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62-469: The Penney-Missouri awards were conceived by James Cash Penney , founder of the J. C. Penney retail chain, who hoped improving women's page sections would turn them into more effective advertising channels for his stores. Penney established the award at the University of Missouri because he believed the school had the necessary prestige. Kimberly Wilmot Voss 's research suggests that as early as 1960, when

124-506: A daily rate of 133 in 1931). The 1929 crash brought the Roaring Twenties to a halt. As tentatively expressed by economic historian Charles P. Kindleberger , in 1929, there was no lender of last resort effectively present, which, if it had existed and been properly exercised, would have been key in shortening the business slowdown that normally follows financial crises. The crash instigated widespread and long-lasting consequences for

186-572: A lawyer. His father's untimely death, however, forced a change in plans, and Penney was forced to work as a store clerk to help support the family. Penney's tuberculosis caused him to venture west to Longmont, Colorado . In 1898, Penney began working for a small chain of stores in the Western United States , called the Golden Rule stores. In 1902, owners Guy Johnson and Thomas Callahan, impressed by his work ethic and salesmanship, offered him

248-620: A mass of 250 million bushels of wheat to be "carried over" when 1929 opened. By May there was also a winter wheat crop of 560 million bushels ready for harvest in the Mississippi Valley. The oversupply caused such a drop in wheat prices that the net incomes of farmers from wheat were threatened with extinction. Stock markets are always sensitive to the future state of commodity markets, and the slump in Wall Street that had been predicted for May by Sir George Paish arrived on time. In June 1929,

310-752: A minimal amount of paper and ribbon. He remained chairman of the board until 1946, and after that, as honorary chairman until his death in 1971. He never found a way to truly retire; he regularly visited his offices until his death. Penney directed his stores to be closed on Sunday so employees could attend church. Penney was married three times. His first marriage, to Bertha Alva Hess (1869–1910) in 1899, produced two sons before her death from pneumonia : After Bertha died in 1910, he married Mary Hortense Kimball (d. 1923) in July 1919. Mary gave birth to their son before her death of unspecified medical issues: In 1926, Penney married Caroline Marie Autenrieth (1895–1992). She

372-577: A one-third partnership in a new store he would open. Penney invested $ 2,000 and moved to Kemmerer, Wyoming , to open a store there. He participated in opening two more stores, and when Callahan and Johnson dissolved their partnership in 1907 he purchased full interest in all three stores. By 1912, there were 34 stores in the Rocky Mountain States. In 1913, he moved the company to the Kearns Building in downtown Salt Lake City , Utah. The company

434-482: A practice of suspending trading when prices fell rapidly to limit panic selling . Scholars differ over crash's effect on the Great Depression, with some claiming that the price fluctuations were insufficient on their own to trigger a major collapse of the financial system, with others arguing that the crash, combined with the other economic problems in the U.S. at the end of the 1920s, should be jointly interpreted as

496-508: A serious setback to industry when industrial production is for the most part in a healthy and balanced condition?" They argued that there must be some setback, but there was not yet sufficient evidence to prove that it would be long or would necessarily produce a general industrial depression. However, The Economist also cautioned that some bank failures were also to be expected and some banks may not have had any reserves left for financing commercial and industrial enterprises. It concluded that

558-445: A stage in the business cycles which affect all capitalist economies. The " Roaring Twenties ", the decade following World War I that led to the crash, was a time of wealth and excess. Building on post-war optimism, rural Americans migrated to the cities in vast numbers throughout the decade with hopes of finding a more prosperous life in the ever-growing expansion of America's industrial sector. Scholars believe that declines in

620-536: A strategy used during the Panic of 1907 . This encouraged a brief recovery before Black Tuesday. Further action failed to halt the fall, which continued until July 8, 1932; by then, the stock market had lost some 90% of its pre-crash value. The United States Congress responded to the events by passing the Banking Act of 1933 (Glass–Steagall Act), which separated commercial and investment banking . Stock exchanges introduced

682-707: A women's page section. In 1994, J. C. Penney stopped funding the awards, and they were renamed as the Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Awards, with the University of Missouri funding as well as judging. Award winners were announced for 2008 and previous years in the media and Missouri School of Journalism press releases. However, at least some of the trophies and $ 1,000 cash prizes for the 2008 winners were only distributed after public reporting of what journalism reporter Jim Romenesko described as "the no-prizes flap," and as late as May 2009, nine months after

