1929년 10월 29일 `블랙 화요일`의 기억

이것은 기억의 문제인가. 아니면 역사의 문제인가.

 

하루 사이에 504.48포인트가 하락한 월스트리트의 '블랙 화요일'을 보면서 미국의 한 작가는 1929년 '블랙 화요일'을 떠오리고 있다. 당시 군중들의 모습을 <뉴욕타임스>는 'wild-eyed'라는 단어를 사용하여 묘사하고 있다고 했다. 분노에 찬, 미친 듯한, 고뇌에 찬 사람들. 그리고 두려움. 오늘의 현실을 살아가는 사람들도 그와 다르지 않을 듯.  또 하나의 단어로는 'ominously'라는 단어. 'omen'이라는 단어에서 파생되어 나온 단어다. 오멘!

 

인터넷을 검색해보니, '블랙 화요일'에 대한 간략한 설명으로 다음과 같은 것이 나온다.

 

"오늘날의 기준에서 볼 때, 1929년의 미 주식시장은 매우 작은 규모였다. 하지만 1929년의 '대폭락(The Great Crash)'은 어마어마한 파장을 미쳤다. 10월 24일 초기 하락이 시작된 후, 10월 28일 시장이 급락했으며, 이 날이 바로 '검은 월요일(Black Monday)'이다. 그리고 10월 29일 '검은 화요일', 시장이 완전히 무너지고 말았다. 다우지수는 68.9포인트나 하락해 230.7포인트를 기록했으며, 실제 가치의 23%가 공중으로 사라져버렸다. 1929년 11월 말까지 주식시장에서 1천억 달러가 날아갔다. 주가는 계속 떨어지며, 1932년 7월 8일 최저치를 기록했다. 월스트리트와 미국 경제가 회복되려면 여러 해가 걸릴 것으로 보였다. 최악의 주식폭락에 이어 대공황이 이어졌지만, 이로 인해 주식시장의 거래를 통제하는 증권거래위원회의 설립 등 수많은 개혁들도 진행됐다."

 

또 다른 설명으로는 다음과 같은 것이 검색되어 나온다.

 

"Black Tuesday is the commonly-used term for the catastrophic stock market crash of Oct. 29, 1929 on Wall Street, New York, USA. It was officially recognized as "The Wall Street Crash of '29" (or occasionally, "The Crash of '29"), but due to its devastating effects on the economy, this historical date later earned the ominous moniker "Black Tuesday". The crash contributed to the onset of the Great Depression.

 

Reasons for the collapse of the stock market are generally agreed upon by today's analysts. Prior to the crash of 1929, the city of New York had been a prosperous metropolis due to the New York Stock Exchange's position as the world's largest stock market. During this time--known as the Roaring 20s--wise investors had enjoyed prosperity, ofen to the point of excess, with few investors apparently heeding early warnings that the market could not sustain its high price levels indefinitely. Indeed, for the five years preceding the crash, the Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded a fivefold increase of values, peaking on Sept. 3, 1929 at 381.17. But ominously, during the course of the following month, the market lost a full 17% of its value.

 

Though a percentage of that loss was recovered during the following week, things again took a turn for the worse, culminating in what is now known as Black Thursday on Oct. 24, 1929--a panic response that initiated a record of nearly 13 million share trades in one day.

 

Attempts were made to alleviate the panic and slow the mass pulling of stocks by  shareholders, including a diversionary tactic involving the purchase of large quantities of shares by Richard Whitney, vice president of the stock market exchange, on Friday, Oct. 25. However, the state of the market continued to deteriorate, and following the weekend, when the stock market reopened on Oct. 28, more investors withdrew. The following day--Black Tuesday--more than 16 million shares were traded, breaking the record set just days earlier. In one week's time, the market lost a staggering $30 million.

 

Debates abound to the present day on whether the crash initiated the Great Depression alone or whether other factors were already set in motion prior to 1929 that coincided with the mass pull-out observed between Black Thursday and Black Tuesday. Whether or not it was the exclusive culprit, however, there is no denying the crash's impact on both the U.S. and world economy.

 

Because of its impact and the ensuing devastation--including loss of jobs, homes, savings and property; suicides; deaths due to starvation, disease and lack of medical care and the temporary collapse of a number of industries--an official investigation was begun in 1931 in order to study the mechanisms of the crash and attempt to prevent such an incident in occurring in the future. This investigation was run by the Pecora Commission, established at the time by the U.S. Senate, and its findings helped create various measures aimed at prevention of another collapse. Among them were the Glass-Steagall Act, passed in 1933 and mandating a separation among commercial banks.

 

The U.S. did not see another crash as severe as the Crash of '29 until Black Monday, Oct. 19, 1987, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 22.6%; the market, however, recovered within days of the event.

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Today’s 504.48-point stock market plunge may stir fears of another “Black Tuesday.” How did New Yorkers react when the market crashed on Oct. 29, 1929?

 

Catherine Gourley writes:

 

“On that overcast autumn morning in New York City, rumors swirled through the narrow streets like wind. Something had gone terribly wrong. The stock values weren’t just dropping. They were crashing. America’s banks and businesses were losing money. By afternoon ten thousand people had jammed the streets and sidewalks. Some had climbed onto the statue of Alexander Hamilton outside the stock exchange building because it was the only space left to stand and wait. A reporter for the New York Times described the crowd as ‘wild-eyed’ with fear. Men wept. A few days ago they had been wealthy. Now they were penniless.”

 

Catherine Gourley on “Black Tuesday” in War, Women, and the News: How Female Journalists Won the Battle to Cover the World War II (Atheneum, $21.99, ages 10–14, 2007)