-
Wall Street crash of 1929
A sharp decline in U.S. stock market values in 1929 that contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Great Depression lasted approximately 10 years and affected both industrialized and nonindustrialized countries in many parts of the world. -
Uniform Sale of Securities Act
Starting with the Kansas Securities Act in 1911, states adopted a variety of laws to protect investors from fraud and raise capital for business. Some states adjusted the original Kansas law to suit local practice; other states, set their own securities laws. To establish a uniform system of state securities regulation, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws prepared the Uniform Sale of Securities Act. The Act was adopted in just five states and was abandoned in 1943. -
Ultramares Case
Ultramares Corporation v. Touche confirmed the concept of privity, then an essential requirement of any third-party litigation against accountants based on negligence. -
Reconstruction Finance Corporation Act
Congress chartered the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) to provide aid to state and local governments and loans to banks, mortgage corporations and businesses. The RFC continued under the New Deal to help restore business prosperity. During World War II, the RFC merged with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The RFC closed in 1957. -
Wall Street Strike
In protest of the Securities Act of 1933, major Wall Street firms refused to bring new issues of stock to the market. -
SEC Commission Appointed
President Roosevelt appointed the first Commission of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and named Joseph P. Kennedy as the agency's first Chairman. Kennedy had retired from a lucrative career on Wall Street and as a businessman, and was a major contributor to the Democratic Party. -
SEC Opens Regional Offices
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission opened regional offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Fort Worth, New York City, San Francisco and Seattle. -
Industrial Development Bonds
Mississippi was the first state to issue industrial development bonds, in an effort to use state financing power to build up private industry. -
Federal Incorporation Legislation Fails
With support from SEC Chairman William O. Douglas, U.S. Senators Joseph O'Mahoney (D-WY) and William Borah (R-ID) submitted a bill mandating federal incorporation of businesses engaged in interstate commerce. While the framers of the Securities Acts intended that such legislation would follow, Congress was unwilling to enact the incorporation bill. -
New Deal
Domestic program of the administration of U.S. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) between 1933 and 1939, which took action to bring about immediate economic relief as well as reforms in industry, agriculture, finance, waterpower, labour, and housing, vastly increasing the scope of the federal government’s activities.