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744-564: The JCPenney stores in 1902. Penney was born on September 16, 1875, on a farm outside of Hamilton, Missouri , the seventh of twelve children, only six of whom lived to adulthood, born to James Cash Penney and Mary Frances (born Paxton) Penney. Penney's father was a Baptist preacher and farmer whose strict discipline included making his son pay for his own clothing once he reached eight years of age. After graduation from Hamilton High School, Penney intended to attend college with hopes of becoming

806-544: The National City Bank , would provide $ 25 million in credit to stop the market's slide. Mitchell's move brought a temporary halt to the financial crisis, and call money declined from 20 to 8 percent. However, the American economy showed ominous signs of trouble. Steel production declined, construction was sluggish, automobile sales went down, and consumers were building up large debts because of easy credit. Despite all

868-479: The National City Bank of New York . They chose Richard Whitney , vice president of the Exchange, to act on their behalf. With the bankers' financial resources behind him, Whitney placed a bid to purchase 25,000 shares of U.S. Steel at $ 205 per share, a price well above the current market. As traders watched, Whitney then placed similar bids on other " blue chip " stocks. The tactic was similar to one that had ended

930-502: The Panic of 1907 and succeeded in halting the slide. The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered, closing down only 6.38 points (2.09%) for the day. On October 28, " Black Monday ", more investors facing margin calls decided to get out of the market, and the slide continued with a record loss in the Dow for the day of 38.33 points, or 12.82%. On October 29, 1929, " Black Tuesday " hit Wall Street as investors traded some 16 million shares on

992-520: The Pecora Commission was established by the U.S. Senate to study the causes of the crash. The following year, the U.S. Congress passed the Glass–Steagall Act mandating a separation between commercial banks , which take deposits and extend loans , and investment banks , which underwrite , issue, and distribute stocks , bonds , and other securities . Afterwards, stock markets around

1054-520: The U.S. banking system and marked the beginning of the worldwide Great Depression , which lasted until 1939, is considered the most devastating in the country's history. It is most associated with October 24, 1929, known as "Black Thursday", when about 12.9 million shares were traded on the NYSE in a single day (as compared to an average of 4 million), and October 29, 1929, "Black Tuesday", when some 16.4 million shares were traded. The " Roaring Twenties " of

1116-647: The Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression left Penney in financial ruin. After the crash, Penney lost virtually all his personal wealth and borrowed against his life insurance policies to help the company meet its payroll. The financial setbacks took a toll on his health, and he checked himself into the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan , for treatment. After hearing

1178-468: The ticker tape in brokerage offices around the nation was hours late, and so investors had no idea what most stocks were trading for. Several leading Wall Street bankers met to find a solution to the panic and chaos on the trading floor. The meeting included Thomas W. Lamont , acting head of Morgan Bank ; Albert Wiggin , head of the Chase National Bank ; and Charles E. Mitchell, president of

1240-551: The uptick rule , which allowed short selling only when the last tick in a stock's price was positive, was implemented after the 1929 market crash to prevent short sellers from driving the price of a stock down in a bear raid . The stock market crash of October 1929 led directly to the Great Depression in Europe. When stocks plummeted on the New York Stock Exchange , the world noticed immediately. Although financial leaders in

1302-557: The 1920s. By 1921, he had a home on Belle Isle in Miami Beach, Florida . Penney and partner Ralph W. Gwinn invested heavily in Florida real estate, including 120,000 acres (490 km ) in Clay County . Some of this land became Penney Farms . This was also the start of Foremost Dairy Products Inc. Penney later recruited Paul E. Reinhold to run the dairy. Most of this work was halted with

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1364-427: The Dow closing at 198.60. The market then recovered for several months, starting on November 14, with the Dow gaining 18.59 points to close at 217.28, and reaching a secondary closing peak ( bear market rally ) of 294.07 on April 17, 1930. The Dow then embarked on another, much longer, steady slide from April 1930 to July 8, 1932, when it closed at 41.22, its lowest level of the 20th century, concluding an 89.2% loss for

1426-509: The Great Depression. True or not, the consequences were dire for almost everybody. Most academic experts agree on one aspect of the crash: It wiped out billions of dollars of wealth in one day, and this immediately depressed consumer buying. The failure set off a worldwide run on US gold deposits (i.e., the dollar) and forced the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates into the slump. Some 4,000 banks and other lenders ultimately failed. Also,

1488-467: The London Stock Exchange. In the days leading up to the crash, the market was severely unstable. Periods of selling and high volumes were interspersed with brief periods of rising prices and recovery. Selling intensified in mid-October. On October 24, " Black Thursday ", the market lost 11% of its value at the opening bell on very heavy trading. The huge volume meant that the report of prices on

