The social consequences of the crash

• The rich lost most because they invested the most, though many would still have money tied up in other assets

• The Vanderbilt family lost $40 million, while the Rockefellers lost 80% of their wealth

• Those who had borrowed money to buy their shares went bankrupt as they could not afford to pay back their loan

• Some people lost their home as they could not afford to pay their mortgage

• People committed suicide

• Those with savings in banks that had folded lost their money

• Many farmers lost their farms

• Unemployment quickly rose to 4.3 million and eventually between 12 and 14 million, a quarter of the workforce

• In Cleveland, the steel city, 50% of workers were unemployed

• Some lost their homes

• Even priorities, like rent or the mortgage, food and clothes, were quickly beyond the means of millions

• The homeless built ramshackle shanty towns on wasteland on the edge of towns and cities called ‘Hoovervilles’

• They used scrap wood, corrugated iron or cardboard boxes; or else pitched tents

• Hoovervilles had no running water or sewage systems

• Families were split up as men set off around the country to look for work

• Many had to queue for food at soup kitchens

• Many suffered from malnutrition and starvation, with some admitted to hospital

• There was no welfare state to support those in need, they had to rely on charity