The crash of the stock market in October 1929 signalled the beginning of the Great Depression, the worst economic crisis of the 20th century. Everyone was selling, but no one was buying. Caught between bad loans that could not be repaid and nervous depositors who wanted to close their accounts. Banks ran out of money and were forced to close, and businesses that needed credit to operate had to shut down. In 1933, the lowest point of the Depression, one of every four workers in America was unemployed. Over 13 million people. American farmers by the thousands lost their farms because of falling prices for farm products. Several years of drought only made things worse for farmers and what came to be known as the Dust Bowl area of the country. Many farm families forced from their homes became migrant labourers in California. Jobless and homeless, huge numbers of Americans were thrown into extreme poverty. Charity set up soup kitchens and bread lines, but hunger and misery stalked the streets and countryside camps. Of homeless people sprang up in the vacant lots and open spaces of cities. Across America, these collections of shacks and tents were called Hoovervilles after Herbert Hoover, the president.