Five Myths About the Great Depression

The current financial crisis has many in Congress petitioning and requesting another "New Deal." Those individuals should remember that America's biggest industrial collapse occurred in 1937, eight years after the 1929 stock market crash and almost five years into Roosevelt's New Deal.

Andrew Wilson's five myths are as follows:
1. Herbert Hoover, elected President in 1928, was a laissez-faire Republican who clung to the idea that markets were basically self-correcting.
2. The stock market crash in October 1929 precipitated the Great Depression.
3. Where the market had failed, the government stepped in to protect ordinary people.
4. Greed caused the stock market to be overvalued and then crash.
5. Enlightened government pulled the nation out of the worst downturn in its history and came to the rescue of capitalism through rigorous regulation and government oversight.

Now, read Andrew Wilson's Five Myths About the Great Depression and explain the five myths. Also, who was Henry Morganthau and what was the significance of his comments to Congressional Democrats in May 1939?