Crash, Depression & Response

KEY THEMES & ISSUES

1. Causes of the Crash & Depression

fiscal problems

structural problems

international factors

2. Symptoms of the Depression

3. Hoover’s response

The Wall Street Crash

Black Tuesday, 29 October 1929

End of the Speculation “Boom”

Roots of Crash in 1920s ‘Boom,’ 1

Fiscal Problems

Uneven distribution of 1920s’ ‘prosperity’

Andrew Mellon’s tax cuts for rich

Over-reliance on Credit

Inadequate regulation of banks & stock exchange

Federal Reserve Board

Irresponsible, illegal, & unregulated speculators

Florida land boom & bust

Roots of Crash in 1920s ‘Boom’, 2

Structural Problems

Overproduction

Agricultural Distress

Transitional Moment in US Economy

Relative Decline of Old Heavy Industries

New consumer industries relatively underdeveloped

International Factors

1920s: US is creditor nation, but Europe can’t repay debt

Trade with Europe is precarious

Crash ruins European Economies

Dawes Plan, 1924

Young Plan, 1929

US Restrictive Tariffs/Protectionism

Fordney-McCumber Tariff, 1922

Hawley-Smoot Tariff, 1928

Signs of the Depression

Bank failures

Deeper agriculture crisis

Suicides

Migration to find work

Songs of the Depression

Woodie Guthrie, “Washington Talkin’ Blues”

“The dust came on, & the price went down, so I didn’t have the money when the bank came around…”

“Good land, you can grow anything you plant if you can get the moisture.”

“Went looking for a job, but the man said ‘no’ so I hit the skids on the old skid row”

“Been to Arizona, been to California too, found the people was plenty but the jobs are few…ain’t no money changing hands, just people changing places.”

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover

“The Great Engineer”

Progressive Credentials

1915: Belgian Relief Operation

1920s: Urges FRB to tighten up fiscal/stock market regulations

Post-1927 Mississippi Flood: Agricultural Relief Program; Federal Farm Board

Hoover’s Response, 1

Hoover is traditionally vilified for a ‘do-nothing’ attitude in the face of hardship of depression

The Bonus Marchers, 1932

Initially reluctant to intervene because:

Believed depression would be short

Believed economy would correct itself

Preferred industry “agreements” to govt. regulations

Reluctant to abandon conventional laissez-faire wisdoms on the economy. Republican power had rested on leaving business alone

Hoover’s Response, 2

1930-2: Hoover increases government intervention

Govt. buys wheat & cotton to raise farm prices

1931: National Credit Corporation to bolster banks

1932: Reconstruction Finance Corporation to help firms in trouble

1930-2: Spends $3bn on public works to create employment

FDR criticized this ‘deficit spending’ in 1932 campaign

Conclusions

1. The seeds of the Crash and the depression which followed were sown in the years of ‘boom’.

2. A mixture of immediate local causes, international factors & deeper structural problems in the US economy combined to create the depression.

3. Herbert Hoover may have been unjustly treated by many historians for his handling of the crisis.

4 Hoover did manage to break – albeit tentatively and reluctantly – with the laissez-faire tradition of non-intervention and thereby set some of the precedents associated with Roosevelt’s New Deal.