The decade after the First World War saw a period of growing prosperity and new freedoms for the average American. With help of clever bankers, brokers, and a supply of easy money the average man and woman found their path to wealth – the stock market. As moths are drawn to a flame, so were the gullible investors lured to the securities exchanges seeking to turn their pennies into dollars. For years the market just went up and up, and as the lyrics of the song of the time echoed, “Blue skies, Smiling at me, Nothing but blue skies, Do I see.” By the end of the decade the cracks in the market and the teetering U.S. financial system would engulf the stock market, taking with it, billions of dollars and the hopes and dreams of so many Americans. As reported in the New York Times the crash came quickly, “It came with a speed and ferocity that left men dazed, The bottom simply fell out of the market…” Just as if a door closed and another one opened, America went from a time of exuberance to a time of despair – the Great Depression was unfolding, spreading misery in its wake. This is the story of the men and women that rode this wild stock market roller coaster and the changes that occurred in the market as a result.