WOODIN | 8. NYC, Back to Politics (Updated Jan. 7, 2016)

Will Woodin and FDR, 1933.

In 1902 Will Woodin left Berwick - where he had been put in charge by ACF of the entire Berwick factory in 1899 after the rollup - to become assistant to the President of ACF, his Berwick colleague and relative  Frederick Eaton.

He seems he tried to get his parents to move to New York City, but they never cared to leave "The Heights" in Berwick.

Woodin at ACF

When Woodin's company in Berwick became part of ACF, it was known that a huge number of railway cars would be ordered during the next few years because of the creation of the New York City subways and commuter railways in many metro areas.

ACF created the first steel railway car in 1904 and sold hundreds of cars to the London and New York City subway systems. Woodin played a major role in selling these cars to government and private buyers.

When Eaton died unexpectedly in 1916, Will Woodin was named president of ACF in place of Eaton. Woodin thereby became one of America's magnates and a man of great public influence.

The Woodins' Manhattan Residence

Woodin descendants say it is likely that Nan Woodin checked out and decided on the homes where the Woodins lived.

After she purchased homes in New York City, East Hampton and Arizona, in addition to their inherited homes in Berwick and Montrose, she was jocularly asked by her husband when she left town: "Now don't go and buy another house!"

The Woodins purchased two homes in Manhattan as early as January 1902, on 64th Street between Lexington and Park Avenues. The mortgage on the homes was $20,000. The homes were sold in October 1902. Why did they buy and sell these homes so quickly?  The most likely explanation is that the second house was for Clement and Mary Woodin, who were at first open to leaving "The Heights" and Berwick. The elder Woodins may have decided to stay in Berwick, perhaps because of Clement's taking a turn for the worse. He had been near death several times before his eventual death in 1931.

Woodin instead purchased an appropriate apartment in Manhattan, at 2 East 67th Street, on Fifth Avenue overlooking Central Park [check date of purchase]. It was two blocks from the house where Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt lived, 47-49 East 65th Street.

When a reporter for the Washington Post came to see Nan Woodin in 1933, a paragraph was devoted to the Woodin apartment:

The Woodins occupy a duplex, 22-room apartment here, overlooking Central Park. There is a penthouse terrace where Mrs. Woodin likes to have her friends come to tea informally in summer. There is a huge fireplace in the living room where she is fond of receiving them, too.

The apartment has been described as one of the two costliest in New York City:

[The] 12th floor and penthouse ... [sold] for a breathtaking $310,000 - reportedly the second most expensive apartment in New York City. (David Tripp, Illegal Tender, Free Press, 2004, 23 and 152.)

A price of $310,000 in 1916 [check date of purchase - where were they 1902-1916?] would equate to $6.7 million in 2015.

Woodin's grandson Charlie Miner used to stay with his sister Anne and their mother Mary ("Perkie") in the top floor of the duplex. (His parents were divorced when Charlie was young.) He remembers the two of them being whisked off to school in his father's company-provided Rolls Royce, driven by Lawrence. As they approached his school, he would ask Anne to keep her head down so none of the other boys would see he was traveling with a girl.

Miner remembers there were two private chauffeurs, James and his son George. James worked primarily for Nan Woodin, driving the family Cadillac. George would join him when needed, for example when they were in East Hampton and the company driver was not available.

Woodin and Theodore Roosevelt

Will Woodin was a fan of Theodore Roosevelt, who happened also to be an enthusiastic patron of pattern coins. [More to come.]

Woodin gave to Republican causes.

Woodin and New York Governors Miller and Smith - Fuel Administrator

After a Declaration of War in 1917, coal shortages developed. Woodrow Wilson created a Federal Fuel Administration to address shortages. The act also created Daylight Savings Time to save fuel.

By 1922, the Federal program was winding down, and Federal involvement in fuel issues became a scandal because of the Teapot Dome disclosures, showing that GOP President Warren Harding's Interior Secretary had enriched two oil barons by turning over to them national oil reserves at a favored price.

New York State was one of many states that decided to continue a program to address fuel shortages, in part because of continuing strikes of coal miners and fuel shortages. New York Republican Governor Nathan Miller in 1922 called for a Fuel Administrator with sweeping powers.

