Reply #14: Protectionism gets a bad rap, because it doesn't work. FDR campaigned against Smoot/Hawley, [View All]

[pampango]

got around it by negotiating trade agreements with other countries, then pushed for increased international trade and lower tariffs in the post-WWII world. Truman continued this after FDR's death.

Smoot, Hawley, and Hoover were all republicans who also controlled both houses of congress when the tariff act passed. FDR realized that Smoot/Hawley made it more difficult to get the country out of the Depression, marginalized the Act, then tried to make sure that similar tariff laws didn't become the norm around the world after WWII.

Democrats were the ones behind the Brenton Woods Agreement in 1944 that grew into the IMF, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in 1947 which grew into the WTO, and of course the United Nations. Democrats of the era believed in expanding international trade, not restricting it. Of course, they also believed in highly progressive taxation, strict regulation of financial markets, strong unions and an active role for government in securing the welfare of citizens, things that are unfortunately rare these days.