Massachusetts

===20th century===

Although the American stock market had sustained steep losses the last week in October 1929, [[October 29, 1929|Tuesday, October 29]] is remembered as the beginning of the Great Depression. The [[Boston Stock Exchange]], drawn into the whirlpool of panic selling that beset the New York Stock Exchange, lost over 25 percent of its value in two days of frenzied trading. The BSE, nearly 100 years old at the time, had helped raise the capital that had funded many of the Commonwealth's factories, railroads, and businesses. "<ref>{{cite web |title=Stock Market Crash Heralds Great Depression |url=https://www.massmoments.org/moment-details/stock-market-crash-heralds-great-depression.html |website=massmoments.org |access-date=June 30, 2022}}</ref> Governor of Massachusetts [[Frank G. Allen]] appointed [[John C. Hull (politician)|John C. Hull]] the first Securities Director of Massachusetts.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mass.gov/files/department-of-public-utilities-history_0.pdf |title=Department of Public Utilities History |last=Osborne |first=Paul E. |date=March 2016 |publisher=Government of Massachusetts |access-date=June 30, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=alumni-magazines |title=Bowdoin Alumnus Volume 4 (1929–1930) |journal=Bowdoin Alumnus Magazines |year=1930 |publisher=Bowdoin College |page=129}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/actsresolvespass1929mass/page/290/mode/2up?q=securities+division+ | title=Acts and resolves passed by the General Court | year=1663 }}</ref> Hull would assume office in January 1930, and his term would end in 1936.<ref>290 Acts, 1929. — Chap. 287. Chap. 2S7 An Act to provide for the more effective enforcement of the Sale of Securities Act. Identifier: actsresolvespass1929mass
"Section 1. Chapter twenty- five of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding thereto, under the heading, Securities Division, There shall be in the department, and under its general supervision and control, a securities division which shall be under the charge of a director." John C. Hull was the first Securities Director appointed January 1930. His term would end in 1936. Publication date 1927–1928. pg. 102</ref>

With the departure of several manufacturing companies, the state's industrial economy began to decline during the early 20th century. By the 1920s, competition from the [[American South]] and [[Midwest]], followed by the [[Great Depression]], led to the collapse of the three main industries in Massachusetts: textiles, shoemaking, and precision mechanics.{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|p=246}} This decline would continue into the latter half of the 20th century. Between 1950 and 1979, the number of Massachusetts residents involved in textile manufacturing declined from 264,000 to 63,000.{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|p=276}} The 1969 closure of the [[Springfield Armory]], in particular, spurred an exodus of high-paying jobs from Western Massachusetts, which suffered greatly as it de-industrialized during the century's last 40 years.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=[[University of Massachusetts Lowell]] |url=http://www.uml.edu/com/cita/05paperforrantmuckensturm.pdf |title=Job Loss, Shrinking Revenues, and Grinding Decline in Springfield, Massachusetts: Is A Finance Control Board the Answer? |access-date=June 10, 2015 |archive-date=October 18, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131018103402/http://www.uml.edu/com/cita/05paperforrantmuckensturm.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Massachusetts manufactured 3.4 percent of total United States military armaments produced during [[World War&nbsp;II]], ranking tenth among the 48 states.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Peck |first1=Merton J. |last2=Scherer |first2=Frederic M. |title=The weapons acquisition process: An economic analysis |journal=IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management |date=March 1964 |volume=EM-11 |issue=1 |pages=51–52 |doi=10.1109/TEM.1964.6446393 |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6446393 |access-date=October 28, 2022 |issn=1558-0040}}</ref> After the world war, the economy of [[eastern Massachusetts]] transformed from one based on heavy industry into a [[service-based economy]].{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|pp=275–83}} Government contracts, private investment, and research facilities led to a new and improved industrial climate, with reduced unemployment and increased per capita income. Suburbanization flourished, and by the 1970s, the [[Massachusetts Route 128|Route 128]]/[[Interstate 95]] corridor was dotted with [[high tech|high-tech]] companies who recruited graduates of the area's many elite institutions of higher education.{{sfn|Brown|Tager|2000|p=284}}