The Fuel Administrator's job was intended to help sort out New York State's priorities and engage in a pragmatic form of rationing among the competing governmental and business interests. In August 1922, the speculation was that Harkness would be the Fuel Administrator for the State. Instead, on September 5 Gov. Miller appointed Will Woodin as Fuel Administrator, under authority conferred by the Legislature the previous week.  While cameras clicked and newspaper men looked on, the Governor signed the commission for Mr. Woodin and handed it to him saying, "You have taken a load off my mind.” Miller personally swore in his choice.

Woodin warned gougers that the ealthy and influential would not get coal at the expense of everyone else. Woodin's determination to use the power of government to stop illegal private hoarding of scarce resources foreshadowed his later role in looking out for the public interest in dealing with the banks as Treasury Secretary in 1933.

Woodin promptly appointed qualified people. In September 1922, the month after he was appointed, Woodin announced the selection of Arthur S. Learoyd of Thorne, Neale & Co. as the administrator of fuels for New York City and Long Island. Learoyd had been Director of Distribution of the Anthracite Division at the Federal Fuel Administration. Both of the other appointees had also been with the Federal Fuel Administration.  At the time of the announcement of Woodin's appointments, Learoyd announced the appointment of his five deputies.

Meanwhile, Woodin was making Democratic friends. When Governor Al Smith replaced Miller in 1923, Woodin was reappointed. Woodin joined FDR in supporting Smith for President in 1928.

Woodin and FDR

The proximity of Woodin to FDR in Manhattan turned out to be important for them both. Woodin supported FDR's Georgia charity, the Warm Springs Foundation. FDR was diagnosed with polio in 1921. He never gave up hope of recovery, and with media cooperation concealed the extent of his paralysis from the public. FDR's involvement with the Warm Springs Foundation in Georgia was partly because he savored the atmosphere and care, and partly because he wanted to share the benefits.

Warm Springs was originally named after the family of Martha Bulloch Roosevelt. It became a popular spa town, because its mineral springs have a constant temperature of nearly 90°F. Patrons were originally Savannah people seeking to avoid yellow fever. They were joined by visitors from Atlanta when a rail link was built to Durand. Three years after FDR was diagnosed with polio, in October 1924, he sought relief by immersion in warm water and what we would today call water aerobics. For the next 21 years he spent much time at Warm Springs. He gave the town its current name and created the Little White House, where he died in 1945, now a public museum.

Woodin worked with FDR on supporting a program of his Warm Springs foundation to provide care for indigent people with polio. He was put on the Board of Trustees and went down to Warm Springs as part of his support. In this way Woodin got to know FDR well. The Warm Springs Foundation has now become the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation.

In 1932, Woodin played an important part in FDR's campaign. At a crucial point, when the enormous deficits of the Warms Springs Foundation threatened to derail FDR's candidacy for the presidency, Woodin stepped in to chair a committee that raised the money to pay off the debts.

After FDR was elected, Woodin continued to call him Governor.

FDR, of course, was to the manner born in 1882, although it was a difficult delivery. The Hyde Park, N.Y. birth did not take place until his mother Sara was in labor with him for more than 24 hours. The doctor gave her some chloroform to calm her, and 45 minutes later, young Franklin arrived, blue and motionless, weighing nearly 10 pounds. FDR was their only child.

The family was comfortably well off from trade and real estate, but was not in the same category as the steel, oil and railway barons. Franklin grew up surrounded with family love, but isolated from his peers. He was taught by private tutors until at 14 he was sent off to Groton. FDR wasn't especially popular, but he made an effort to be appreciated by his teachers.

At Harvard, FDR pursued an active social life - a much different environment from Will Woodin's rural social life or his fraternizing with his nerdy or blue-collar colleagues at the Woodridge School or the School of Mines.

FDR loved to meet new people and was eager to lead. After marrying his cousin Eleanor and graduating from law school, he entered politics in 1910 at the request of some fellow New York Democrats. He was enthusiastic and optimistic.

FDR's avocations included watching cartoons (he especially enjoyed Mickey Mouse), playing cards, and bird-watching. He collected stamps, though hardly with the intensity that Woodin collected coins. For his health he built a pool at the White House and swam regularly.

His social inclinations continued at the White House. Besides formal state dinners, Franklin and Eleanor hosted teas, children's parties, dances, cocktail parties, and game nights. Guest lists were often twice what had been planned for. Last-minute invitations to guests to stay overnight were extended when all the rooms were full.