1550-603: The New York Stock Exchange in a single day. Around $ 14 billion of stock value was lost, wiping out thousands of investors. The panic selling reached its peak with some stocks having no buyers at any price. The Dow lost an additional 30.57 points, or 11.73%, for a total drop of 68.90 points, or 23.05% in two days. On October 29, William C. Durant joined with members of the Rockefeller family and other financial giants to buy large quantities of stocks to demonstrate to

1612-697: The Penney Family Fund, which is not affiliated with J. C. Penney Co., Inc., or its corporate giving program. The Penney Family Fund supports national organizations and state-based ones in Georgia , North Carolina , Arizona , and New Mexico that work to advance racial and environmental justice. In 1960, Penney teamed up with the University of Missouri to establish the Penney-Missouri Awards to recognize excellence in Women's Page journalism, hoping to improve

1674-520: The UK, protests often focused on the so-called means test , which the government had instituted in 1931 to limit the amount of unemployment payments made to individuals and families. For working people, the means test seemed an intrusive and insensitive way to deal with the chronic and relentless deprivation caused by the economic crisis. The strikes were met forcefully, with police breaking up protests, arresting demonstrators, and charging them with crimes related to

1736-703: The United Kingdom, as in the United States, vastly underestimated the extent of the crisis that ensued, it soon became clear that the world's economies were more interconnected than ever. The effects of the disruption to the global system of financing, trade, and production and the subsequent meltdown of the American economy were soon felt throughout Europe. In 1930 and 1931, in particular, unemployed workers went on strike, demonstrated in public, and otherwise took direct action to call public attention to their plight. Within

1798-427: The United States. Historians still debate whether the 1929 crash sparked the Great Depression or if it merely coincided with bursting a loose credit-inspired economic bubble. Only 16% of American households were invested in the stock market within the United States during the period leading up to this depression, suggesting that the crash carried somewhat less weight in causing it. However, the psychological effects of

1860-442: The announcement of winners. There appears to be no evidence of the awards being given after 2008. The directors of the award program were: Rodger Streitmatter, writing in the scholarly journal Journalism History, credits the awards for helping to change women's pages journalism. James Cash Penney James Cash Penney Jr. (September 16, 1875 – February 12, 1971) was an American businessman and entrepreneur who founded

1922-421: The awards were established, women's page sections were reporting on a broader range of issues than expected, often creating the kind of coverage the awards were intended to encourage: "more than just society notices and photographs of brides". In 1974, as most newspapers were changing their women's sections into features sections, contest rules changed to allow entries from journalists who did not work full-time in

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1984-543: The crash reverberated across the nation as businesses became aware of the difficulties in securing capital market investments for new projects and expansions. Business uncertainty naturally affects job security for employees, and as the American worker (the consumer) faced uncertainty with regard to income, naturally the propensity to consume declined. The decline in stock prices caused bankruptcies and severe macroeconomic difficulties, including contraction of credit, business closures, firing of workers, bank failures, decline of

2046-409: The crash, economist Irving Fisher famously proclaimed "Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau". The optimism and the financial gains of the great bull market were shaken after a well-publicized September 8 prediction from financial expert Roger Babson that "a crash is coming, and it may be terrific". The initial September decline was thus called the "Babson Break" in

2108-632: The economic warning signs and the market breaks in March and May 1929, stocks resumed their advance in June, and the gains continued almost unabated until early September 1929 (the Dow Jones average gained more than 20% between June and September). The market had been on a nine-year run that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average increase in value tenfold, peaking at 381.17 on September 3, 1929. Shortly before

2170-505: The economy where output was declining and unemployment was increasing, so the purchase price of stocks greatly exceeded their real value. By September 1929, more experienced shareholders realized that prices could not continue to rise and began to get rid of their holdings, which caused share values to stall and then fall, encouraging more to sell. As investors panicked, the selling became frenzied. After Black Thursday, leading bankers joined forces to purchase stock at prices above market value,

2232-507: The end of September, the market had dropped 10% from the peak (the "Babson Break"). Selling intensified in early and mid-October, with sharp down days punctuated by a few up days. Panic selling of massive proportion started the week of October 21 and intensified and culminated on October 24, October 28, and especially October 29 ("Black Tuesday"). The president of the Chase National Bank, Albert H. Wiggin , said at

2294-581: The eulogy at the funeral. Penney was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx , New York City, not far from the grave of fellow retail entrepreneur, F. W. Woolworth . His estate was valued at approximately $ 35 million. Penney was a Freemason most of his adult life, initiated into Wasatch Lodge No. 1 Free and Accepted Masons of Utah, on April 18, 1911. A member of both the Scottish and York Rites, Penney

