Herbert Hoover was the U.S. president when the Wall Street Crash of 1929 began.
Hoover took office on March 4, 1929, after serving as commerce secretary under President Calvin Coolidge. U.S. share prices reached their major peak in September 1929, several months into Hoover’s presidency. The market then suffered sharp declines in October, including the sessions remembered as Black Thursday, Black Monday, and Black Tuesday.
The crash was not caused by one event alone. Speculative buying, purchases made with borrowed money, uneven economic conditions, and weakening corporate profits all contributed to the collapse. The crash became an important early stage of the Great Depression, although the depression had many causes beyond the stock market itself.
A common mix-up is placing the crash in Coolidge’s presidency because the speculative boom expanded during the 1920s. Coolidge left office before the dramatic October 1929 collapse, while Hoover was president throughout the crash and the initial years of the Depression.