The Expansion of
the U.S. Deficit
1930 - 1932

Any historian who comes upon a short article recalling the growth of the U.S. deficit between the years 1930 through 1932 would agree that this would be an ideal spot to remark upon the similarities between President Hoover and President Roosevelt – for both men believed that the power and largess of the Federal Government was capable of alleviating some of the Depression’s pain – in the form of business loans and public relief programs; that is where the similarities ended.
President Roosevelt, by contrast, had a far, far grander vision of government intervention into the economy. Needless to say, they were both wrong. writing his memoirs in the Fifties, Hoover pointed out that the Democratic congress he was saddled with hardly ever passed his public relief bills, if they had he, too, might have been a champion deficit-creator as was FDR. In 1933, when FDR assumed office, the US National Debt stood at $22.5 billion; as opposed to $258.5 billion when his reign came to a close.

Contemporary economists saw a similar set up in 2008, when the economic “remedies” applied by President Bush were quickly compounded and exacerbated by President Obama who succeeded him that same year. Both Presidents Roosevelt and Obama campaigned with promises to bring down the swelling deficits of their respective eras, but in the end they both made the national debt balloon to dizzying heights.

Yet, despite the growing deficits, the United States was still an enormously wealthy nation…

Click here to read an article about 1930s government spending.

Read an article about the 1935 dolar …

CLICK HERE to read additional primary source articles about the Great Depression…