Wall Street Crash of 1929 and its aftermath

The strength of America’s economy in the 1920’s came to a sudden end in October 1929 – even if the signs of problems had existed before the Wall Street Crash. Suddenly the ‘glamour’ of the Jazz Ageandgangsters disappeared and America was faced with a major crisis that was to impact countries as far away as Weimar Germany – a nation that had built up her economy on American loans.

The huge wealth that appeared to exist in America in the 1920’s was at least partly an illusion.

For example the African Americans and the farmers had not benefited in the Jazz Age but neither had 60% of the whole population as it is estimated that a family needed a basic minimum of $2,000 a year to live (about £440) and60% of US families earned less than this. Almost certainly some of…