Worried that the stock market might crash

Believed that prosperity would continue to grow

Were concerned about inequality in society

Many old industries were in decline

The US put tarriffs on imports

New methods of production enabled the boom in consumer goods

Many industries were over valued

Drought and over farming caused the Dust Bowl

Europe imported far less food from the US after the war

New methods in farming meant that they were producing surpluses of wheat

Farming prices fell dramatically

If Americans did not have enough money, they could buy cars on credit

Advertising was a powerful new industry which encouraged people to buy cars

The mass production process made them affordable 

Most Americans lived in suburbs and needed a car to get around

Giving help to industries and businesses who were struggling

Regulation for some industries

  'laissez faire' - minimal government intervention

Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover

Calvin Coolidge and Woodrow Wilson

Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt

businesses helped their employees to buy shares as a perk of the job

the government lent them money to do this

they were able to 'buy on the margin'

they had invested in European banks

they had to print more money

people rushed to withdraw their savings

Relied on charities to come forward and help out

Set up soup kitchens in the White House

Stepped up federal spending to enable the government to give out unemployment benefit

Getting rid of tarriffs

Setting up the Reconstruction Finance Corporation

Getting Congress to pass a bill to create new jobs for the unemployed