History 416
The Depression
November 2, 2005
I. The US and the 1920s World
1. East Asia (the 4-, 5-, and 9-Power Treaties; the Washington System)
2. Europe (Dawes Plan, war debts, and reparations; Kellogg-Briand)
3. Latin America (Kellogg and international law; King, Blaine, and Dill amendments; role of peace progressives)
II. The Origins of the Depression
1. Hoover (personal background; political background; Hoover as “forgotten progressive”?; ethnic politics and 1928 election; Stock Market crash; short- and long-term effects)
2. Explanations (international: post-WWI political and financial instability; domestic: peculiar nature US 1920s prosperity, persistent agricultural depression, lack of regulation; counterproductive government policies: deflationary spiral and rejection of Keynsianism)
III. Collapse of the International Order
1. Economic Decline and Its Effects (East Asia—collapse Washington System, Manchuria and challenge to League of Nations, Stimson Doctrine, Hoover response; Europe—timidity of democracies, suffering Central Europe, rise of nationalism; Latin America—Stimson statement, demise of Kemmerer system, tensions with Cuba)
2. Foreign Economic Policy (economic nationalism and transformation of American foreign policy; tariff and pressure for Hawley-Smoot; war debts issue, moratorium, and political effects)
3. Toward 1932 (Parker nomination and Hoover’s declining strength; 1930 midterm elections; Hoover policies—RFC, McNary-Haugen, Insull collapse, deflationary spiral, bank run)