The voices of frees episode glad we have you heard daily? You know the only voice of reason on the radio fifty five krs the talk station.
Atoh five fifty five kr CD talk station. Happy Friday, Eve, Please to walk to the Welcome in the fifty five years the Morning Show, Hunter Oswald, who's doing a seminar tomorrow night. Empower You America dot org, where you can register to log in from the comfort of your own home or show up at the studio seven pm, Star
time on Herbert Hoover Now. Hunter Oswald is a five film Beth gase Witch Development Fellow, research fellow with The American Spectator, where he is currently working on a project
with that publications founder. His articles and Spectator have examined a whole host of issues, and he's gone around reporting for The Spectator and from covering the twenty twenty two Dobbs protest, you guys remember that in Washington, d C. To jd Vance's Middletown rally back in twenty four iff student fellow and Conservative thought for the Institute for Faith and Freedom, and he's contributed a whole bunch of different
news outlets. Welcome to the program, Hunter Oswald. It's great having you on the show today.
Hey, thank you for having me on, Brian.
The subject matter Herbert Hoover. And you know, honestly, other than Hooverville's which was of course the Great Depression and the Smoot Hawley Tariff Act, I didn't don't really know anything about Herbert Hoover. Apparently he's got a reputation as being one of the most hated and controversial presidents out there.
Yeah, I mean, Hoover is definitely one of those figures that today when we think about him, most people in the general population will think of the president that failed the Great Depression and the guy who eventually led for FDR to rise to power and the New Deal. Yeah, but when we think about Hoover today, especially as me,
we kind of take these things for granted. But at the same time, there's this new development, this new narrative that we've created by New Deal historians that say, you know, this guy named Hoover, you know it was the reason he failed was because of his lasi faire economics. It was his hands off approach. But when you actually learn and study him, you can see a completely different story
with Hoover. So tonight with the empower You seminar. I am looking at Hoover as he truly is not how New Deal historians portray him as today, So.
An accurate picture of Herbert Hoover the president. And it's actually it's tomorrow night, correct tomorrow at seven pm. Power You America dot Org. He said, tonight, Well today is tonight? Oh my god, See this is my week. I'm sorry, hunter, this is my week. I'm just I'm hitting fits and spasms here this week. So apologies to my listeners. I am not a complete idiot, just forgot what today it is. Anyhow,
going back, thank you. I think we all go through those moments occasionally, if it's not a sign of dementia onset, Eddie. I did mention the Smooth Holly Teriff Act on purpose because I did know was signed in the launder Hoover and it apparently exacerbated the problems created by the Great Depression in the aftermath of the stock market crash. Is there something that we can learn from that about what Trump's doing today? We be talking about it and that at all in this context?
Oh? Absolutely, because when people think of the Smooth Harley Terriffact, they think of, Okay, you know, why does this tariff play into causing or at least exacerbating the Great Depression. Well, what people fail to understand is when the Great Depression hit on, people are already struggling for trade, in other words, who to buy from, Because now you have the government, via protectionism, saying hey, we the state are determining where
you're going to buy your products. And then their case, they're arguing from what you would say public interest theory, which is that all we are doing pre the economy is in the public interest. But the tariff, the Harley Terriffact failed immensely. I mean we are talking a few months after it passed in nineteen thirty, seventeen point nine
percent of production drops immediately. And so when we think about in today's environment, with the tariff war right now with Mexico and Canada, we have to be very careful of what tariffs are because then the tariffs are not a good thing. It's kind of an unfortunate loss loss situation.
And so like people say, well, it's only for national security reasons, and you can make an argument for that, but when you're looking at it from a purely economic standpoint, you're restricting trade, you're creating new barriers of entry for new companies to invest in your country. You're effected. And another unfortunate fact is you're actually encouraging ronism because teriffts often benefit those in a situation that are like, you know what if I don't the less competitors I have
in the economy, the more likely it can benefit. So they What we start seeing is a transition from say an economic competition, where you would say, okay, companies actually have to compete with each other, versus say political entrepreneurship, where it's like, how can I use the government to my advantage. So I think with the teriff vers today were Trump, we should be very leery about how we are using teriffs in the context of what is going on.
