RE: At least the venerable Mr. Williams didn’t insult our intelligence and try to re-write history by telling us Smoot-Hawley caused the Great Depression.
Smoot-Hawley might not have CAUSED the great depression, but it did a lot of damage to the economy.
From 1929 to 1933 American exports declined from about $5.2 billion to $1.7 billion, and the impact was concentrated on agricultural products such as wheat, cotton and tobacco. As a result, many American farmers defaulted on their loans, which in turn particularly affected small rural banks.
I'll let you fill in the blank.
“Smoot-Hawley might not have CAUSED the great depression, but it did a lot of damage to the economy.”
Smoot-Hawley wasn’t much different than the Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922. Which was followed by the Roaring Twenties.
The collapse of the American banking system from 1930-33 was the cause of the Great Depression. Smoot-Hawley didn’t help but it wasn’t the cause.