I begins
August 15, Panama Canal opened to traffic
September 26th, Federal Trade Commission established
Clayton Act passed, restricting mergers between companies
December 17, Harrison Narcotics Act passed |
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May 7, nearly 1,200 people died when a German torpedo sank the
British liner Lusitania off the Irish coast.
May 23rd, Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary. |
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Child Labor Act passed, setting a national minimum age of 14 in
industries producing nonagricultural goods for interstate
commerce or for export
Keating-Owen Act passed, forbiding the transportation among
states of products of factories, shops or canneries employing
children under 14 years of age, of mines employing children
under 16 years of age, and the products of any of these
employing children under 16 who worked at night or more than
eight hours a day.
Antidumping Act passed
Federal Farm Loan Act passed, providing low interest credit to
farmers
September, Adamson Act passed
Limits railroad workers to an eight-hour day
Mandates time and a half pay for overtime for railroad workers
November, Woodrow Wilson defeats Republican Charles Evans Hughes
to win a second term as President |
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April 6, Congress declares war against Germany
May 18, Selective Service Act passed
December 7, Congress declares war against Austria-Hungary
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Pittman Act passed, permitting the government to sell silver to
Britain as a wartime measure
November, World War I ends |
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January 16th, 18th Amendment ratified (prohibition)
June 28th, Treaty of Versailles signed
July, Blockade of German ports ends
The Economic
Consequences of the Peace,
by John Maynard Keynes, published |
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January, economic expansion peaks; a severe recession begins
February 28th, Transportation Act passed
ICC empowered to prescribe intrastate rates when necessary to
eliminate discrimination against carriers in interstate commerce
Railroad Labor Board created
April 15, Frederick A. Parmenter, paymaster for the Slater and
Morrill Shoe Factories, and his guard, Alessandro Beradelli are
murdered during a robbery
May, Treasury begins to buy silver at one dollar an ounce, as
required by the Pittman Act of 1918
August 18th, 19th Amendment ratified (women's vote)
Jones Act passed, prohibits shipping merchandise between U.S.
ports "in any other vessel than a vessel built in and documented
under the laws of the United States and owned by persons who are
citizens of the United States.''
Warren G.
Harding defeats Governor James M. Cox of Ohio to
become the 29th President. Voter turnout is 49.2 percent, an
all time low up to then. |
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April, Allied Reparations Commission establishes 132 billion
gold marks ($33 billion) as the amount of reparations that
Germany must pay
May 19th, Emergency Quota Act passed, establishing national
quotas for immigrants
July, economic contraction ends; recovery begins
July 14th, immigrant anarchists, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo
Vanzetti, convicted of murder |
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September, Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act passed
Capper-Volstead Act passed
Hyperinflation begins in Germany
Socialism:
An Economic and Sociological Analysis,
by Ludwig von Mises, published |
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January, Rosewood massacre
April 9th, Supreme Court decides
Adkins v.
Children's Hospital , finding that a
Congressionally-mandated minimum wage for the District of
Columbia is unconstitutional
May, economic expansion peaks, recession begins
mid-year, silver purchase policy effectively ends
August 2, Warren G. Harding dies in San Francisco, apparently
from a heart attack
Tract on
Monetary Reform,
by John Maynard Keynes, published
Hyperinflation ends in Germany |
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February 3rd, Woodrow Wilson dies
July, economic contraction ends, recovery begins
July, Olympics held in Paris
Congress passes an amendment to the constitution, empowering
Congress to limit, regulate, and prohibit the labor of persons
under 18 years of age. (The number of state legislatures that
ratified the proposed amendment was 28, or 8 less than the 36
then required.)
Keiss Act passed, allowing unionization of the Government
Printing Office.
Congress bans heroin completely
Johnson-Reed Act passed, severely limiting immigration
November,
Calvin
Coolidge elected president
German Hyperinflation ends
The French army evacuates the Ruhr region of Germany, allowing a
major increase in coal production
Coal operators in Britain engage in a lock out for seven months,
in an effort to force down wages |
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April 28th, Britain announces return to a gold standard for its
currency, setting the value of the pound back to its pre-World
War I value of $4.86/pound
July 10-25, Scopes Monkey Trial
The Great
Gatsby,
by F. Scott Fitzgerald, published |
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May 3rd, a nine day nationwide general strike begins in Britain
May 20th, Railway Labor Act passed
October, economic expansion peaks, recession begins
Revenue Act of 1926 passed, cutting taxes of those earning $1M
or more by two-thirds |
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May 20, Charles Lindbergh takes off from Roosevelt Field in Long
Island, N.Y., aboard the Spirit of St. Louis on his
historic solo flight to France.
August 23rd, immigrant anarchists, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo
Vanzetti, were executed
November, economic contraction ends, recovery begins
December, the Ford Motor Company introduces the Model A
Federal Reserve reduces the discount rate by half a point and
purchases $230 million of government securities |
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June, France returns to a gold standard, establishing exchange
rates of 124 francs per pound and 25.51 francs per dollar
August 27th,
Kellogg-Briand Pact signed, "outlawing" war
October, Benjamin Strong, Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank
of New York, dies.
November,
Herbert
Hoover elected president |
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February 2nd, Federal Reserve announces a ban on bank loans for
margin trades
June 15th, Agricultural Marketing Act passed
August, economic expansion peaks
September 3rd, stock market prices peak, with New York Times
index of industrial stocks at 452
October 24th, "Black Thursday," recorded sales of shares hits
12,895,000
October 25th, market rallies, briefly
October 29th, "Black Tuesday," recorded sales of shares hits
16,410,000. New York Times index of industrial stocks
drops nearly forty points, the worst drop in Wall Street history
to that point.
