The 1929 Crash Didn't Ruin Most Families. Their Banks Did.

In 1929 most families never owned a single share of stock, so how did a crash on Wall Street end up emptying their savings? Follow Jack and Diane, a mill town couple, from Black Tuesday to the bank runs that followed. You'll see how buying on margin blew up, how the trouble jumped from the stock market to the banks, and why the money in a passbook was gone while the money in a coffee can wasn't. Jack and Diane are made up so we can show you what it was like, but every date, price and number in this video comes from the record, and the source is on screen every time it comes up. This picks up right before our Great Depression video, where Jack and Diane live through one real year of it. Would your family have trusted the bank or the coffee can? Tell us in the comments.