I: 1920s Economy: Stereotypes,
Foundations & Structural Weaknesses
• Stereotypes:
• Roaring Twenties, Age of Prosperity
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Foundations of Economic Growth:
From debtor nation to creditor nation
Assembly line production
Auto industry (Henry Ford)
Glass, steel, concrete, rubber, motels, service stations,
etc, and oil.
• Electrical utilities, construction
• Advertising, credit buying
• Stock Market growth
1920s: Economic Complexities
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Recession, 1920-1921
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Tariffs: Emergency, 1921; Fordney-McCumber, 1922; Hawley Smoot, 1930
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Foreign Trade and Financial Transactions:
US
GERMANY
FRANCE/GREAT BRITAIN
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Agrarian Depression: McNary-Haugen Bill (1927, 1928)
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Labor Policy: decline of industrial unions and growth of company unions
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Tax Policy: Andrew Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury, reduced taxes for:
high incomes, corporate gains, inheritance: exacerbates maldistribution of wealth?
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Lack of Stock Market Regulation: Wild Speculation: October 29, 1929 Crash
Stock Market Crash & Beyond
Causes: Debatable & Incontestable
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1) Maturing of Key Industries
2) Rural Depression
3) Decline of Labor
4) Andrew Mellon's Tax Policy
5) Unhealthy State of Foreign Trade and Finance
6) Unsound Corporate (Pyramid) Structures
7) Excessive Stock Market Speculation
8) World Context of Economic Depression
Hoover & FDR: Ideological Opposites
or Degrees of Difference?
• Hoover: Ideology and Actions
American Individualism (1922); The Challenge to Liberty (1937)
a) Hawley-Smoot Tariff, 1930
b) Federal Farm Board
c) Bonus Army
d) Reconstruction Finance Corporation
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt
1920 Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee
Governor of New York, 1928, Re-elected, 1930
• San Francisco Commonwealth Club Speech, September 23, 1932
www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrcommonwealth.htm
Election of 1932, FDR (D) V Hoover (R)
F.D.R.
(D)
57.4
Hoover
(R)
39.7
The 1932 Campaign
Election Results by State
Election Results by County