November 13th, stock market prices reach low for the year, with
New York Times index of industrial stocks at 224
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June, Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act passed
October, Committee for Unemployment Relief formed
Treatise on
Money,
by John Maynard Keynes, published
By year's end, 1350 banks have suspended operations during 1930
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January 7th, the Committee for Unemployment Relief releases a
report on unemployment showing that 4 to 5 million Americans
were out of work.
January 19th, Hoover's Wickersham Commission reports that
enforcement of Prohibition has become almost impossible.
March 31st, Davis-Bacon Act becomes law, requiring "prevailing"
(union) wages to be paid on federal construction contracts
May, KreditAnstalt, Austria's largest bank, collapses
May 1st, New York's 102-story Empire State Building dedicated
June 5th, Chancellor Bruning announces that Germany was no
longer going to pay reparations under the Young Plan
July 23rd, Macmillan report on Britain's international finances
released, pointing out that Britain's short-term liabilities to
foreigners is several times the size of Britain's gold reserves.
September 21st, Britain goes off the gold standard, the first
major power to do so.
September, Japan invades Manchuria
October 16th, New York Federal Reserve Bank's discount rate
raised from 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent.
October 17th, mobster Al Capone was convicted of income tax
evasion and sentenced to 11 years in prison. (He was released in
1939.)
October 23rd, New York Federal Reserve Bank's discount rate
raised from 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent.
December, Japan leaves the gold standard
December 11th, New York Bank of the United States collapses
By year's end, 2,293 banks have suspended operations during 1931
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January 22nd, Reconstruction Finance Corporation created
March 1st, Charles Lindbergh's 20-month-old son, Charles
Augustus, Jr., is kidnapped from the family home in New Jersey.
April, Federal Reserve officials initiate an open market program
to buy $500 million worth of securities
May, Federal Reserve officials undertake another open market
program, purchasing an additional $500 million worth of
securities
May 20th, Amelia Earhart took off from Newfoundland for Ireland
to become the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.
June 6th, Revenue Act of 1932 passed, the largest peacetime tax
increase in the nation's history to that date
raised top tax rates from 25% to 63%
reduced personal exemptions from $1,500 to $1,000 for single
persons
reduced personal exemptions from $3,500 to $2,500 for married
couples
July, Federal law updated to require that the names of banks
borrowing from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation be made
public.
July 21st, Emergency Relief and Construction Act passed
July 28th, Bonus Army Riot begins in Washington, D.C.
August 24th, Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly
nonstop across the United States, traveling from Los Angeles to
Newark, N.J., in just over 19 hours
Norris-La Guardia Act passed, outlawing yellow-dog contracts
and protecting unions from anti-trust actions, private damage
suits and court injunctions
Glass-Steagall Act passed (liberalized the terms under which
member banks could borrow from the Federal Reserve)
Tuskegee Syphilis Study begins
November 8th,
Franklin D.
Roosevelt defeats Herbert Hoover to become the 32nd
President (electoral vote count of 472 to 59)
By year's end, 1,493 banks have suspended operations during 1932
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January 5th, Construction begins on San Francisco's Golden Gate
Bridge
January 23rd, 20th Amendment ratified
January 31st, Adolf Hitler named Chancellor of Germany
February 15th, Chicago mayor Anton Cermak is killed during an
assassination attempt in Miami, Florida on President-elect
Roosevelt.
March, economic contraction ends; economy starts to recover
March 4th, FDR is inaugurated as president
March 6th, FDR declares a bank holiday
March 9th, bank holiday ends
March 9th, Emergency Banking Relief Act passed, providing for
federal bank inspections
March 12th, FDR's first Fireside Chat is broadcast over the
radio.
March 20th, FDR signs Economy Act.
March 20th, Credit Act passed, identifying those veterans and
dependents of veterans who were entitled to a pension
March 31st, Reforestation Relief Act passed, creating the
Civilian Conservation Corps
April, New York becomes the first to pass a state law regulating
minimum producer, wholesale, and retail milk prices (25 other
states will take similar action by the end of the 1930s)
April 19th, America goes off the gold standard
May 12th, Agricultural Adjustment Act passed, authorizing paying
farmers not to grow crops
May 12th, Federal Emergency Relief Administration created
May 12th, Farm Relief Act passed, creating the Farm Credit
Administration and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration
May 18th, Tennessee Valley Authority created
May 27th, Federal Securities Act passed
June 6th, National Cooperative Employment Service Act passed
June 13th, Home Owners' Loan Act passed
June 16th, Farm Credit Act passed
June 16th, Glass-Steagall Act passed
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation established
Federal Reserve empowered to set maximum allowable interest
rates on savings and time deposits accounts
Payment of interest on demand deposits (checking accounts)
outlawed
Commercial banks were no longer allowed to engage in investment
banking (underwriting securities)
Federal Open Market Committee established
June 16th, National Industrial Recovery Act passed
June 16th, Emergency Railroad Transportation Act passed
October 17th, Albert Einstein arrived in the United States as a
refugee from Nazi Germany.
November 8th, Civil Works Administration (CWA ) created by
executive order
December 5th, 21st Amendment ratified (repeals 18th amendment,
ending alcohol prohibition)
By year's end, approximately 4,000 banks have suspended
operations in 1933 |
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January 30th, Gold Reserve Act passed
Establishes Exchange Stabilization Fund
Allows the U. S. Treasury to seize all gold held by Federal
Reserve banks
Private possession of gold made illegal except for "legitimate"
purposes (jewelry, artwork, and industrial and scientific uses)
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