Well, I mean, I think they disnecessarily along the lines and logical reason that you're using, you know, the natural reaction from an economic standpoint as well. You know, we're going to get retaliatory tariffs on us, and people are not going to buy as much or in when we buy if for the goods that are imported based on the retaliatory tariffs, we're going to have to pay more
for it. So through what lens was Herbert Hoover looking when he put tariffs on twenty thousand or so products, did he ignore that sort of logic, that economic reaction, that wait a second, that's going to cause people to demand less American products, and it's going to cause the products that we import to go up in price. How can that help the economy?
Exactly? So would Hoover spend commented the tariff. People kind of debate about this somewhat, but most generally agree. When the terror factor was approved in nineteen thirty, Hoover said, well, it was part of our Republican platform because he did campaign and then this was again nearly one hundred years ago where Republicans were very much the party of terms. That was a huge deal under McKinley, as we've heard
Trump today talk about McKinley. So Hoover kind of played in that idea of somewhat I'm fulfiliate with the party platform is. But at the same time, and this is another unfortunate fact about Hoover's he did play into cronyism a bit from his supporters in the industries that were like, hey, we want to benefit right now, and we need to really focus on how do we restrict trade from foreign countries, other other words, foreign competitors, so we get the advantage
despite the fact that consumers are going to suffer. So an immediate way, it's like, okay, we can artificially raise our prices. And who kind of plays this idea, Well, you know, lase fair. It kind of works, but I also think it's not the most efficient form of government of the economy. So that's kind of where the terrific narrative comes from. Where again he said, well, it's part of fulfilling the party platform. However, there's also the fact
that you have Suber going along Satan. You know, this lasei fair thing is maybe not the way to go.
So ultimately, then did was was he more like a Wilsonian kind of president?
Oh? Very much so. In fact, when Hoover initially expressed his progressivism, he actually supported Teddy Roosevelt in an eighteen twelve election. In fact, if you go to the Herbert Hoover Library, his presidential library, everybody agrees that he adhere to the Teddy Roosevelt wing of the party. He was very much a progressive Republican of his day. So he was like you know, I believe he's like you know, I believe in rugged individualism because of his Quaker background,
so he supported freedom. However, he also saw like the state could be used as a means to be constructive in the economy. So that's kind of where the Wilsonian the Roosevelt mentality comes from. In fact, Woodrow Wilson appointed him as the director of the US Food Administration during World War One. That's kind of where his first major political job is under Woodrow Wilson.
How about that. I certainly enlightened me on quite a few things on Herbert Hoover, and again the seminar tonight at seven o'clock, And it's what did I overlook in terms of something else you'd be speaking of love about Herbert Hoover. We do did a lot on Smooth Hawley, because I know that was rather impactful and not a good way since tariffs are a big topic of conversation.
But just real quick, what are the fun fact can you throw out about Herbert Hoover that you'd be talking about tonight that my listeners might be interested in.
Yeah, so I think I don't want to give all away the.
No, no, no, but don't don't rebel page in the book.
Oh exactly. But I think a lot of people will find surprising is that when we think about who Coover is as this log fair guy, as I said, that's not him. And I think the biggest secret, or the biggest surprise will be that Hoover actually developed his own
new deal before FDR ever thought about it. In fact, a lot of economists and historians have actually looked back on this and said, you know, and interesting enough, I have the quote right in front of me from FDR's advisor, Roxford Tugwell, who said, quote when it was all over, I once made a list of new deal ventures begun during Hoover's years as Secretary of Commerce and then as president.
The new deal owed much to what he had begun, and effectively, what he's saying there is Groover without Hoover, FDR really didn't have that much well his own DUDU.
That's hilarious, Hunter Oswald, Do you be talking about this at length this evening again? Log in online empower Youoamerica dot ORGANI is a link on my blog page fifty five KRC dot com. Just make sure you register. It's a wonderful speech tonight, I'm sure will be Hunter, and thanks for coming in the morning show and giving us a little bit of information about Herbert Hoover that I'm sure quite a few of us didn't know.
Well. Thank you, Brian, and again everybody come out tonight and hope see you all.
There very much. So take care of my friend and don't go away. Former Anderson Township trusty Drew Pappas had a bit of an altercation with some liberal protest to resulting in well him assaulting Drew Pappas. We'll get the details on that coming up next Fall by Jay Ratliff at the bottom of the hour. Who we can stick around fifty five krc A U line