Stock Market Collapse Of 1929: The Great Depression

The stock market crash of 1929 began in September of 1929. The downfall started when the Bank of England raised their interest rates causing many bank clients to withdraw several hundreds million dollars from banks in New York. After the massive withdrawal on October 24, 1929, known as “Black Thursday”, the price of stock decreased immensely and twelve million shares were exchanged. After this massive fiasco things went from bad to worse. Day by day the stock only seemed to decrease to the point where there was no hope of it increasing. The Stock market crash of 1929 ruined the lives of many Americans because it caused many to lose jobs, and took away their way of life. Unemployment grew to the its apex in the 1930s because of the the stock market crash. In “Unemployment”, it is shown that the unemployment rate adjusted figure for 1920-1929 was only 5.5 percent.
Men became depressed because they couldn't work. Many people were waiting in long lines for food just to survive this cruel time. While they were desperate for this supplies they needed there was, “the shame felt by most able-bodied citizens forced out of work and only able to survive through government welfare programs and private charity” (Batchelor 777), people got the aid they needed but that didn't please them because of the shame. People found a way to coupe with the depression. Tragically, their solution was suicide. The crash had cause the suicide rate to sky rocket. The suicide rate of our nation had, “increase in late 1929 and continued to increase until 1933—from 13.9 per 100,000 to an all-time high of 17.4 per 100,000.” (Batchelor 778). However, this wasn't a solution only for the poor and starving. The former president of the New York County Trust Company, James J. Riordan, committed suicide because he no longer could stand the fact that he was not only losing his only money but money that belonged to