On May 6, 1932, with stocks having plummeted 85 percent from their 1929 high, Dean G. Witter, founder of Dean Witter - a famous stock brokerage then and known today as Morgan Stanley, issued the following memo to its clients:

“There are only two premises which are tenable as to the future. Either we are going to have chaos or else recovery. The former theory is foolish. If chaos ensues nothing will maintain value; neither bonds nor stocks nor bank deposits nor gold will remain valuable. Real estate will be a worthless asset because titles will be insecure. No policy can be based upon this impossible contingency. Policy must therefore be predicated upon the theory of recovery. The present is not the first depression; it may be the worst, but just as surely as conditions have righted themselves in the past and have gradually readjusted to normal, so this will again occur. The only uncertainty is when it will occur…I wish to say emphatically that in a few years present prices will appear as ridiculously low as 1929 values appear fantastically high.

Some people say they want to wait for a clearer view of the future. But when the future is again clear, the present bargains will have vanished. In fact, does anyone think that today’s prices will prevail once full confidence has been restored?”

– Dean Witter, May 1932

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