October 29, 2026: The Empty Chair That Let a Crash Become the Great Depression

For a full year before the stock market crashed, the one man at the Federal Reserve who actually knew how to stop a panic wasn't there to do it.

On October 29, 1929, now remembered as Black Tuesday, the New York Stock Exchange saw more than 16 million shares change hands in a single day, and the ticker tape reporting prices ran nearly four hours behind the actual trading. A year earlier, Benjamin Strong, the governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the man most credited with knowing how to fight a financial panic, had died, leaving the Fed without a clear leader heading into the worst crisis of its short history. The crash itself didn't have to cause the Great Depression. What came after did.

This is bsnsHistory, the daily podcast about the moments when business quietly reshaped the world.

Written and hosted by Ron Trucks. Research and editing by Rodney Russ. Sound design by Angela Cahoy. Music by Cody Martin and Soundstripe.

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