Don Wildman

Politically, and I mentioned before, militarily, of course, the Great Depression starts in America, then spreads worldwide and results in so much tectonic change.

Obviously, the collapse of the Weimar Republic, unseated by the National Socialists, the Nazis.

Same happens in Japan.

Why is it that our government did not go the way of of dictatorship?

Was it simply the Constitution and people believe that we would be OK?

It's too broad a question, but what the heck?

What finally brings the Great Depression to an end?

And when is the traditional moment when we can say, ah, we're out of it?

Partly because we had such huge markets available to us, right?

John, the New Deal, I don't want to get into the whole intricacies of it, but do you attribute the recovery from the Depression to those many laws that were passed and ideas and programs?

To this day, enormous amounts of foreign gold are kept in New York City, down in those vaults.

It's amazing.

But in the same period, we go off the gold standard, right?

That's a big part of this as well.

So in this darkest hour of America, there seems to be a dawn.

And to my mind, the difference in this country from prior to the Depression to afterwards is the presence and, I don't know, viability of effectiveness of the federal government or ineffectiveness.

It just plays a bigger role in the dynamic of this country, which has only grown in the many, many years since then.

It also changes, the depression also changes the social dynamic of the country, doesn't it?

I mean, it guts so much of what this country was, the assumptions behind what this country's life was about.

And then suddenly there's this whole sort of new social dynamic, as I say, and the middle class is rising up at that point.