America’s Black Monday

The Wall Street Crash in October 1929: Three Phases

Black Thursday: October 24, 1929 – The Start of Wall Street Crash

Black Monday: October 28, 1929 – The Catastrophic Downturn Continues

Black Tuesday: October 29, 1929 – The Long-Lasting Economic Depression for the United States and other part of the world, began and took an unprecedented downturn that lasted for months.

Black Sunday: April 14, 1935 – The Biggest Dust Storm (Great Depression)

The Dust Bowl (The Great Plains, located in parts of Texas, Oklahoma, parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas), had the biggest dust storm ever to occur from 1930 to 1935.  The dust storms were caused by severe droughts and high winds.  The dust clouds blackened the sky from the Great Plains to the East Coast (New York and Washington DC), where most of the soil ended up in the Atlantic Ocean. This phenomenon cause a major ecological and agricultural upheaval to 100,000,000 acres. Families left the land and moved to California and to other states, accepting any work they could get. The author John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grape of Wrath was written about such people.

Black Saturday: October 8, 1962 – Confrontation Between the United States, Russia, and Cuba

In the early sixties, the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba were in, according to the Berlin Blockade, one of the major confrontations of the Cold War, which came close to being a nuclear war.  The United States government stated that Cuba should not be allies with the Soviet Union. The combined powers would have been a force to be reckon with. Such a relationship was said to be against the Monroe Doctrine, which allow the United States government to act aggressively if the European government got involved in South American issues.  Operation Mongoose were several covert operations used by the CIA to take aggressive measures against Cuba and to get rid of Fidel Castro, Cuba’s leader.  It is believed that the CIA had 638 failed attempts at assassinating Castro.  In 1962, the United States placed and economic embargo on Cuba.  Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Soviet Union’s Nikita Khrushchev decided that they would place nuclear missiles in Cuba.  Tensions were high, but after a short while, about two weeks, the United States and the Soviet Union reach and agreement to dismantle the missiles placed in Cuba and there would be no invasion.

Black Monday: October 19, 1987 – Hong Kong’s Stock Market Crashes

The crash reverberation was felt around the world.  It quickly spread through to every time zone.  In New Zealand and Australia, because of the time zone, the crash is called “Black Tuesday”. The “Black Monday” (1987), had the largest one-day percentage decline in stock market history.

Black Sunday: February 18, 2001 – Dale Earnhardt Dies

Dale Earnhardt, nicknamed “The Intimidator,” died due to a crash on the last lap in the final turn of the Daytona 500.  He had four children and a wife.  He was also the owner of Dale Earnhardt Inc.  based in Concord, North Carolina.