Like Will Woodin, FDR loved music. He occasionally led sing-alongs, and his birthday parties had friends and family performing comedy skits.

Notes

Manhattan Apartment: David Tripp, Illegal Tender, Free Press, 2004, 23 and 152.
Washington Post interview, March 1933. Inflation calculation: BLS.gov Calculator.

Charlie Miner, Jr.: Interviews in East Hampton and Vero Beach, Fla. and many emails, 2013-2015.

Govs. Miller and Smith - Fuel Administrator: New York Times stories of August 23, 1922 and September 6, 1922 (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C0DEEDB1039EF3ABC4E53DFBF668389639EDE).

He appointed qualified people. Seward's Journal, A Progressive Coal Trade Weekly, Vol. 5, p. 414.

FDR: Background information from Garrison Keillor's biography of FDR in Writer's Almanac. I grew up with a veneration for FDR transmitted by my father, Ervin Ross ("Spike") Marlin, who won a place in FDR's administration in 1933. He got one of 300 places through a competitive examination taken by thousands of applicants. He told me later - "I never felt so rich as when I had a government job in the Depression."

Chapter Outline and Links to Other Chapters.  The bitly link is http://bit.ly/1IapSkA

WOODIN | 3. Jackson & Woodin (Updated July 21, 2016)

This post has been transferred to a private blogsite in anticipation of publication. To obtain access, contact jtmarlin@post.harvard.edu.

WOODIN | 5. Will's Education, Marriage, Politics (Updated Oct. 28, 2016)

The Columbia School of Mines,
1864-1914. It was folded into the
Columbia Engineering School.

William Hartman Woodin, Clement and Mary Louise's only child, was born in Berwick on May 27, 1868.

Clement's son went by many names. In Berwick, where the Woodins were a kind of royalty because almost everyone either worked for them or sold something to them, the two were called "C.R."or "W.H." The custom persists to this day among people who remember working for ACF.

The name I prefer is "Will" because it was used for only one Woodin and is the name used by FDR (whom he called "Governor"), by his wife Nan, and by his music publisher.

Education

Will received his early education in the Berwick elementary schools. At 14, he moved to New York City and entered New York Latin School and then the Woodbridge School at Madison Avenue between 48th and 49th Streets as well as a location at 25 West 119th Street. The sole purpose of the Woodbridge School appears to have been to prepare its students for the Columbia School of Mines, the first U.S. academic program for the management of mines.

The Woodbridge School was named for the mother of Dr. John Woodbridge Davis, the school's Principal. (From medieval days, the most common way of naming academic institutions is after the founder or someone the founder revered.)

Columbia Engineering School,
where the School of Mines
is now located.

Will enrolled in the Columbia University School of Mines after five years, at 19. If he had graduated he would have been in the Class of 1890. He completed his first semester but  did not go back because of a throat problem – an ailment that would recur 45 years later and, combined with the stress of his work, take his life.
He wanted to prepare to be a doctor but his father Clement Woodin insisted that he study mining in order to take over the family firm, as Clement had done for his father. It would turn out to be good career advice, as Will reached the highest level of his industry.

When Will was growing up, Clement Woodin was the chief executive of Jackson & Woodin, a middle-sized railway rolling-stock manufacturer in the company town of Berwick, Pa. Because of the death of Col. Clarence Jackson, Clement was running the company that had been a partnership. As Col. Jackson died with no sons, Clement looked forward to having his son Will become his partner.

Instead of going back to Columbia University, Will courted and won the heart of Annie (Nan) Jessup, daughter of Judge William H. Jessup of Montrose, Pa.

Annie Jessup Woodin

Annie (Nan) Jessup Woodin (1869-1941) was from a family that would be considered in the top rank of the legal and ministerial professions in any country.
 
The earliest Jessups lived in Southampton and East Hampton, N.Y.  A man named Zebulon Jessup (1755-1822) married Zerviah Rhodes Huntting, from the family after which Huntting Lane in East Hampton is named. They had a descendant Major Zebulon Jessup (1816-1865) who is buried in the Southampton Cemetery.

Nan Woodin in 1892.

William Huntting Jessup (1797-1868), Nan's grandfather, was born in Southampton, N.Y. and graduated from Yale in 1815. As the growth of industry created mining jobs in Pennsylvania, he moved in 1818 to Montrose, Pa., near Scranton, read law at a local firm and was admitted to the bar.

