The Conservative Response: Let the Economy Stabilize
A conservative is someone who cherishes and seeks to preserve traditional customs and values. For conservatives in the 1930s, these values included self-reliance, individual responsibility, and personal liberty. Conservatives tend to prefer the status quo, or current conditions, to abrupt changes. They accept change, but only in moderation. Depression-era conservatives opposed large governmental efforts to effect change, which they felt challenged their values.
As the Depression worsened, conservatives resisted calls for radical changes to the free enterprise system. Left alone, they argued, the economy would soon stabilize and then begin to improve.
Some economists supported conservatives’ hands-off approach. They insisted that economic downturns and periods of low economic activity—known as panics—were normal. They were part of the business cycle, a pattern in which economic growth is followed by decline, panic, and finally recovery. These lows were natural in a capitalist economy, economists argued. They noted that good times followed even the severe panics of the 1870s and 1890s. The economy would also recover from this severe period.
At the start of the Depression, many Americans shared this outlook. Most preferred to suffer in silence rather than admit they needed help. But as the Depression progressed, people ran short of food and fuel. Many had no choice but to seek aid. Conservatives insisted that charities take on the growing task of providing basic necessities to the needy. If government had to step in, they argued, it should be local governments’ responsibility to care for their own.
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