2356-431: The face value of the stocks that they were buying. Over $ 8.5 billion was out on loan, more than the entire amount of currency circulating in the United States at the time. The rising share prices encouraged more people to invest on the hope that share prices would rise further. Speculation thus fueled further rises and created an economic bubble . Because of margin buying , investors stood to lose large sums of money if

2418-552: The first board of 40Plus , an organization that helps unemployed managers and executives. In 1953, the Springfield, Missouri Chamber of Commerce presented Penney with a " Ozark Hillbilly Medallion" and a certificate proclaiming him a "hillbilly of the Ozarks." Penney founded the James C. Penney Foundation in 1954. The foundation was restructured in 1999, with half the proceeds going to

2480-411: The first six months of 1929, of 36.6% over 1928, itself a record half-year. Iron and steel led the way with doubled gains. Such figures set up a crescendo of stock-exchange speculation that led hundreds of thousands of Americans to invest heavily in the stock market. Many people were borrowing money to buy more stocks. By August 1929, brokers were routinely lending small investors more than two-thirds of

2542-437: The founding of the University of Miami , and served on its Board of Trustees from 1926 to 1930. At the end of the Great Depression in 1939, Penney teamed with Thomas J. Watson , president and founder of IBM , Arthur Godfrey , the radio and TV personality; and Norman Vincent Peale, a minister, inspirational speaker, and author of The Power of Positive Thinking , to help Henry Simler, an executive with Remington Rand form

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2604-523: The hymn "God Will Take Care of You", written by Civilla D. Martin , sung at a service in the hospital's chapel, he became a born again Christian . Even after relinquishing daily operating management of the company, Penney continued his active involvement in managing the company and its stores. In 1940, during a visit to a store in Des Moines, Iowa , he trained a young Sam Walton on how to wrap packages with

2666-481: The index in less than three years. Beginning on March 15, 1933, and continuing through the rest of the 1930s, the Dow began to slowly regain the ground it had lost. The largest percentage increases of the Dow Jones occurred during the early and mid-1930s. In late 1937, there was a sharp dip in the stock market, but prices held well above the 1932 lows. The Dow Jones did not return to its peak close of September 3, 1929, for 25 years, until November 23, 1954. In 1932,

2728-496: The largest financial crisis of the 20th century. The panic of October 1929 has come to serve as a symbol of the economic contraction that gripped the world during the next decade. The falls in share prices on October 24 and 29, 1929 were practically instantaneous in all financial markets, except Japan. The Wall Street Crash had a major impact on the U.S. and world economy, and it has been the source of intense academic historical, economic, and political debate from its aftermath until

2790-646: The market turned down or even if it failed to advance quickly enough. The average price to earnings ratio of S&P Composite stocks was 32.6 in September 1929, clearly above historical norms. According to the economist John Kenneth Galbraith , the exuberance also resulted in a large number of people placing their savings and money in leverage investment products like Goldman Sachs 's "Blue Ridge trust" and "Shenandoah Trust", which crashed in 1929 as well, resulting in losses to banks of $ 475 billion in 2010 dollars ($ 663.68 billion in 2023). Good harvests had built up

2852-549: The money supply caused by Federal Reserve decisions had a severely contractionary effect on output. Despite the inherent risk of speculation , it was widely believed that the stock market would continue to rise forever. On March 25, 1929, after the Federal Reserve warned of excessive speculation, a small crash occurred as investors started to sell stocks at a rapid pace, exposing the market's shaky foundation. Two days later, banker Charles E. Mitchell announced that his company,

2914-406: The money supply, and other economically depressing events. The resultant rise of mass unemployment is seen as a result of the crash, although the crash is by no means the sole event that contributed to the depression. The Wall Street Crash is usually seen as having the greatest impact on the events that followed and therefore is widely regarded as signaling the downward economic slide that initiated

2976-648: The position was saved by a severe drought in the Dakotas and the Canadian West, as well as unfavorable seed times in Argentina and eastern Australia. The oversupply was now wanted to fill the gaps in the 1929 world wheat production. From 97¢ per bushel in May, the price of wheat rose to $ 1.49 in July. When it was seen that figure would make American farmers get more for their crop that year than in 1928, stocks went up again. In August,

3038-529: The present day. Some people believed that abuses by utility holding companies contributed to the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression that followed. Many people blamed the crash on commercial banks that were too eager to put deposits at risk on the stock market. In 1930, 1,352 banks held more than $ 853 million in deposits; in 1931, one year later, 2,294 banks failed with nearly $ 1.7 billion in deposits. Many businesses failed (28,285 failures and

