The pre-New Deal (1930 – 1932) continues: Republican (fascist/socialist) Hoover, speaking to a campaign audience in St. Paul, minnesota, proudly defends his record, boasting of his attempts to intervene in the nation’s economy to combat the Great Depression, which include:

       … [A]n understanding between employers and employees that wages should be maintained.  They were maintained until the cost of living had decreased and the profits had practically vanished.

       An agreement to a spread of work where employers were compelled to reduce production was brought about in order that none might be deprived of all their living and all might participate in the existing jobs and thus give real aid to millions of families. There can be no greater service given by an industry to employees in these times.

       By the expansion of state, municipal, and private construction work as an aid to employment, and by the development of an enlarged program of Federal construction which has been maintained at the rate of $600 million a year throughout the depression, we have given support to hundreds of thousands of families.

       We created the National Credit Association by cooperation of the bankers of the country, with a capital of $500 million which prevented the failure of a thousand banks with all the tragedies to their depositors and their borrowers.

       … [W]ith the increasing of the revenues in the year 1932, we contributed to balancing the Federal budget and thus held impregnable the credit of the United States.

       We created the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, originally with 2,000,000,000 Dollars of resources, in order that, having maintained national credit, we should thrust the full resources of public credit behind private credit of the country and thus reestablish and maintain private enterprise in an unassailable position. …

       In addition to strengthening the capital of the Federal land banks by 125,000,000 Dollars we have, through the Reconstruction [Finance] Corporation, made large loans to mortgage associations for the same purpose. …

       We extended authorities under the Federal Reserve Act to protect beyond all Question the gold standard of the United States and at the same time expand the credit in counteraction to the strangulation due to hoarding and foreign withdrawals of gold.

       We created the home loan discount banks with direct and indirect resources of several hundred millions, also acting through existing institutions in such fashion as to mobilize the resources of building and loan associations and savings banks and other institutions. …

       We secured further authorities to the Reconstruction [Finance] Corporation to assist in the earlier liquidation of deposits in closed banks in order that we might relieve distress to millions of depositors.

       We secured increased authorities to the Reconstruction [Finance] Corporation to loan up to 300,000,000 Dollars to the States whose resources had been exhausted. …

       We increased the resources to the Reconstruction [Finance] Corporation by a further 1,500,000,000 Dollars for the undertaking of great public works which otherwise would have been delayed awaiting finance, due to the stringency of credit.

       We have erected a new system of agricultural credit banks with indirect resources of 300,000,000 Dollars to reinforce the work of the intermediate credit banks and our other financing institutions in the financing of production and livestock loans to farmers.

       We have extended the authority to the Reconstruction [Finance] Corporation to make loans for financing the normal movement of agricultural commodities to markets both at home and abroad.

       We have systematically mobilized banking and industry and business of the country with the cooperation of labor and agricultural leaders to attack the depression on every front.

       We have developed, together with European nations, a worldwide economic conference with view to relieving pressure upon us from foreign countries, to increase their stability, to deal with the problems of silver, and to prevent recurrence of these calamities if it can be humanly done.

       Question: Do these sound like the accomplishments of a “do nothing,” laissez-faire, free-marketer that Hoover is portrayed as in high school history textbooks?

       [restored 7/2/2022] Thanks to Bill Holmes for this entry.