Panic-stricken crowds mill around the Stock Exchange in New YorkÊon Oct. 24, 1929, known as Black Thursday.Ê A Times headline the next day declared, "Worst Stock Crash Stemmed by Banks; 12,894,650-Share Day Swamps Market." The lead storyÊsaid, "The most disastrous decline in the biggest and broadest stock market of history rocked the financial district yesterday."

In the next few days, thousands throughout the nation lost billions of dollars as stock prices crumbled. All financial values collapsed, and the gigantic structure of the nation's prosperity fell into ruins. The mirage of quickly won wealth suddenly vanished. To millions of Americans the future seemed altogether bereft of hope.