Coolidge runs for re-election

[A18]

I think we all agree that he would have won his second full term. The question is, how does his 1929-1933 differ from Hoover's?

As a lame duck president, I believe he said he didn't think the farmers would be helped by Smoot-Hawley.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

It wouldn't change things.

[ilikeverin]

The country would be even worse than Hoover O_O

[Bono]

He wouldn't have installed prince and wage floors like Hoover did, which would have caused a deflationary period like what followed the panic of 1839, where the financial excesses would have been corrected, and it would have been just another short lived recession.

[Ben Meyers]

I think the White House would have been very silent about the Great Depression.

[Erc]

Don't really know enough about Coolidge to say.  Hoover made some big mistakes, yes...but Coolidge would still have approved the Smoot-Hawley, would have stuck to the gold standard, etc.

The real culprit behind the Depression, of course, wasn't Hoover, but the idiots on the board of the Federal Reserve.

[A18]

Don't really know enough about Coolidge to say.  Hoover made some big mistakes, yes...but Coolidge would still have approved the Smoot-Hawley, would have stuck to the gold standard, etc.

The real culprit behind the Depression, of course, wasn't Hoover, but the idiots on the board of the Federal Reserve.

I think you're generally correct on the last point.

However, while Coolidge was no champion of free trade, I am not convinced he would have approved Smoot-Hawley.

Coolidge, I also believe, may have vetoed the Revenue Act of 1932. A tax increase was certainly the last thing the country needed at that point.

[PBrunsel]

He would have approved of Smoot-Hawley and just do nothing as the nation went to hell in a handbasket.

Just like under Hoover, the states would do nothing, the red Cross would try to help, and have a valiant effort, but still come up short. Coolidge would leave office in 1933 known as an aloof President who did nothing to stop Depression and got bit in behind by his own policies.

[A18]

Evidence?

[PBrunsel]

Evidence?

My scenario was pretty much what people thought of Hoover. A do-nothing who hated the common man. This would have occured to Coolidge, Mellon, Dawes, Curtis, or anyone else. Primarily because 1930's Republicans were boring and looked unfeeling and cold. Hoover was the opposite of this, but since he sounded dead on the radio no one was listening.

On October 30th, 1932, Hoover and FDR both amde radio addresses about the depression. Hoover's speech was about economic policyl FDR's was about hope. Needless to say Hoover had few listeners.

[Machiavelli]

Coolidge might have actually taken more of the blame than Hoover, as he had been President in the years leading up to the depression.

[Bono]

Don't really know enough about Coolidge to say.  Hoover made some big mistakes, yes...but Coolidge would still have approved the Smoot-Hawley, would have stuck to the gold standard, etc.

The real culprit behind the Depression, of course, wasn't Hoover, but the idiots on the board of the Federal Reserve.

Coolodge wrote somewhere he would have vetoed Smoot-Hawley.

[Bono]

Evidence?

My scenario was pretty much what people thought of Hoover. A do-nothing who hated the common man. This would have occured to Coolidge, Mellon, Dawes, Curtis, or anyone else. Primarily because 1930's Republicans were boring and looked unfeeling and cold. Hoover was the opposite of this, but since he sounded dead on the radio no one was listening.

On October 30th, 1932, Hoover and FDR both amde radio addresses about the depression. Hoover's speech was about economic policyl FDR's was about hope. Needless to say Hoover had few listeners.

Hoover's "stabilization" policies were what caused the depression to be so long, as opposed to the previous recesions that only lasted a coupleof years.

[PBrunsel]

Evidence?

My scenario was pretty much what people thought of Hoover. A do-nothing who hated the common man. This would have occured to Coolidge, Mellon, Dawes, Curtis, or anyone else. Primarily because 1930's Republicans were boring and looked unfeeling and cold. Hoover was the opposite of this, but since he sounded dead on the radio no one was listening.

On October 30th, 1932, Hoover and FDR both amde radio addresses about the depression. Hoover's speech was about economic policyl FDR's was about hope. Needless to say Hoover had few listeners.

Hoover's "stabilization" policies were what caused the depression to be so long, as opposed to the previous recesions that only lasted a coupleof years.

One thing prolonged the Depression under Hoover in my opinion, it was Smoot-Hawley. It was stupid move Hoover ever made and just idiotic protectionism.

Since Coolidge was a nationalist and opposed free trade (a classical stand for Republicans of that era) he would have approved of Smoot-Hawley.

[Bono]

Evidence?

My scenario was pretty much what people thought of Hoover. A do-nothing who hated the common man. This would have occured to Coolidge, Mellon, Dawes, Curtis, or anyone else. Primarily because 1930's Republicans were boring and looked unfeeling and cold. Hoover was the opposite of this, but since he sounded dead on the radio no one was listening.

On October 30th, 1932, Hoover and FDR both amde radio addresses about the depression. Hoover's speech was about economic policyl FDR's was about hope. Needless to say Hoover had few listeners.

Hoover's "stabilization" policies were what caused the depression to be so long, as opposed to the previous recesions that only lasted a coupleof years.

One thing prolonged the Depression under Hoover in my opinion, it was Smoot-Hawley. It was stupid move Hoover ever made and just idiotic protectionism.

Since Coolidge was a nationalist and opposed free trade (a classical stand for Republicans of that era) he would have approved of Smoot-Hawley.

http://www.jfklibrary.org/coolidge_novak.html

"This leaves the question: what would Coolidge have done about the destructive Smoot-Hawley rates had he, not Herbert Hoover, been president and Andrew Mellon, not Ogden Mills, Secretary of the Treasury. After Hoover's election, lame-duck President Coolidge tipped what he thought about Smoot-Hawley. He said that he didn't think that the farmers would be helped. Certainly, it is a stretch to believe that Coolidge would have reacted to the stock market crash by increasing taxes."

[True Democrat]

I think the White House would have been very silent about the Great Depression.

Haha, have you heard the story about the woman and her dare for Coolidge?

[PBrunsel]

I think the White House would have been very silent about the Great Depression.

Haha, have you heard the story about the woman and her dare for Coolidge?

Everyone's heard that one.

Alice Roosevelt informs Coolidge at a dinner party, "Mr President I bet that I could make you say more than two words." "You lose," was the Presidents reply. Funny story.

Another dinner party one is:

A maid saw Coolidge sitting alone by himself at a White House party and she asked him, "Why do you come to these parties you hate so much?" "Got to eat somewhere," was his reply.

[ilikeverin]

Coolidge was the anti-Clinton.  Awesome person, horrible President

[Bono]

Coolidge was the anti-Clinton.  Awesome person, horrible President

Yes, I supose economic growth is bad.