5. Explain what happened "in the wake of" (after) the stock market crash of 1929.

Explanation:

Causes

Earlier in the week of the stock market crash, the New York Times headlines fanned the panic with articles about margin sellers, short-selling, and the exit of foreign investors.

The Dow was already down 30% from its September 3 high, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. That signaled a bear market. In late September, investors had been worried about massive declines in the British stock market. Investors in Clarence Hatry's company lost billions when they discovered he used fraudulent collateral to buy United Steel. A few days later, Great Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Snowden, described America's stock market as "a perfect orgy of speculation."5

The next day, U.S. newspapers agreed. They quoted U.S. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon who said investors "acted as if the price of securities would infinitely advance."

In response, the Dow dropped significantly on both of those days and again on October 16. By the 19th and 20th, The Washington Post reported a drop in ultra-safe utility stocks.

The day before Black Thursday, The Washington Post headlines blared "Huge Selling Wave Creates Near-Panic as Stocks Collapse," while The Times screamed "Prices of Stocks Crash in Heavy Liquidation."6 By Black Thursday, panic had set in for the worst stock market crash in history.