William Jessup chaired the Republican party platform committee at its 1860 convention in Chicago. A staunch abolitionist, he can be credited with making sure that the platform called for ending slavery. This became the basis for Abraham Lincoln's campaign for president and can be said to have helped end slavery in the United States. Jessup, Pa., is named in this Jessup's honor. He married Amanda Harris. In 1838 Jessup became the presiding judge of the Eleventh Judicial District of Pennsylvania until 1851. Jessup was selected in 1861 by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to serve as a liaison with the Lincoln White House. The retired judge died in September 1868, having lived to see the end slavery and the granting of full citizenship to freedmen.

A Jessup Family tombstone in the
Southampton, N.Y. Cemetery.

Several of William Jessup's sons went to Yale. Two became Presbyterian missionaries to Syria – Samuel Jessup and Henry Harris Jessup (1831-1910, Yale 1851). William Huntting Jessup Jr. (Yale 1849) became a judge like his father. Judge William H. Jessup appears from records of the Daughters of the American Revolution to have married Sarah Wilson Jay, granddaughter of Lt. Joseph Jay who served in the Revolutionary War. William and Sarah had a daughter they named Annie.

As a sidebar testifying to the distinction of the Jessups in law and the ministry, it is worth noting a few other famous Jessups:

• Nan's uncle Henry Harris Jessup became fluent in Arabic and wrote several books about his missionary work - 53 Years in Syria and The Women of the Arabs, both of which bear looking at again in light of the current war in Syria. He was married three times - to Caroline Bush, daughter of Wynans Bush, MD, three children; Harriet Elizabeth Dodge, daughter of David Stuart Dodge, five children; and Theodosia Davenport Lockwood, with no children surviving to adulthood.
• Henry Harris Jessup had four sons, who attended Princeton, classes of 1886 (two), 1891 and 1897. They would have been first cousins of Will Woodin. It is not clear to me why Henry H. Jessup transferred his allegiance from Yale to Princeton. One can speculate that it was the influence of one of his in-laws or some falling-out with Yale over admissions (has been known to happen).
• One of Henry Harris Jessup's sons, Henry Wynans Jessup, became a Law Professor at NYU; he died in 1986. He would be a second cousin to Will Woodin's four children.
• Henry Wynans Jessup's son Philip Caryl Jessup (1897-1986) attended Hamilton College, graduating in 1919, then Yale Law School 1924. He earned a Ph.D. in International Law from Columbia in 1927. FDR appointed him to UNRRA in 1943, Bretton Woods in 1944 and then Technical Adviser to the United Nations Conference in San Francisco in 1945 (which my father also attended on behalf of the Budget Bureau). Columbia Law School appointed him the Hamilton Fish Professor of International Law in 1946. He was investigated for defending Alger Hiss against Senator Joe McCarthy. President Truman appointed him U.N. Ambassador at Large in 1949-53. He served at the International Court of Justice by U.N. appointment from 1960 to 1969. The popular Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition is named after him. He would be a third cousin to Will and Nan's grandson Charlie Miner, Jr.
• Henry Wynans Jessup's son, Philip C. Jessup Jr., became a Washington lawyer.
• Annie Jessup had three sisters who continued to live in Montrose. One was Mary Louise, who did not marry, and with whom her great-nephew Charlie Miner, Jr. says he played a lot of backgammon.
• The two other sisters married and took the names Leisinger and McCreary. Charlie's mother Mary stayed in touch with them all her life.

Will's Courtship

Annie Jessup, as the daughter of highly regarded Scranton Judge William H. Jessup, was used to attention. The Jessup homestead in Montrose, Pa. was a long way from Berwick, but in those days there was a regular train from Berwick to Wilkes-Barre, Pa. and from there the service to Scranton was frequent. 

Mrs. Woodin appears to have been won over by Will's music. In 1933 she told a reporter, who was interviewing her as the wife of the newly appointed Treasury Secretary, that she  likes to attend concerts, but 43 years after her marriage, she still "much prefers to sit at home in the evening and listen to her husband play his guitar. She remembers when he came wooing with a violin."

Charlie Miner told me his grandfather wooed his grandmother in the romantic orchard in the back of the house. Charlie's son found a poem that appears to have been written to Annie by Will during their courtship days. It refers to the orchard as a trysting spot.

