During the 1929 Wall Street Crash, the U.S. president in office when Black Tuesday struck was Herbert Hoover.
Hoover became president on March 4, 1929, succeeding Calvin Coolidge. The stock market reached its high in September 1929, before severe selling pressure developed in October. Black Tuesday, October 29, saw millions of shares traded as prices collapsed.
The crash occurred during Hoover’s presidency, but the Great Depression had many causes, including excessive speculation, falling industrial production, bank failures, and weaknesses in international finance. Hoover did not cause the market boom, since much of it developed before he took office.
A common mix-up is identifying Franklin D. Roosevelt with the crash itself. Roosevelt became president in March 1933, after Hoover’s term and after the downturn had already deepened. Roosevelt’s administration instead introduced New Deal policies in response to the Depression.