Lords of Finance: 1929, the Great Depression, and the Bankers Who Broke the World (78 page)

⁴⁹¹
Strong's successor: Matthew, Josephson. "Money Men are Different Now,"
Saturday Evening Post
, February 26, 1949.

⁴⁹²
"being young and new," "had inherited all antagonisms": Letter from Leffingwell to Edward Grenfell, May 29, 1919, quoted in Kunz,
The Battle for Britain's Gold Standard
, 19.

⁴⁹³
With Strong dead: Interview with Leslie Rounds,
Committee on the History of the Federal Reserve System
, Washington: Brookings Institution, 1954–55.

⁴⁹⁴
"raise the prestige": "Memorandum on conversation with Governor Young: March 6, 1929," Goldenweiser Papers, Library of Congress, quoted in Clarke,
Central Bank Cooperation
, 156.

⁴⁹⁵
"any longer intend to be": Bierman,
The Great Myths of 1929
, 78.

⁴⁹⁶
Harrison urged Norman: Hamlin Diary, February 11, 1929, quoted in Bierman,
The Great Myths of 1929
, 105, n. 11.

⁴⁹⁷
"to have the stock market fall": Josephson,
Infidel in the Temple
, 22.

⁴⁹⁸
Once the speculative fever: Harrison Memorandum, "Conversations with Federal Reserve Board: February 5, 1929," quoted in Clarke,
Central Bank Cooperation
, 152.

⁴⁹⁹
"lived and breathed": Hamlin Diary, March 5, 1929, Library of Congress; "Memorandum on conversation with Governor Young: March 6, 1929," Goldenweiser Papers, Library of Congress, quoted in Clarke,
Central Bank Cooperation
, 157.

⁵⁰⁰
"If buying and selling stocks": "The War Against Wall Street Speculation,"
The Literary Digest
, April 13, 1929.

⁵⁰¹
"the hardest time in America": Letter from Peacock to Revelstoke, February 18, 1929, quoted in Kynaston,
The City of London: Illusions of Gold
, 157.

⁵⁰²
"an even deeper feeling": Letter from Norman to European Central Bankers, February 21, 1929, quoted in Clay,
Lord Norman
, 249.

⁵⁰³
Over the next three months: Friedman and Schwartz,
A Monetary History
, 259.

⁵⁰⁴
Even Adolph Miller: Hamlin Diary, January 3, 1929, quoted in Wueschner,
Charting Twentieth-Century Monetary Policy
, 153.

⁵⁰⁵
"The French have always had": McNeil,
American Money and the Weimar Republic
, 228.

⁵⁰⁶
Under the Dawes Plan schedule: Under the Dawes Plan, reparations were supposed to increase according to a "prosperity index," calculated based on trends in foreign trade, the budget, coal production, railway traffic, consumption of sugar, tobacco, and beer and spirit. While the increase in payments was potentially indefinite, most people worked on the calculation that the annual tribute would settle somewhere around $700 million.

⁵⁰⁷
"with a mixture of awkwardness": McNeil,
American Money and the Weimar Republic
, 228.

⁵⁰⁸
"nothing but work ": McNeil,
American Money and the Weimar Republic
, 228

⁵⁰⁹
Government officials: Bennett,
Germany and the Diplomacy of the Financial Crisis
, 5.

⁵¹⁰
"the new German Kaiser": "69,"
Time
, February 6, 1929.

⁵¹¹
"without the normal incentive": Annual Report of Agent General for Reparations, 1927, quoted in Eyck,
A History of the Weimar Republic
, 2: 174.

⁵¹²
"was dancing on a volcano": Stresemann Note on Meeting with Parker Gilbert, November 13, 1928, in Stresemann,
Diaries, Letters and Papers
, 2: 406.

⁵¹³
It came as an ill omen: "Europe's Cold Snap Worst in Centuries,"
New York Times
, February 12, 1929; "100 Die in Europe as Cold Holds Grip,"
New York Times
, February 13, 1929; "Freezing Europe Faces Cold Famine,"
New York Times
, February 14, 1929.

⁵¹⁴
Marthe Hanau was a forty-two-year-old: Janet Flanner, "Annals of Finance: The Swindling Presidente," the
New Yorker
, August 26 and September 2, 1939.

⁵¹⁵
"lengthy, tiresome": Ziegler,
The Sixth Great Power
, 357.

⁵¹⁶
"a vehement, intolerant man": Huddleston,
In My Time
, 256.

