Herbert Hoover
71st Congress
James E. Watson
Nicholas Longworth
Democratic Party History
Republican Party History
Gold Standard
Great Depression
Wall Street Crash of 1929
Causes of the Great Depression
The Great Depression
President: Hoover (R); Senate: Watson (R-IN); House: Longworth (R-OH).
Soon after the market crash President Hoover summoned business and labor leaders to the White House. He secured an agreement to maintain wages and prices. It was the first governmental action in response to the crisis.
Intention: By keeping wages and prices up, the president hoped to avoid a slump. | Liberal Line: Huh? President Hoover did that? |
Outcome: The slump was deepened and extended because businessmen felt constrained from liquidating unsound business plans. | Conservative Line: First thing Hoover did in response to the crash, and it was the wrong thing. |
1929-1939: A Decade that will live in stupidity.
Seventy years ago the leaders of both US political parties turned away from the policies that had created an economic powerhouse we call the Roaring Twenties. For ten long years Americans suffered through wrenching economic dislocations: deflation, inflation, a four-year economic contraction, endless unemployment, mindless political experiments, and ruthless attacks on businessmen for political gain as their leaders stayed Stuck on Stupid.
Today, after a twenty-five year economic boom, Americans are once more faced with a political elite that wants to monkey with success. It wants to raise tax rates. It wants to restrict trade. It wants to increase government power.
Its time to look back and remind ourselves how it came to be, starting in 1929, that America got itself Stuck on Stupid. Otherwise it could happen again.
Christopher Chantrill
> archive
usstuckonstupid.com
presented by Christopher Chantrill
Contact