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Great Depression Timeline: America's Complete History of Economic Crisis, Recovery, and the New Deal Era

How a 1929 stock market crash became a decade-long American crisis, and the New Deal recovery that followed.

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1929 Wall Street Crash 1930–1933 Banks fail, jobless rise 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act 1932 FDR elected president 1933 New Deal begins 1935 Social Security Act signed 1937–1938 A further recession 1939–1941 Wartime production ends the Depression

1929 The Wall Street stock market crashes

On October 29, 1929, later known as Black Tuesday, the New York Stock Exchange crashes after days of steep declines, wiping out enormous paper wealth and shaking confidence in the American financial system.

1930–1933 Bank failures accelerate and unemployment surges

Thousands of banks close as depositors rush to withdraw savings and credit dries up; unemployment climbs sharply and is commonly cited as having peaked at around 25 percent by 1933.

1930 The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act is signed

Congress raises duties on imported goods; many historians see the act as having worsened international trade conditions during the downturn.

1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected president

Roosevelt wins the presidency on a promise of relief and reform, setting up the New Deal era that follows.

1933 The New Deal begins with a bank holiday and the Hundred Days

Roosevelt declares a national bank holiday and, within his first 'Hundred Days,' Congress passes New Deal legislation including the FDIC and the Civilian Conservation Corps.

1937–1938 A sharp recession interrupts the recovery

Economic gains slow and a further recession hits in 1937–38, showing how fragile the recovery still was.

1939–1941 Wartime production brings the Depression to a close

As the United States ramps up industrial output ahead of and during the Second World War, wartime manufacturing absorbs remaining unemployment and effectively ends the Great Depression as an economic crisis.

Last updated: August 2026

History Timelines. (August 2026). Great Depression Timeline: America's History of Crisis and Recovery. Retrieved from https://history-timelines.org.uk/events/great-depression/

This Great Depression timeline of events traces the causes, key dates, and turning points of the worst economic crisis in modern American history, from the 1929 Wall Street Crash through the New Deal recovery and the outbreak of the Second World War. It follows how a single stock market crash grew into a decade-long crisis of unemployment and bank failures, and how federal policy under Franklin D. Roosevelt reshaped the American economy. Dates and figures below reflect standard historical accounts, and where precision is genuinely uncertain, they are presented as commonly cited estimates rather than exact counts. Along the way, breadlines, shantytowns nicknamed “Hoovervilles,” and widespread farm foreclosures became everyday sights in American cities and rural communities alike.

The Great Depression Timeline: Crash to Crisis, 1929–1933

The timeline conventionally begins on October 29, 1929 (often called Black Tuesday), when the Wall Street stock market crashed after days of steep declines, wiping out enormous paper wealth almost overnight. The crash alone did not cause the Depression, but it triggered a crisis of confidence that spread through the banking system. Between 1930 and 1933, thousands of banks failed as depositors rushed to withdraw savings, credit dried up, and businesses closed, throwing millions out of work. Unemployment climbed sharply through these years and is commonly cited as having peaked at around 25 percent of the workforce by 1933, though exact figures from the period vary by source. In 1930, Congress passed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, raising duties on imported goods; many historians see it as having worsened international trade conditions and deepened the downturn worldwide. By the time Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in 1932, this early stretch of the Great Depression timeline of events had already reshaped daily life for a large share of American families.

America’s New Deal Response and Recovery

When Roosevelt took office in March 1933, one of his first acts was to declare a national bank holiday, closing every bank in the country for several days to halt the panic before letting sound banks reopen under federal oversight. Within Roosevelt’s first “Hundred Days,” Congress passed sweeping New Deal legislation, including the creation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to insure deposits and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to put unemployed young men to work on public lands projects. Congress also created the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1934 to regulate the stock market, and by 1935 the Works Progress Administration was funding public construction and arts jobs for millions of unemployed workers.

A weathered stock-ticker tape spilling across a desk beside an old rotary telephone

On this Great Depression America timeline, 1935 marks another turning point: Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, establishing a federal safety net for the elderly and unemployed that remains part of American life today. The economy improved gradually through the mid-1930s, but a further, sharper recession in 1937–38 showed how fragile the recovery still was: proof that a Great Depression America timeline is rarely a straight line from crisis to recovery, but a slow and uneven climb.

Why This History Still Shapes Modern America

Full recovery did not arrive until the United States began ramping up industrial production for the Second World War between 1939 and 1941; wartime manufacturing finally absorbed the unemployment that a decade of recovery programs had only partly solved, effectively ending the Great Depression as an economic event, even though its social and political legacy endured for decades. This Great Depression timeline of events ends at the point where crisis-era policy became lasting American history: the FDIC still insures deposits, Social Security still supports retirees, and the instinct toward federal intervention in an economic emergency traces directly back to these years. For students of American history, this stretch of the twentieth century remains one of the clearest examples of how a financial shock can cascade into a decade-long social crisis. Banking regulation, deposit insurance, and a federal role in unemployment relief all trace their modern form back to decisions made during these years, long after the breadlines and Hoovervilles themselves disappeared.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this Great Depression timeline cover?

This Great Depression timeline of events runs from the October 1929 Wall Street Crash through bank failures and rising unemployment in the early 1930s, Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal beginning in 1933, the 1935 Social Security Act, the 1937–38 recession, and the wartime recovery of 1939–1941.

When did the Great Depression start and end?

Most historians mark the start of the Great Depression at the October 1929 Wall Street Crash, sometimes called Black Tuesday, and treat the surge in wartime production between 1939 and 1941 as the point at which the American economy effectively recovered, even though some effects lingered longer.

Where does unemployment fit on the Great Depression timeline?

On the Great Depression timeline, US unemployment rose sharply after 1929 and is commonly cited as having peaked at around 25 percent in 1933, though estimates from that period vary and should be treated as approximate rather than exact.

What did the New Deal actually do?

Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, beginning in 1933, included a national bank holiday, the creation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and, in 1935, the Social Security Act, expanding the federal government's role in the American economy.