In 1926-1928 the U.S. economy was on the upswing. Increase of production volumes positively reflected on the financial performance of the companies, leading to the growth of the shares’ prices. The total value of the issued securities on the 1.10.1929 was about 87 billion dollars. The immense power of the economy was indicated by the fact that in 1929 the automotive industry has released about 5.4 million automobiles; the total number of operational autos was about 26.5 million. Economic flourishing has created the theory of «prosperity» - the eternal prosperity, later proved to be an illusion. (Clemens, 2008)
By 1928 the economic cycle came to a state of recession and it was reflected in the reduction of the consumer demand and the reduction of investments in the economy. The Federal Reserve System increased the volume of the monetary and credit emission. At the same time, the main volume of financial resources did not come in the industry, and was involved in the stock market, speculative operations, which led to rapid development of a «soap bubble». The rapid growth of shares, in its turn, resulted in the outflow of resources from the real sector, which stimulated the decrease of its indicators. The growth of speculation contributed to the low interest rate on a loan of about 3.5-4%. (Hamby, 2004) The increase in stock market gave the illusion of economic prosperity. President Hoover stated that he had no fears for the future of the country. Despite all of the warnings, the monetary authorities did not take measures to change the situation.
On October, 24 (the so-called «Black Thursday») on New York stock exchange the stock collapse occurred. An hour after the opening of trades the stock prices began to fall and resulted in massive panic by midday - almost all started to sell their stakes. The panic spread to the rest of the market, everyone watched the fall in quotations with fear. On October, 29 (the so-called «Black Tuesday») on the new York stock exchange a Guinness record was set - the total volume of trades on sales totaled to 16.4 million shares. (Clemens, 2008) General index fell by almost two times to the end of the year. The effect of dominoes led to continuing of the fall in the European markets (London, Paris, Berlin).
On March 4, 1933, Franklin Roosevelt started to perform his presidential duties. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was an American of Dutch origin, and was a distant relative of Theodore Roosevelt, the President of the United States in 1901-1909. It is known, that since the beginning of 1920s Roosevelt struggled with severe disease which has imposed a definite imprint on his character and personal traits. (Pedersen, 2011) He could only move in a wheelchair. His biographer wrote: «He soon discovered that the inability to move conceals in itself and benefits, which with time became extremely valuable». Apparently, this has led to the fact that all the meaning of his existence focused on the job, and its supreme manifestation was full and selfless …