                 TO ANNIE
Dig in the depths of any soul,Beneath the tangled skein of life,You'll find a memory ever sweet.You'll find an altar at whose feetThe wearied heart, alone, harrassed,Worships the memory of the past. 

There is a memory clings to meAn hallowed spot from trouble free;The green of an old orchard dear to me,Our trysting spot, sweet scented. Howe'erGnarled, leafy tree, our courtship bower.No greater hope, no sweeter faceThan thine adorned with every graceWhose welcome wanted, made the place. 

Thy dear face, ever calm and sweet,Oh may it never fail to greetMy home return to each retreat.As years along their courses flowOh! May it always greet me so,As in the orchard long ago. 

Marriage

Will and Annie Jessup, who would become known as Nan, were married on October 9, 1889.

Will had a great sense of humor. His new wife’s family included many strait-laced Presbyterians with missionary zeal. Down-to-earth Will couldn’t wait to puncture their self-righteousness. His granddaughter Anne Harvey Gerli told me this story:

When cousins of Nan paid her a visit at “The Heights” in Berwick for the first time, the Woodins’ coachman picked them up at the Berwick train station and dropped them off at the front door to be met inside by Nan. After being greeted, the cousins nervously suggested to her that the Woodins might consider hiring a new coachman because he, ahem, reeked of alcohol, drove erratically and was rude. (At the time, Berwick was actually a dry town thanks to the Methodist and Presbyterian leaders of the town, including Will's father Clement, who went so far as to buy out the saloons to ensure that alcohol would not be sold.) Will joined them later and expressed deep sympathy, but Nan was puzzled because they didn’t have a coachman. In fact the “coachman” was Will, dressed up, playing a trick on his proper new in-laws.

European Trip

Annie Jessup ("Nan") Woodin, c.
1933. Photo courtesy of Charlie 
Miner, Jr.

Possibly as a wedding present or as a promised incentive for joining the family business, Will Woodin’s father gave him $10,000 to spend, hoping his son would invest it wisely and set him on a path of prudence. Instead, Will used the money to travel in Europe.

He loved the fantasy world of Rider Haggard. When he realized that becoming a doctor was out of reach, he considered the jobs of a newspaperman and a composer of songs and marches. Fortunately for his family, his respect for familial duty called him back to the business that made him very wealthy.

He spent the money his father had given him ostensibly to write articles on Armenia’s plight during the waning days of the Ottoman Empire. But he had a great interest in gypsy music and family lore is that he spent some time living with and learning the music of gypsies.

Although he returned to the family anthill in Berwick, Will’s musical and writing talent disposed him to be a cricket. After his marriage he voyaged to Europe and the Near East to report for the New York Herald and other papers on Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II’s killing of Armenians, foreshadowing later mass killings. His granddaughter Anne Gerli tells the story from Nan’s perspective:

Nan was jealous of Will’s love of music and resented his going off to Europe to play music with the gypsies. The family recalled him early because his father and the business were ailing. He dutifully hurried home to help out in the business and support his family.

The business conditions that generated the 1893 Panic and ensuing Depression doubtless played a part in Will's father's appeal for his son to come home.

At any rate he was called back, through a combination of appeals from his newly wed wife about her loneliness and appeals from his father that he was sick and the business was hurting - in part because of the difficulties of meeting payrolls during the frequent financial panics in the late 19th Century.

Three years after Will Woodin returned from Europe, Clement Woodin decided he was too sick to continue running Jackson & Woodin. His partner Col. Jackson had died in 1880. Since Jackson's death, Clement had been running the company for 14 years, and Clement felt he couldn't continue. In those days, factory smoke was associated with productivity, progress and prosperity. Today, we are more aware that it also meant pollution. The fact that Clement built a residence, "The Heights",  above the smoke of the valley where the plant was located may help explain his recovery and eventual long life. Whatever the reasons, Clement and Mary Woodin lived on until the 1930s, dying just a few years before their son.

Will Woodin took over Jackson & Woodin from his father in 1894. Five years later the company was rolled up into American Car & Foundry - ACF - with Will Woodin stayed for three years in charge of the Berwick plant before he headed up to New York to apprentice as assistant to the President of ACF. 

Charlie Miner, Jr., remembers going back to Montrose.