3100-588: The press. That was the start of the Great Crash, but until the severe phase of the crash in October, many investors regarded the September "Babson Break" as a "healthy correction" and buying opportunity. On September 20, 1929, top British investor Clarence Hatry and many of his associates were jailed for fraud and forgery, leading to the suspension of his companies. This may have weakened the confidence of Americans in their own companies, although it had minimal impact on

3162-738: The previous decade had been a time of industrial expansion in the U.S., and much of the profit had been invested in speculation , including in stocks. Many members of the public, disappointed by the low interest rates offered on their bank deposits, committed their relatively small sums to stockbrokers . By 1929, the U.S. economy was showing signs of trouble; the agricultural sector was depressed due to overproduction and falling prices, forcing many farmers into debt, and consumer goods manufacturers also had unsellable output due to low wages and thus low purchasing power . Factory owners cut production and fired staff, reducing demand even further. Despite these trends, investors continued to buy shares in areas of

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3224-453: The price had fallen to $ 1.31 per bushel. Other important economic barometers were also slowing or even falling by mid-1929, including car sales, house sales, and steel production. The falling commodity and industrial production may have dented even American self-confidence, and the stock market peaked on September 3 at 381.17 just after Labor Day, and it started to falter after Roger Babson issued his prescient "market crash" forecast. By

3286-407: The public their confidence in the market, but their efforts failed to stop the large decline in prices. The massive volume of stocks traded that day made the ticker continue to run until about 7:45 p.m. After a one-day recovery on October 30, when the Dow regained 28.40 points, or 12.34%, to close at 258.47, the market continued to fall, arriving at an interim bottom on November 13, 1929, with

3348-536: The sections where his stores most often advertised. Wall Street Crash of 1929 The Wall Street crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash or Crash of '29 , was a major stock market crash in the United States in late 1929, beginning in late October with a sharp decline in prices on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and ending in mid-November. The crash, which began a rapid erosion of confidence in

3410-401: The time: We are reaping the natural fruit of the orgy of speculation in which millions of people have indulged. It was inevitable, because of the tremendous increase in the number of stockholders in recent years, that the number of sellers would be greater than ever when the boom ended and selling took the place of buying. Together, the 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression formed

3472-468: The violation of public order. There is a debate among economists and historians as to what role the crash played in subsequent economic, social, and political events. The Economist argued in a 1998 article that the Depression did not start with the stock market crash, nor was it clear at the time of the crash that a depression was starting. They asked, "Can a very serious Stock Exchange collapse produce

3534-467: The wheat price fell when France and Italy were bragging about a magnificent harvest, and the situation in Australia improved. That sent a shiver through Wall Street and stock prices quickly dropped, but word of cheap stocks brought a fresh rush of "stags" (amateur speculators) and investors. Congress voted for a $ 100 million relief package for the farmers on the hope of stabilizing wheat prices, but by October,

3596-506: The world instituted measures to suspend trading in the event of rapid declines, claiming that the measures would prevent such panic sales. However, the one-day crash of Black Monday , October 19, 1987, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.6%, as well as Black Monday of March 16, 2020 (−12.9%), were worse in percentage terms than any single day of the 1929 crash (although the combined 25% decline of October 28–29, 1929,

3658-692: Was badly hurt in 1928 when she fell from a horse at their estate in White Plains, New York . They had two daughters: Penney lived in New York City at 888 Park Avenue , though he spent the winters in Palm Springs, California . On December 26, 1970, Penney fell and fractured his hip . A few weeks later, he suffered a heart attack and never fully recovered. He died on February 12, 1971, in New York City. The Reverend Dr. Norman Vincent Peale delivered

3720-599: Was coroneted a 33rd Degree on October 16, 1945, and received the Gold Distinguished Service Award by the General Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, in Kansas City, Missouri , in 1958. He typically wore a large ring showing his Masonic degree. Penney was a member of two professional collegiate fraternities: Alpha Gamma Rho for agriculture and Alpha Kappa Psi for business. Penney was involved with

3782-572: Was incorporated under the new name, J. C. Penney Company. In 1916, he began to expand the chain east of the Mississippi River , and during the 1920s, the Penney company expanded nationwide, with 120 stores in 1920, most of which were still in the west. By 1924, Penney reported income of more than $ 1 million annually. The number of stores reached 1,400 by 1929. The large income allowed him to be heavily involved in many philanthropic causes during

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3844-463: Was larger than that of October 19, 1987, and remains the worst two-day decline as of October 7, 2024 ). The crash followed a speculative boom that had taken hold in the late 1920s. During the latter half of the 1920s, steel production, building construction, retail turnover, automobiles registered, and even railway receipts advanced from record to record. The combined net profits of 536 manufacturing and trading companies showed an increase, in

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