Yes, I read it cover to cover. Excellent book. Hoover already was from the moderate wing of the Republican Party (why does he remind me of GWB) and the first thing he did was cut off all foreign trade and raise taxes. The Federal Reserve tightened the currency as well, though there was already huge deflation.
FDR had quite a radical agenda after he was elected and wasn’t able to end the Depression until we entered World War II. Why he was considered a great President, I have no idea. He was an amazing communicator, of course. The media loved also loved him for obvious reasons, he was an ultra-liberal.
It’s amazing how history repeats itself.
Let's not forget that during the war years he de facto suspended the 1st amendment. I'm sure the perception of President Bush and the war in Iraq would be far different if the media were told what they could say.
That would largely depend on how you defined "ending the Depression", since the stock market did not recover to pre-October 1929 values until sometime in 1955, the year I was born, and 10 years after WW2 was over with....
the infowarrior
My wife is reading it right now & providing me with a running commentatry. It sound eerily like what we are currently experiencing with the takeover of Wall St. by government & Zero’s election. It could be his blueprint for “change”.
The next 4 years (at least) are gonna suck rocks.
FDR was a failure. He kept taxes high and made war against corporate America. His policies kept the Depression (high unemployment, no economic growth) alive for a decade. If the US had not industrially geared up to fight WW II, the Depression would have lasted even longer.
FDR attacked the Constitution, and set the stage for the current Welfare State. Obama’s National Socialist Party will repeat FDR’s stupidity, turning this recession into another depression.