In 1987, the state received federal funding for the Central Artery/Tunnel Project. Commonly known as "the [[Big Dig]]", it was, at the time, the biggest federal highway project ever approved.<ref name="BigDig1">Grunwald, Michael. ''Dig the Big Dig'' [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/04/AR2006080401755.html] ''[[The Washington Post]]''. August 6, 2006. Retrieved May 31, 2010.</ref> The project included making the [[Central Artery]], part of [[Interstate 93]], into a tunnel under downtown Boston, in addition to the re-routing of several other major highways.<ref name=BigDig2>{{cite web |title=The Central Artery/Tunnel Project—The Big Dig |url=http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/highway/TheBigDig.aspx |publisher=[[Massachusetts Department of Transportation]]—Highway Division |access-date=April 26, 2015 |archive-date=August 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180830060735/http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/highway/TheBigDig.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{failed verification|date=September 2019}} The project was often controversial, with numerous claims of graft and mismanagement, and with its initial price tag of $2.5{{spaces}}billion increasing to a final tally of over $15{{spaces}}billion. Nonetheless, the Big Dig nonetheless changed the face of [[Downtown Boston]]<ref name=BigDig1/> and connected areas that were once divided by elevated highway. Much of the raised old Central Artery was replaced with the [[Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway]]. The project also improved traffic conditions along  several routes.<ref name=BigDig1/><ref name=BigDig2/>

====Notable 20th century politicians====

[[File:John F. Kennedy, White House color photo portrait.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[John F. Kennedy]], Massachusetts native and 35th President of the United States (1961–1963)]]

The [[Kennedy family]] was prominent in 20th-century Massachusetts politics. The children of businessman and ambassador [[Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.]] included [[John F. Kennedy]], who was a [[United States Senate|senator]] and [[President of the United States|U.S. president]] before [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|his assassination]] in 1963; [[Ted Kennedy]], a [[United States Senate|senator]] from 1962 until his death in 2009;<ref>{{cite web |title=Biography: Edward Moore Kennedy |website=[[American Experience]] |access-date=May 28, 2010 |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/kennedys-bio-edward-kennedy/}}</ref> and [[Eunice Kennedy Shriver]], a co-founder of the [[Special Olympics]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Kennedys: A Family Tree |newspaper=[[St. Petersburg Times]] |access-date=May 28, 2010 |url=http://www.sptimes.com/News/111199/JFK/family-tree.shtml}}</ref> In 1966, Massachusetts became the first state to directly elect an African American to the U.S. senate with [[Edward Brooke]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Brooke, Edward William, III |url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=b000871 |website=[[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]] |access-date=April 25, 2015}}</ref> [[George H. W. Bush]], 41st [[President of the United States]] (1989–1993) was born in [[Milton, Massachusetts|Milton]] in 1924.<ref>{{cite web |title=George H.W. Bush Biography |url=http://www.biography.com/people/george-hw-bush-38066 |publisher=biography.com |access-date=April 26, 2015}}</ref>

Other notable Massachusetts politicians on the national level included [[Joseph W. Martin, Jr.]], [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]] (from 1947 to 1949 and then again from 1953 to 1955) and leader of House Republicans from 1939 until 1959 (where he was the only Republican to serve as Speaker between 1931 and 1995),<ref>James J. Kenneally, ''A Compassionate Conservative: A Political Biography of Joseph W. Martin Jr., Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives'' (2003)</ref> [[John W. McCormack]], Speaker of the House in the 1960s, and [[Tip O'Neill]], whose service as Speaker of the House from 1977 to 1987 was the longest continuous tenure in United States history.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tip O'Neill {{!}} Donegal Diaspora |url=https://www.donegaldiaspora.ie/people/tip-oneill |website=www.donegaldiaspora.ie |access-date=December 3, 2022}}</ref>