Though often lumped together as intellectual soulmates, Coolidge and his successor, Herbert Hoover, had markedly different approaches to dealing with the economy. In the recession of the early 1920s, Coolidge advocated laissez-faire policies, which eventually stemmed the tide of economic decline. Had he been faced with the Great Depression of 1929; it's almost certain that he would've tried a similar approach.
At the same time, one must acknowledge that the economic crisis facing Hoover was considerably worse than that dealt with by Harding and Coolidge less than a decade earlier, so it's by no means certain that the same trick would've worked twice. Besides, Coolidge freely admitted when pressed that he had no idea how to get America out of the Great Depression.
Coolidge wasn't an especially imaginative politician, so it's likely that in the case of the old laissez-faire magic not working, he wouldn't have had much by way of a Plan B. Irrespective of his approach, however, it's unlikely that Coolidge would've followed the measures adopted by Hoover, who was much more of an interventionist in running the economy than is often appreciated. Some conservative historians have accused Hoover of exacerbating the Great Depression by implementing interventionist polices such as the establishment of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. If only he'd trusted in the kind of laissez-faire policies to which Coolidge had adhered his whole life, they argue, then things would've been nowhere near as bad.
In the final analysis, one can only speculate, but in all likelihood Coolidge would've been as overwhelmed by the unprecedented economic catastrophe facing the nation as anyone.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
How would the Great Depression have been different if Calvin Coolidge had decided to run and won re-election in 1928?
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