The Wall Street Crash of 1929 was a defining point in American history, and one that changed the way we view finance even today. As a result of the Wall Street Crash, the Great Depression ensued and lasted for approximately a decade and affected a plethora of countries, ranging from industrialised superpowers to developing countries. Moreover, the events of ‘ Black Thursday” were ones that became heavily imprinted within the minds of every single 1930s finance broker; after all, it signalled the end of the ‘ Roaring Twenties’. The media coverage at the time had portrayed an image of a ‘suicide frenzy’, painting the image that brokers leaped of buildings, completely cloaked in despair. Despite all of this doom and gloom, the most notable case is the one that claimed the life of one infamous wholesaler: George Cutler.
The years of turbulence commenced in the latter part of October in 1929, and the main catalyst of the Wall Street Crash was speculation of the event itself. This fear and panic resulted in the growth of predatory mortgage lending, unregulated markets, a massive amount of consumer debt, and the collapse of home prices. Moreover, millions of people invested their savings into shares and stocks. Black Thursday saw the first alarming fall in the market (over 11%), where thousands of Wall Street brokers clamoured together and bid prices well above market value all in order to curb the panic. However, this sense of relief was short lived as Black Monday was just around the corner, where the DJIA showed the market to plummet by 13%, and the following day it had plummeted to 25%. Unfortunately, economic statistics from the period continued to worsen as the years went on, far into the mid 1930s. Perhaps surprisingly, just before, the DJIA saw its peak in points at a staggering 381 points. At first glance, this may seem confusing or even somewhat impossible, therefore it is important to look at the wider context surrounding the 1929 Wall Street Crash.
Hoover’s inauguration took place in early 1929, and with this started the induction of the ‘Hoover Bull Market’ where the general public rushed to invest their liquid assets into shares, all in the aim to sell these at a higher interest rate. By the middle of summer, banks pooled in billions and billions of dollars. It was heaven, up until it wasn't.
George Cutler was an American wholesale investor and producer born in 1864, who racked up a small fortune as a produce merchant located in the small Mount Vernon. Cutler was well reputed as a philanthropist, often participating in hospital drives around his local town. More relevant to the article however, Cutler was a member of the New York Mercantile Exchange, a business that had suffered significant and drastic losses during the crash. It is estimated that around 14 billion was lost by the end of the first week. On November 16th, the 65 year old jumped from the seventh floor of the Munson Building on 85th Beaver Street. It is implied that Cutler went into the building with the intention of speaking with his lawyer Grant C. Fox, however, was unable to do so. We can only guess that the temporary disappointment of not being able to do so mixed with the overwhelming feelings of despair caused Cutler to climb the stairs of the Munson, walk onto the ledge overlooking the building, and jump. Despite an onlooker, Robert Hawthorne, relentlessly trying to pull him back, Cutler slipped and Hawthorne was left only with Cutler’s ragged coat dangling from his fingertips.
Cutler’s death was the first of many between the years of 1929 to 1939, when the sudden change in lifestyle and rapid increase in nationwide poverty eventually reached its peak in 1932 where 21.3% of deaths in the USA were suicide. American media perpetuated the idea of a ‘suicide wave’, and if an individual had not been affected by the suicide of a person, they most surely had seen loved ones go through nervous breakdowns as this was the first time physicians became acquainted with mental health. The Wall Street Crash imposed a heavy strain on the mental health and physical health of the American people, permanently shifting the way we view struggle nearly a century on.
By Aurore Lebrun Edited by Annika Bjerregaard & Aurore Lebrun
