Watch The 1930s

Though overshadowed by the Great Depression, there is no shortage of ingenuity in the 1930s. The two-way radio gets miniaturized, and the world's first portable walkie-talkie goes on the air. The electric guitar changes popular music forever, and commuters become a cash cow for cities when the parking meter is introduced.

By 1929, Charles Mitchell, President of the National City Bank (now Citibank), had popularized the idea of selling stock and high-yield bonds directly to the smaller investor. Mitchell and a very small group of bankers, brokers, and speculators manipulated the stock market, grew wealthy, and helped create the economic boom of the Twenties. This film chronicles the year the boom went bust through the words and experiences of the descendants of these titans of finance. While the market was rising, presidents and economists confidently predicted America would soon enter a time when there would be no more poverty, no more depressions-a "New Era" when everyone could be rich. Instead, it was the rich who became richer. "The Crash of 1929" captures the unbounded optimism of an age, at a time when the stock market promised permanent prosperity.