Black Tuesday and Late October Milestones That Shaped Policy

On Oct. 29, 1929, panic selling on the New York Stock Exchange culminated in Black Tuesday, a collapse in stock prices that erased roughly 14 billion dollars in market value and marked the beginning of the Great Depression in the United States. The crash devastated individual investors and financial institutions, setting off years of economic hardship, mass unemployment and a reassessment of financial regulation and economic policy.

The plunge on Black Tuesday followed weeks of market instability and speculative excess. Brokers struggled to meet margin calls as share prices tumbled, and many investors who had borrowed to buy stock were wiped out. The collapse accelerated a contraction in credit and consumer demand that rippled through banks, businesses and households. Economists and policymakers later pointed to the crash and the ensuing economic collapse as catalysts for new federal oversight of markets and major policy shifts during the 1930s.

Late October also marks other notable events in American and world history. On Oct. 28, 1886, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York Harbor as a gift from the people of France. Standing more than 300 feet tall on Liberty Island,...