Military leaders wanted to maintain the illusion of a single powerful leader
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Stock Market Crash of 1929
Workers flood the streets in a panic following the Black Tuesday stock market crash on Wall Street, New York City, 1929
Hulton Archive/Archive Photos/Getty Images
Remembered today as "Black Tuesday," the stock market crash of October 29, 1929, was neither the sole cause of the Great Depression nor the first crash that month. The market, which had reached record highs that very summer, had begun to decline in September.
On Thursday, October 24, the market plunged at the opening bell, causing a panic. Though investors managed to halt the slide, just five days later on "Black Tuesday" the market crashed, losing 12 percent of its value and wiping out $14 billion of investments. Two months later, stockholders had lost more than $40 billion dollars. Even though the stock market regained some of its losses by the end of 1930, the economy was devastated. America truly entered what is called the Great Depression.
