American History Hit Darkest Hours: The Great Depression
Feb 9, 2026
John E. Moser, historian of economic crises and author of The Global Great Depression, guides listeners through the Great Depression’s origins and fallout. He explores liquidity collapses, bank failures, policy failures of the 1920s, Hoover-era limits, FDR’s radio strategy, rural hardship and migration, and how global politics and the New Deal reshaped American government.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Grandfather's Thrift From Depression Memory
- John E. Moser recalls family stories and a grandfather who became extremely frugal from living through the Depression.
- The unclearned lesson: experiencing scarcity turned thrift into a lifelong value.
Confidence And Liquidity Created Catastrophe
- The Depression became catastrophic because a liquidity drain combined with a collapse in confidence amplified a normal recession.
- John E. Moser explains spending and investment fell because people lost faith in future income and returns.
Fed Pause Turned A Crisis Into Waves Of Failures
- The Federal Reserve initially injected liquidity after the crash but then stopped, allowing multiple waves of bank failures to occur.
- Moser links those successive failures to separate regional shocks and international contagion.
