What does Calvin Coolidge have to do with the Great Depression?

Answer 1

Calvin Coolidge, after taking office in 1923, kept most of the policies created under the Harding administration. He intentionally only worked about four hours a day. He believed the government that governed least, governed best. To be fair, the decade of the 1920s is called an era of prosperity. This is because even after some mild economic bumps, the economy recovered rapidly. Unemployment was generally low and quality of living was up. Soon, the economy busted, as it does after many conservative eras. This is because the conservative party views the natural capitalistic cycle of boom and bust as a necessary part of the economy. Liberals tend to regulate the market more to ensure price stability, etc. The result is higher lows and lower highs.

So, Coolidge failed to regulate the market, leading to many people investing they didn't have with the promise of using property as collateral. When the Stock Market crashed, people lost the money they had hypothetically gained during the era of prosperity. Banks, a major investing force in the economy, failed when they lost the money of their clients. Overall, America was left with very little capital to spend towards redeveloping the economy.

Answer 2

The Great Depression began after Coolidge left office. He was not directly involved except as a private citizen. Of course all aspects of the economy are affected by what went on before. People who believe that the government can and should manage the economy may blame Coolidge for not pushing for more government controls on business and the financial markets.

Answer 3

Calvin Coolidge did not contribute to the Great Depression.

The Great Depression was caused by the irresponsible, backward economic policies of Hoover and FDR. These range from the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, to gold confiscation, to slaughtering pigs to raise pork prices, to burning wheat to adjust wheat prices, to using the federal reserve as a printing press to pay Americans to perform meaningless public works projects that did nothing for long-term job creation.

Calvin was one of the only presidents this country has ever had who stood up to the farmers (or special interests in general) in the1920s and refused to sign legislation helping them. He was one of the last adults we had in the presidency. Presidents now just say, "Here's $100-billion of taxpayer money. Please vote for me." If the government is paying farmers to burn their crops, then the government might as well just pay them to build sand castles. A wheat farmer who can't sustain himself growing wheat needs to find another job. Hoover and FDR obviously did not think that way.

The stock market crash of 1929 was caused by easy access to credit from the federal reserve banking system (sound familiar). Coolidge had been out of office for over six months. FDR's devastating economic policies meant that the US was still in a depression in 1939, so let's please not imply that Coolidge, perhaps the best president of the 20th century, is responsible.