I had asthma at five years old [1926] and for several years my mother [Mary Woodin Miner] took me to her mother's home in the summer, in Montrose, Pa., to get "better air" [Montrose is 1,400 feet above sea level.] From Montrose we would drive to Berwick and visit my Woodin grandparents. They had a tennis court. What I liked most about The Heights was the large farm on the property, on the side of the mountain. We would go there to buy vegetables and so forth.

[Follow-on question: Any idea when people started worrying about "bad air" - i.e., air pollution? Was Will Woodin's asthma possibly caused by the air in Berwick, back when people didn't know that the fumes from a foundry furnace were not good for one's health?]

In Montrose, Miner says, there weren't a lot of choices of activities.

I used to caddy at the golf course in Montrose for 10 cents a hole [do I have the amount right??-JTM]. To go swimming we would drive to a lake where we had a cabin. I had a boat with an Evinrude motor and use to race my neighbor Quadcotost [sp?], who had a Johnson-powered motorboat. My motor once fell off the boat and I remember people dragging a chain through the bottom of the lake to recover my motor. My mother and I went to Montrose in the summer for five years [1926-1931] and then my asthma got better. One of the things I did in Montrose was play backgammon with Aunt [Sarah] Louise Jessup, my grandma's sister that never married, when she was there. We also played backgammon a lot when she was in New York City. I remember being 13 when Aunt Louise was 95. She had been a Presbyyterian missionary along with her brothers in Syria. The Jessups created Jessup Hall there – it became a university. She was a constant companion of my grandma and my mother. Other relatives we visited were cousins - the children of grandma's sisters or nieces, the Leisenrings and McCrearys. The Leisenring parents died in 1923 and 1926. Their children continued to visit and one of them married a McCreary, and they had in turn had children we saw a lot.

I asked Miner how religious his parents were compared with their parents.

They were all staunch Presbyterians. My grandma's family were Presbyterian missionaries in Syria. My mother [Mary Woodin Miner] wanted to go to Syria as a missionary as well but her parents wouldn't let her. Grandpa and Grandma gave money to the Presbyterian churches in New York and East Hampton. Grandma gave a prayer rug to the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church and always checked to find out if it was in the window on display.

Nan Woodin as Homemaker 

Nan Woodin made clear through her actions that she was much more interested in being a wife and mother and grandmother than in being a public person - whether as the wife of the top corporate leader or as the wife of a Cabinet Secretary. She was interviewed by a newspaper reporter soon after Will's appointment as Treasury Secertary. The story, on March 11, described Nan as follows:

Mrs. Woodin, who has humorous blue eyes, fluffy white hair, and a shy reserve, was married 43 years ago. ... She is fond of playing backgammon with him. ... She and her husband used to ride and golf together. Those activities are off their program now, but she still excels as a fisherwoman. ...

But she does not like formal entertaining. She will fulfill her social duties in Washington with the minimum amount of formality.

The story notes that the Woodins' eldest daughter Mary was living with her parents in the apartment  along with her two children, Anne and Charlie Miner. The story goes on:

Mrs. Woodin's hobby consists in collecting Staffordshire china. She is interested in unemployment and missionary activities of the Woman's Association of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. She is also occupied with her duties as an active member of the Colonial Dames and the D. A. R.

The wife of the new Treasury head is noted for her poise, serenity, and sympathetic interest in other people's problems. She never grows angry, her husband says. She doesn't make speeches or write books but she is interested in history and biography.

She has been abroad many times. As her three daughters [Mary, also known as   "Perky"; Annie Jessup or "Anne"; and Elizabeth or "Libby"] finished their courses at Dobbs Ferry, she took them to Europe, one by one.

There are feminine touches about the Woodin apartment. The maid wears an orchid uniform. Roses fill the bowls and vases. The library is carpeted, in rich soft blue, and the velvet draperies catch the same rich shades. The personality of the woman who prefers home life to public life is manifested everywhere.

Just at first the Woodin family will live in a hotel at Washington. Later they will take a house. 

Besides Mary Miner and her two children, one of whom survives, the story mentions "four other" grandchildren. Two of these would have been the two children of Wally and Libby Rowe, one of whom survives. The other two would be Anne Harvey Gerli and and William Woodin III.  

