Great Depression in the United States
The Great Depression began in August 1929, when the United States economy first went into an economic recession. Although the country spent two months with declining GDP, it was not until the Wall Street Crash in October 1929 that the effects of a declining economy were felt, and a major worldwide economic downturn ensued. The stock market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth as well as for personal advancement. Altogether, there was a general loss of confidence in the economic future.
Herbert Hoover
Hoover pursued many policies in an attempt to pull the country out of depression, while attempting to restrain the federal government from becoming directly involved in commercial affairs. In the days following Black Tuesday, Hoover gathered business and labor leaders, asking them to avoid wage cuts and work stoppages while the country faced what he believed would be a short recession similar to the Depression of 1920–21. Some economists, such as Lee Ohanian, point to the resulting wage rigidity as a key cause of the severity of the Great Depression.