"Runs on Banks"
ca. 1933
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The original caption for this photograph reads: "Depression: 'Runs on Banks.'" People milling about outside of a bank.
Some of the most harrowing moments of the Great Depression came in the final weeks of President Herbert Hoover’s administration with the collapse of the nation’s banking system in February 1933. The imminent failure of two large banks in Michigan prompted that state’s governor to declare a "banking holiday" on February 14, setting off a panic that soon infected the entire nation.
During the last two weeks of Hoover’s Presidency (Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn into office on March 4), more than $1.2 billion was taken out of the nation’s banks to be stored in mattresses, shoeboxes, and other hiding places believed to be more secure than the country’s financial institutions.
Some of the most harrowing moments of the Great Depression came in the final weeks of President Herbert Hoover’s administration with the collapse of the nation’s banking system in February 1933. The imminent failure of two large banks in Michigan prompted that state’s governor to declare a "banking holiday" on February 14, setting off a panic that soon infected the entire nation.
During the last two weeks of Hoover’s Presidency (Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn into office on March 4), more than $1.2 billion was taken out of the nation’s banks to be stored in mattresses, shoeboxes, and other hiding places believed to be more secure than the country’s financial institutions.
This primary source comes from the Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs.
National Archives Identifier: 195559
Full Citation: Photograph PHOCO-A-7420(1007); Depression: 'Runs on Banks': People Milling about Outside of Bank; ca. 1933; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962; Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs; Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/runs-on-banks, September 16, 2024]Activities that use this document
- The Impact of the Great Depression: Photograph Analysis
Created by the National Archives Education Team
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