Annie Jessup ("Nan") Woodin, born March 3, 1867, died on May 17, 1941 at 74, seven years after her husband. (Will Woodin, his parents and wife all died within a ten-year period, 1931-1941.)  She died in Atherton (San Mateo County), California, at her son Willy's home in California. She is entombed near her husband in the Woodin mausoleum in Berwick.

A Note on the Jessup Family

JESSUP, ZEBULON, generation5, Major. Ancestors Dea Thomas gen4 Henry gen3 John gen2 (came from England) gen1. While there is no record of his having removed from LI yet, he served in the 3d Line G 46 having previously served in Col Smith's Regt G 7. The title Major probably came after the Revolutionary War. He signed the Association in 1775, H 12. He loaned money to the State of N.Y. in the Revolution, Spt p. 195. He was b. Sept 15 1755 m. Dec 6, 1780 Zerviah Huntting d. June 8, 1822. Among his eight children was:

Jessup, William, gen6, b June 21 1797 graduated at Yale College in 1815 and removed to Montrose Pa in 1818 where he was a Judge of the Susquehanna County Court. In 1848 Hamilton College gave him the degree of LL D. He returned to the practice of the law, one of his notable cases being the defense of Rev. Albert Barnes before the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church on the charge of heresy. Judge Jessup m July 4 1820 Amanda Harris d. Sept 11, 1868.

Their children were Jessup, William H, 7 below Jane 7 Mary 7 Harriet 7 Rev Henry H, 7 below Samuel 7 a Missionary in Syria d June 1912 Fanny 7 Phebe Ann 7George A 7 and Huntting 7Mrs WH McCartney, Phebe Ann 7 m Sept 11 1861 Hon Alfred Hand of Scranton Pa He was a son of Ezra 7 Hand Shed Apr 25 1872 See Hand See Addenda I 16  7 Apr 25 1872.

Jessup, Judge William Huntting, gen7, b Jan 29 1830 graduated from Yale in 1849 and taught in the Montrose Pa Academy. He began the practice of law and was County Judge of Susquehanna Co for several terms. He m Oct 5 1853 Sarah Wilson Jay, b 1834 d Jan 16 1902. 

Their six children were (Name, age in 1870, year of birth) Jessup, Lillian Jay gen8, age15, 1855 - married Leisenring - see belowJessup, William Henry gen8 age11 1859 - married Stotesbury - see below Jessup, Mary Chandler gen8 age9,1861 - married Jessup, George Scranton C gen8 age8 1862 Jessup, [Sarah] Louise gen8 age6 1864 - didn’t marry. Jessup, Annie gen8 age3 1867 - married Woodin see below Their servants in the 1870 Census were Silas Perkins 60 1810 . James B Simmons 47 1823 .Joshua H Corwin 27 1843 . James Baldwin 43 1827 . James Zerfass 21 1849 .William H Dennis 23 1847 .Cecelia Kearney 27 1843.

Jessup, Lillian Jay, gen8, m May 25 1883 Albert C Leisenring 

Their children were Leisenring, Mary P 9 b July 9 1884 m in 1910 William H McCreary  Leisenring, Sarah Louise 9 b July 21 1885  Leisenring, William Jessup 9 b Apr 27 1888 and  Leisenring, Albert C Jr 9 b June 16 1894 

Jessup, William Henry, gen8, a lawyer in Scranton Pa., m Oct 21 1890 Lucy Stotesbury 

Their children were Jessup, William H 9 b Oct 15 1891  Jessup, James M 9 b Dec 23 1893 and  Jessup, Christine K 9 b Dec 26 1894 

Jessup, Annie, gen8, m. Oct. 9 1889 William H [Will] Woodin of Berwick, Pa. and NY City. 

Their children were Woodin, Mary L [Perky] 9 b Nov 1 1891, m. Charlie Miner Sr.Woodin, Annie J [Anne] 9 b Apr 10 1894, m. Olin Harvey Woodin, William H [Willy] Jr 9 b May 14 1899, m. Carolyne Hyde Woodin, Elizabeth H [Libby] 9 b Jan 29 1901, m. Wally Rowe.

Jessup, Rev Henry H gen7 DD b Apr 19 1832 d Apr 28 1910 m 1-Bush m 2-Harriet E Dodge of NY City m 3-Theodosia of Binghamton NY. He was a Missionary in Beirut 54 years.

