Sad, ain't it.
I think most informed Freepers ask the Question...How did a relatively minor change in the Fordney-McCumber Tariff precipitate the Great Depression...why are Smoot and Hawley being "scapegoated"???
Answer...to deflect attention from the Institution that really turned a minor downturn into a full fleged Depression, namely, the Federal Reserve through its manipulation of bank Reserve Requirements.
The commercial banks called in the business loans to such an extent, that tens of thousands of businesses went insolvent, fired their employees, and closed their doors.
Raising any tax at the beginning of an economic downturn is cosmically stupid...and tariffs are, like it or not, taxes. Once the retaliatory tariffs went into place, they turned a severe market correction into a global depression. Smoot-Hawley gets the blame because it started the stampede.