I think he meant Hawley-Smoot idiot. As in the Hawley-Smoot tariff act of 1930.
"1930, passed by the U.S. Congress; it brought the U.S. tariff to the highest protective level yet in the history of the United States...The act brought retaliatory tariff acts from foreign countries, U.S. foreign trade suffered a sharp decline, and the depression intensified."
http://www.bartleby.com/65/ha/HawleySm.html
Thanks