from national interest........
On May 5, 1930, President Herbert Hoover received a petition from 1,028 U.S. economists with a stark and urgent warning: Don’t sign the Smoot-Hawley tariff bill that was wending its way through Congress. “Countries cannot permanently buy from us unless they are permitted to sell to us,’’ the economists explained, “and the more we restrict the importation of goods from them by means of even higher tariffs, the more we reduce the possibility of our exporting to them.’’ Moreover, warned the economists, the tariff would slam the finances of Americans who had invested in foreign ventures—to the tune of an estimated $12.5 billion to $14.5 billion, as of January 1, 1929. Restrictive duties, said the economists, would thwart the foreign debtors’ ability to pay interest to American investors.
Hoover ignored the advice and signed the tariff bill on June 17, 1930. In doing so, he sealed the fate of the global economy—and his own political fate as well"............READ MORE
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