In the decade that led up to the Great Wall Street Crash, otherwise known as the Roaring Twenties, the country was experiencing a time of wealth and excess. There was a lot of speculation that the stock market would continue to rise indefinitely.

On this day, October 24, in 1929, the Great Wall Street Crash began. Share prices on the New York Stock Exchange abruptly fell and this day came to be known as Black Thursday. In the days prior to Black Thursday, the market was extremely unstable. It is said that this event lead to the Great Depression.

Leading Wall Street bankers met to find a solution to the panic and chaos revolving around the crash. One of the bankers, Richard Whitney, was chosen to act on their behalf. With this support, Whitney used a tactic similar to the one that ended the Panic of 1907. His actions stopped the prices from falling and allowed the Dow Jones Industrial average to recover temporarily.