In this lecture, Professor Totten argues the Stock Market Crash of 1929 was not the cause of the Great Depression, but instead was merely the shock that collapsed an unstable economy. Declining farm prices, over production, laissez-faire economic policies, and a lack of liquidity in every industry contributed were the real causes of the depression. When combined with a stock market that was over-inflated it was a recipe for disaster. When the crash occurred, thousands of banks went under, and fortunes evaporated over night. Government policy contributed to the crisis, as tariff walls rose across the world, and trade ground to a halt. Citizens were forced to embrace a more frugal lifestyle, though these varied based on race and gender. While Hoover's administration did more than any other president up to that point in American history to combat an economic crisis, it was simply not enough. Hoover's refusal to deficit spend and abandon the myth of American rugged individualism, only deepened the disaster. Protests occurred across the country, most notably the march on Washington, D.C. that was violently dispersed by the U.S. Army under the command of General Douglas MacArthur. The American people had seen enough, and elected Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932. The country wanted action and soon got it, as FDR promised a New Deal for the American people.
