How the Presidents Dealt with the Great Depression One of the biggest events in the 1930s was the Great Depression. The Great Depression was one of the world’s largest stock market crashes and started on October 24, 1929, wiping out millions of investors and leaving lots of shares traded and eventually, worthless (“The Great Depression”). The core of the economy weakened, the next several years resulted in monetary distress. Businesses could no longer afford to employ people and those with jobs could not make a sufficient living from their reduced wages. Elected as presidents during one of the worst stock market crashes; Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt were called to action to fix and manage the financial
