The infamous Smoot-Hawley Tariff, enacted in 1930, helped transform a financial panic into a worldwide depression. The 1932 elections were cataclysmic for the Republicans, giving Democrats control of the White House for 20 years, the Senate for 44 of the next 48 years, and the House for 58 of the next 62 years. In 1934 Congress adopted the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act, which delegated power to President Franklin D. Roosevelt to negotiate reciprocal trade reductions and back the world out of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff.

 

Tariffs Mean Electoral Defeat for the GOP

The debacle of 1932 is the most famous example, but Republican (and Whig) losses span the period 1842 through 2020.

By 

Phil Gramm

 and 

Donald J. Boudreaux

Mr. Gramm is a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Mr. Boudreaux is a professor of economics at George Mason University. They are the authors of “The Triumph of Economic Freedom: Debunking the Seven Great Myths of American Capitalism.” Mike Solon contributed to this article.