Key Players in the Crash

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  • Created by: Lily
  • Created on: 09-05-13 13:08

Charles Ponzi - Confidence Trickster

  • In 1919 his cpaital resources amounted to $150. In the early 1920's his comapny Old Colony Foreign Exchange made an astonishing offer in a Boston paper.
  • For every $10 invested in the firm for 90 days it guaranteed a 50% return.
  • By July the company was receiving $1 million per week
  • Reporters investigated but couldn't find any investments.
  • In August the court closed the company and Ponzi was sent to prison.
  • His investors lost everything.
  • Ponzi encouraged the "get rich quick" attitude
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Investment Bankers & Stockbrokers

  • "Inside trading" manipulated the stock market and easily exploited vulnerable people.
  • Borrowed money from the banks to diss out loans to anyone who wanted them, making thousands of people owing money.
  • Demanded all their money back at one time leaving people desperate
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William Durant of General Motors

  • Gave the impression of great market interest due to artifical inflation and inside trading.
  • Operated the farmers bull market
  • Often left people with depreciated stock
  • Took advantage of peoples naivety
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Walter Chrysler

  • Owned the giant company Chrysler Steel
  • Loaned money to brokers in order to carry on speculation
  • Carried out "easy credit" avaliability
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Franklin D Roosevelt

  • Blamed for not being one of the "warning voices of the devils of the stock market"
  • Failed to take any responsibility to regulate Wall Street
  • Particulary blamed by Hoover
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Popular Press

  • Popularised the stock market
  • Failed to report weaknesses and faults in the stock market
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Ordinary Americans

  • Naive and didnt fully understand the nature of the stock market.
  • Often were "in too deep"
  • "Easy credit" made borrowing more avaliable
  • People have a tendency to panic
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Woodrow Wilson

  • Issued liberty/honour bonds which made loaning easier and increase
  • The easier it was to loan, the more people got into the stock market
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Andrew Mellon - Republican Governor

  • "Laissez Faire" attitude
  • Government failed to regulate and check the stock market leading to many improper practices
  • Controversial policies
  • Failed to oversee a crash and prevent it
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Charles E Mitchell

  • Threatened to give money to the banks if credit was tightened by the Federal Reserve Board
  • This allowed spending to carry on at a mass rate
  • Undermined authority
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