Hoover was a free-market fundamentalist non-interventionist

“…and Roosevelt’s New Deal saved capitalism”. That’s actually a popular narrative these days, I think. That doesn’t make it any more true.

Federal expenditures during the Hoover administration (via David Friedman):

1929 3,298,859
1930 3,440,269
1931 3,779,868
1932 4,861,696

As Friedman notes:

These figures greatly understate the increase, because during this period prices and national income were falling. Measured in purchasing power rather than in dollars, federal expenditure roughly doubled over the final three years of Hoover’s administration. Relative to GDP, it nearly tripled.

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Wikipedia’s article on Hoover provides further details of interest:

Franklin D. Roosevelt [during the election campaign] blasted the Republican incumbent for spending and taxing too much, increasing national debt, raising tariffs and blocking trade, as well as placing millions on the dole of the government. Roosevelt attacked Hoover for “reckless and extravagant” spending, of thinking “that we ought to center control of everything in Washington as rapidly as possible,” and of leading “the greatest spending administration in peacetime in all of history.” Roosevelt’s running mate, John Nance Garner, accused the Republican of “leading the country down the path of socialism”.

As I’ve remarked on wikipedia’s talk page, the reference in the wikipedia article actually does not include the “the greatest spending administration in peacetime in all of history”-quote, which I perhaps tend to think is just made up and thrown in with a few other quotes, because “who actually checks the sources, right?,” but the rest of them seem valid. Roosevelt attacking another president for being a big-spender who wants to control everything from Washington: I think that’s kinda funny. No more funny than the claim that Hoover’s policies were laissez-faire, mind you, but close. During his precidency, which was just one presidential period, Hoover raised the top marginal tax rates from 25% to 63% and nearly trippled federal spending as a percentage of GDP: Yeah, he was a true libertarian, that’s for sure!

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UPDATE: The Roosevelt-quote about Hoover’s administration being the greatest peacetime spending administration was actually correct. I was correct too though, in that the reference given in the original article was invalid. However, a valid reference has been added since I tagged the article only a few hours ago. Wikipedia when it’s best. I have very little doubt now that the quote is correct. The link I just provided isn’t the reference added to wikipedia, that reference is to a book which I cannot access online: However, the quotes are identical and both are from history books, which tend to lose the author his or her career very quickly if he or she lies too openly in them, by inventing quotes out of thin air. Also, the two books do not stand alone.