Great Depression/Timelines

1850-1918
 * 11 US recessions including the panic of 1893

1914-18
 * First World War
 * General suspension of the gold standard.

1918
 * Treaty of Versailles: war reparations.

1923
 * German hyperinflation.

1925
 * Britain rejoins the gold standard.

1929
 * The stock market crash of 1929

1930
 * Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act
 * US GNP drops 9.4% from the previous year. The unemployment rate climbs from 3.2 to 8.7%. By the end of the year, 1,350 banks have closed.

1931
 * Britain, Sweden and Japan leave the gold standard

1932
 * Reconstruction Finance Corporation created
 * Federal Home Loan Act
 * Unemployment is 25 percent.
 * National income is 50 percent below that of 1929.
 * Stock market is 75 percent below its 1929 high.
 * 10,000 banks have failed since 1929, (40 percent of the 1929 total).

1933
 * Franklin D. Roosevelt elected president.
 * President declares a banking holiday and temporarily closes all U.S. banks using the Emergency Banking Act 1933.
 * The National Recovery Administration and the Public Works Administration created by the National Recovery Act 1933
 * Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation created
 * Money supply is 40 percent lower than 1929.
 * Approximately 4,000 commercial banks fail.
 * 1,700 S&Ls fail

1934
 * US recovery begins: GNP rises 7.7 percent, and unemployment falls to 21.7 percent.

1935
 * US recovery continues: the GNP grows another 8.1 percent, and unemployment falls to 20.1 percent.

1936

1937
 * US Recession of 1937 : industrial production down 40 percent; unemployment rises by 4 million; stock market drps by 48 percent.

1938

1939