⁵¹⁷
"tantrums and exhibitionism": Leith-Ross,
Money Talks
, 119.

⁵¹⁸
"hatchet, Teuton face," "like a steel trap": Ziegler,
The Sixth Great Power
, 356–57.

⁵¹⁹
"If Hell is anything like Paris": Klingaman,
1929: The Year of the Crash
, 163.

⁵²⁰
The German delegates: Kopper,
Hjalmar Schacht
, 146.

⁵²¹
Schacht's proposal was initially received: Stuart Crocker Memoirs, quoted in Jacobson,
Locarno Diplomacy
, 257.

⁵²²
Pierre Quesnay: Stuart Crocker Memoirs, quoted in Jacobson,
Locarno Diplomacy
, 265.

⁵²³
"You ought never to have signed": Schacht,
My First Seventy-six Years
, 247.

⁵²⁴
"The crisis may have been": Kopper,
Hjalmar Schacht
, 154.

⁵²⁵
"My prophecy would be": Keynes, "Letter to Andrew Mcfadyean," January 5, 1930, in
Collected Writings
, 18: 346–47.

⁵²⁶
In addition, he continued to manage: Hession,
John Maynard Keynes
, 175.

⁵²⁷
Despite his reputation: Skousen, "Keynes as a Speculator," 161–69.

⁵²⁸
"triumph": Keynes,
Collected Writing: A Tract
, 4: 231.

⁵²⁹
"nothing which can be called inflation": Keynes, "Is There Inflation in the United States?" September 1, 1928, in
Collected Writing
, 13: 52–59

⁵³⁰
"on the side of business depression": Keynes, "Letter to Charles Bullock," October 4, 1928, in
Collected Writings
13: 70–73.

⁵³¹
"I was forgetting that gold": Keynes, "Is There Enough Gold? The League of Nations Inquiry,"
The Nation and Athenaeum
, January 19, 1929, in
Collected Writing
, 19: 775–80.

⁵³²
"Picture to yourself ": Kynaston,
The City of London, Illusions of Gold
, 157.

⁵³³
"Almost all the great powers": Somary,
The Raven of Zurich
, 155.

⁵³⁴
"even in countries thousands of miles": Keynes, "A British View of the Wall Street Slump,"
New York Evening Post
, October 25, 1929, in
Collected Writings
, 20: 2–3.

⁵³⁵
The character of the market: White, "The Stock Market Boom and Crash of 1929 Revisited," 77.

⁵³⁶
Indeed, on September 3, 1929: Paul, Desmond. "An Exploration of the Nature of Bull Market Tops,"
Lowry Reports
, 2006.

⁵³⁷
In February, Owen Young: Klingaman,
1929: The Year of the Crash
, 159, 211.

⁵³⁸
Joe Kennedy: Goodwin,
The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys
, 488.

⁵³⁹
Bernard Baruch claims: Baruch,
The Public Years
, 224–25.

⁵⁴⁰
Even Thomas Lamont: Lamont,
The Ambassador from Wall Street
, 260.

⁵⁴¹
In April 1929, he had some friends: Durant's secret visit to the White House from Sparling,
Mystery Men of Wall Street
, 3–6.

⁵⁴²
"panic which keeps people": Seldes,
The Years of the Locust
, 40.

⁵⁴³
"Scores of thousands: "Europe's 'Wall Street Panic,'"
The Literary Digest
, August 24, 1929.

⁵⁴⁴
"fat excitable man": Snowden,
Autobiography
, 2: 827.

⁵⁴⁵
"invisibly the battle of gold": "Palladin of Gold,"
Time
, August 19, 1929.

⁵⁴⁶
In late August, as Britain's reserves hit: Clay,
Lord Norman
, 252.

⁵⁴⁷
"For five years at least":
BusinessWeek
, September 7, 1929

⁵⁴⁸
"I repeat what I said": "Babson Predicts 'Crash' in Stocks,"
New York Times
, September 6, 1929.

⁵⁴⁹
He was a strict Prohibitionist: Fridson,
It Was a Very Good Year
, 87–88.

⁵⁵⁰
"none of us are infallible": "Fisher Denies Crash Is Due,"
New York Times
, September 6, 1929.

⁵⁵¹
Simple commonsense techniques: White, "The Stock Market Boom and Crash of 1929 Revisited," 72–73.

