What U.S. Senate investigation followed the Wall Street Crash of 1929?

The Pecora Commission was the U.S. Senate investigation that followed the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

More precisely, the Senate Banking and Currency Committee began the inquiry in March 1932 to investigate the causes of the crash and abusive practices in finance. It became known as the Pecora Investigation or Pecora Commission after Ferdinand Pecora, who became its chief counsel and led its most famous questioning.

The hearings examined stock-market manipulation, speculative practices, securities affiliates, and the conduct of prominent financiers. Publicized testimony involving institutions such as National City Bank and J. P. Morgan & Co. helped fuel demands for stronger financial regulation, although historians debate how directly every later reform flowed from the hearings.

The investigation helped create the political climate for New Deal measures including the Glass-Steagall Banking Act of 1933, the Securities Act of 1933, and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Pujo Committee is an easy confusion: it investigated the so-called Money Trust before the 1929 crash, while the Pecora inquiry specifically addressed the crash and its financial causes.