The Great Depression, A Timeline
1929 - Ernest Hemingway publishes A Farewell to Arms
Erich Maria Remarque publishes All Quiet on the Western Front
Robert and Helen Lynd publish Middletown
Great Crash symptomatic of the beginning of Great Depression in America
Hoover shepherds Agricultural Marketing Act through Congress
1930 - Economic travails spread across US and begins to affect much of world
Hawley-Smoot Tariff enacted; other nations reciprocate
Nazi Party gains popularity in Germany
Beginnings of drought that would create “Dust Bowl”
1931 - Federal Reserve raises interest rates, contracting supply of money
Depression deepens in Europe and US
“Scottsboro boys” arrested
Japanese troops engineer takeover of Manchuria
1932 – Glass-Steagall Banking Act enacted
Reconstruction Finance Corporation Established
Farm Holiday Association formed in Iowa
“Bonus Army” marches on Washington, met with violence
Franklin D. Roosevelt elected president
1933 - Franklin D. Roosevelt inaugurated as president
The “Hundred Days” sparks New Deal
Emergency Banking Act
Economy Act
Civilian Conservation Corps
Agricultural Adjustment Act
Tennessee Valley Authority
National Industrial Recovery Act
Banking Act
Federal Emergency Relief Act
Home Owners’ Refinancing Act
Civil Works Administration
Federal Securities Act
U.S. officially abandons gold standard
Twenty-First Amendment enacted (ends prohibition)
Dr. Frances Townsend begins campaign for old age pensions
FDR declares “Good Neighbor” Policy
Adolph Hitler and Nazi Party take power in Germany
1934 - More New Deal measures
National Housing Act
National Labor Relations Board
Securities and Exchange Act
Home Owners’ Loan Act
Conservatives create American Liberty League
Huey Long establishes Share-Our-Wealth Society
Indian Reorganization Act returns authority to tribes
Upton Sinclair fails in bid to become California governor
1935 - More New Deal measures
Works Progress (Projects) Administration
National Youth Administration
Social Security Act
National Labor Relations Act (aka Wagner Act)
Public Utilities Holding Company Act
Resettlement Administration
Rural Electrification Administration
Revenue Act (aka “wealth tax”)
Worst Dust Storms on record ravage plains states
Supreme Court invalidates NRA in Schechter v. U.S.
Father Charles Coughlin establishes National Union for Social Justice
John L. Lewis and allies break with AFL
Huey Long assassinated
Nuremburg Laws deprive German Jews of citizenship
Italy begins conquest of Ethiopia
American Communist Party proclaims “Popular Front”
First Neutrality Act
1936 - Dale Carnegie publishes How to Win Friends and Influence People
Margaret Mitchell publishes Gone with the Wind
Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act
Supreme Court invalidates Agricultural Adjustment Act
Congress of Industrial Organizations established
United Auto Workers sit down strikes begin
Spanish Civil War begins
John Maynard Keynes publishes The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money
FDR wins reelection by record margin
Second Neutrality Act
1937 - FDR proposes “court-packing” plan
Supreme Court validates Wagner Act
US Steel recognizes Steel Workers’ Organizing Committee
Police kill 10 steel workers in Chicago during Memorial Day march
Farm Security Administration
National Housing Act
Japan launches full-scale invasion of China
New recession hits U.S. in fall
Third Neutrality Act
1938 – FDR asks Congress for $5 billion in emergency appropriations
FDR proposes reorganization of Executive Branch
Fair Labor Standards Act establishes national minimum wage
FDR attempts to push conservatives out of Democratic Party in midterm elections
Germany annexes Austria in “Anschluss”
Germany takes control of Czechoslovakian territory in Sudetenland
Munich Conference closes in Europe amid promise of “peace in our time”
NAACP wins case in Missouri ex. rel. Gaines
1939 - John Steinbeck publishes The Grapes of Wrath
Nazi-Soviet pact signed
Marian Anderson sings at Lincoln Memorial
Germany invades Poland
World War II begins in Europe
1940 - Soviets invade Baltic nations and Finland
Smith Act
German blitzkrieg conquers most of Western Europe (including France)
Germany, Italy and Japan sign Tripartite Pact
Richard Wright publishes Native Son
Ernest Hemingway publishes For Whom the Bell Tolls
Fight for Freedom Committee urges American entry into war
America First Committee urges continued isolationism
Battle of Britain begins
U.S. makes destroyers-for-bases deal with Britain
Peacetime draft established
FDR elected to third term
1941 - Germany invades Soviet Union
Lend-lease provides aid to Britain
Atlantic Charter signed
American ships confront German submarines in North Atlantic
Japanese seize French colony of Indochina
U.S. freezes Japanese assets
Walker Evans and James Agee publish Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
A. Philip Randolph proposes March on Washington
Executive Order 8802 establishes Fair Employment Practices Commission
FDR delivers “Four Freedoms” speech
General Hideki Tojo becomes Japanese prime minister