⁵⁵²
"not perhaps surprising": "Financial Markets: Last Week's Reaction in Stocks and the Talk of a Future 'Crash,'"
New York Times
, September 9, 1929.

⁵⁵³
"Mr. Hatry is very clever": Kynaston,
The City of London: Illusions of Gold
, 140.

⁵⁵⁴
"Stocks have reached what looks like": "Fisher Sees Stocks Permanently High,"
New York Times
, October 16, 1929.

⁵⁵⁵
"increased prosperity": "Says Stock Slump is Only Temporary,"
New York Times
, October 24, 1929.

⁵⁵⁶
"There is a great deal of exaggeration": "Letter from Lamont to Herbert Hoover," October 19, 1929, quoted in Lamont,
The Ambassador from Wall Street
, 266–68.

⁵⁵⁷
"This document is fairly amazing": Kunz,
The Battle for Britain's Gold Standard
, 55.

⁵⁵⁸
On Wednesday, October 23: Henry, Lee. "1929: The Crash That Shook the World,"
American Mercury
, November 1949.

⁵⁵⁹
"grave," "gesturing idly": Brooks,
Once in Golconda
, 124.

⁵⁶⁰
"susceptible of betterment": "Financiers Ease Tension,"
New York Times
, October 25, 1929.

⁵⁶¹
"There is no man or group": Bell, "Crash: An Account of the Stock Market Crash of 1929."

⁵⁶²
"undue speculation": "Treasury Officials Blame Speculation,"
New York Times
, October 25, 1929.

⁵⁶³
"Bankers Halt Stock Debacle":
Wall Street Journal
, October 27, 1929.

⁵⁶⁴
"friends and former millionaires": Manchester,
The Last Lion
, 826.

⁵⁶⁵
"participating in the making of history": "Closing Rally Vigorous" and "Crowds See Market History Made,"
New York Times
, October 30, 1929.

⁵⁶⁶
"No one who has gazed": William Manchester,
The Last Lion
, 827.

⁵⁶⁷
"on fire," "done and can't be undone": Josephson,
The Money Lords
, 82.

⁵⁶⁸
That evening: Josephson,
The Money Lords
, 82.

⁵⁶⁹
Though the crash of October 1929: Soule,
Prosperity Decade
, 309.

⁵⁷⁰
"underlying conditions," "an excuse for going": "What Smashed the Bull Market?"
The Literary Digest
, November 9, 1929.

⁵⁷¹
"No Iowa Farmer will tear up his mail order blank": "Wall Street's 'Prosperity Panic,'"
The Literary Digest
, November 9, 1929.

⁵⁷²
"For six years, American business":
BusinessWeek
, November 2, 1929.

⁵⁷³
Industrial production fell: Romer, "The Great Crash and the Onset of the Great Depression," and Galbraith,
The Great Crash
, 142.

⁵⁷⁴
"Rich people who have not sold": Hirst,
Wall Street and Lombard Street
, 59.

⁵⁷⁵
"constitutionally gloomy": White,
Autobiography
, 515.

⁵⁷⁶
"back to normal," "during the next sixty days," "We have passed the worst": Mangold, W. P. "The White House Magicians: Prosperity Invocations,"
The Nation
, October 21, 1931, and Allen,
Washington Merry-Go-Round
, 75–76. At several points along the way: Galbraith,
The Great Crash
, 76, 149–51.

⁵⁷⁷
"Gentlemen, you have come": Schlesinger,
The Crisis of the Old Order
, 231.

⁵⁷⁸
He frequently claimed in press conferences: Mangold, W. P. "The White House Magicians: Playing with Statistics,"
The Nation
, October 28, 1931; "Victory in Maine predicted by Fess,"
New York Times
, August 27, 1930; "Labor Commissioner Stewart Quits Post,"
New York Times
, July 3, 1932.

⁵⁷⁹
"liquidate labor, liquidate stocks": Hoover,
Memoirs
, 30.

⁵⁸⁰
For Mellon, it was a once-in-a-lifetime: Cannadine,
Mellon
, 414–27.

⁵⁸¹
Between November 1929 and June 1930: Chandler,
American Monetary Policy
, 144.

⁵⁸²
"1927 experiment": Federal Reserve Board letter from John Calkins, Governor of San Francisco Fed, to George Harrison, January 7, 1930.

⁵⁸³
"We have been putting out credit": Federal Reserve Board, Minutes of the Open Market Policy Committee, September 25, 1930: quoted in Chandler,
American Monetary Policy
, 137.