24. Hoover helped create the myth that FDR made the depression worse
By the end of 1933, the US economy showed signs of growth in all areas, including easing unemployment numbers and greater consumer spending. 1934 continued the upwards trends, as did the following year. By the end of 1936, all areas of the economy had returned to or exceeded the levels measured in the summer of 1929 except one. Unemployment remained above 10% by most estimates, though it too had improved from the darkest days of 1932. In late 1936 the Federal Reserve, concerned about the sharp increases in consumer spending and in bank lending, took steps to contract the money supply. The result was the Recession of 1937, which ended four years of economic growth.
Hoover was one of the earliest opponents to call the downturn the Roosevelt Recession, a name adopted by Republicans and even conservative Democrats. Its causes were many, but again a rapid and aggressive response by the federal government limited its scope, and by the beginning of 1939 employment had returned to 1936 levels, and the economy again experienced steady growth, which expanded with the coming of Lend-Lease and the eventual war economy. Hoover and conservatives argued that it was only the war which ended the Great Depression, made worse by FDR. Conservatives continue to advance that argument today.
Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“The Great Depression Hits Farms and Cities in the 1930s”. Tom Morain, Iowa Pathways. Online
“Hoover’s Economic Policies”. Steven Horwitz, Library of Economics and Liberty. Online
“Smoot-Hawley Tariff: A Bad Law, Badly Timed”. John Steele Gordon, Barron’s. April 21, 2017
“Davis-Bacon and Related Acts”. Article, United States Department of Labor. Online
“Hoovervilles and Homelessness”. Article, The Great Depression in Washington State. Online
“The Great Depression”. Article, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum. Online
“America’s Forgotten History of Illegal Deportations”. Alex Wagner, The Atlantic. March 6, 2017
“The Bonus March”. The American Experience, PBS. Online
“Hating on Herbert Hoover”. Nicholas Lemann, The New Yorker. October 16, 2017