Their children were Anna H 8 and Rev William DD 8 Missionary in Syria Henry W 8 below Stuart D 8 a physician in NY D 8 m Prof Alfred E Day of the Syrian Protestant College 8 m Rev Paul Erdman Missionary in Syria Ethel H 8 m Dr Frank of the Syrian Protestant College and Rev Frederick N 8, Tabriz Persia.

Jessup, Henry W gen8 m Mary Hay Stotesbury

Their children were Herbert gen9, b in 1891; Theodore Carrington gen9, b in 1892; John Butler in 1894; Philip Caryl gen9, b in 1897 and Richard Stotesbury gen9, b in 1907. Mr William Henry Jessup Also Mr Henry W Jessup 

Sources: Ancestry.com, Jessup board, book by Jessup.

Woodin Runs for Congress

This section has been written but is not yet posted. But here is a campaign quilt:

Quilt from Woodin's 1898 Campaign for Congress.

End Notes

The Name Will: Suzanne Phipps Hyatt, e-mail of May 6, 2015, saying that her mother told her that Nan called her husband Will. FDR: News story, citation to come.

Woodbridge School. Naming, from medieval days - see John Tepper Marlin, Oxford Today, Michaelmas issue 2015.

Columbia School of Mines: The Wikipedia entry on Woodin and the Federal Reserve Gateway biography both incorrectly say Woodin graduated in 1890. One possible source of confusion is Will Woodin's biography in the Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia  and Montour Counties, p. 489 (http://bit.ly/1FIrpfB), which implies that Woodin finished his course and graduated. Two sources get it right–The Miller Center at U.Va. and David Tripp in Illegal Tender; they say that Will left before finishing. I wrote to Robert Hornsby rh2239@columbia.edu and Jessica Reyes jr3533@columbia.edu, asking if they could settle this. A response came back from Stephanie Rodriguez sr2507@columbia.edu: "William Hartman Woodin Jr. ... attended the School of Mines from Oct. 1887 – Jan. 1888 [one semester only] but did not graduate from Columbia University." She is Media Relations Coordinator, Office of Communications and Public Affairs, Columbia University, 402 Low Library, 535 West 116^th Street, New York, NY 10027, 212-854-7425.

Jessup Family: Records of the Daughters of the American Revolution. 

Nan Woodin: Story is from the Washington Post.

Candidate for Congress: Michael J. Dubin (1998) United States Congressional Elections, 1788-1997: The Official Results of the Elections of the 1st Through 105th Congresses, McFarland and Company. ISBN 978-0786402830. pp. 327, 329.

ACF: American Car & Foundry Company, statement of Incorporation, 1899 - the company is organized under the laws of the State of New Jersey. Thanks to Frank Evina of Mocanaqua, Pa., for sending me a copy of this document, relating to the formation of ACF. It was a worrisome year for the Berwick workers of Jackson & Woodin, who were concerned that their plant might be closed or curtailed. Among those who were concerned, says Evina, were his father and grandfather.

More: More about the Woodin Family here - short version, if you are typing, http://bit.ly/1IapSkA. If you can add or correct something, e-mail me at jtmarlin@post.harvard.edu. 

Links to Chapters:  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  7  8  9  10  11  12  13 14 15 App. A  App. B

Jackson Family Graves (Superseded)

This post has been merged with 3 - Jackson & Woodin. This post is maintained to preserve links.

Woodin Cornerstones (Superseded)

This has been merged with Chapter 14 - Woodin's Legacies

10. The Elections of 1928 and 1930, and the Crash of 1929

Will Woodin was deeply involved in 1928 in the campaign for Al Smith for President and the campaign for FDR for Governor of NY State. He was also involved in FDR's re-election campaign in 1930. Between these two elections was the Crash of 1929. That made a huge difference.

The Presidential Campaign of 1928

Al Smith and John Raskob, 1928.

Governor Alfred E. Smith, a Catholic and a “wet” with backing from Tammany Hall in 1928 opposed  Herbert Hoover, a Quaker professing belief in traditional American individualism and self-help but who was in fact an admirer of Theodore Roosevelt, and favored a regulated economy including regulation of alcohol.

Will Woodin wrote a letter to the Union League Club in 1928 that while he still considered himself a Republican, he was supporting Al Smith.

This letter was widely distributed by John J. Raskob of General Motors who served as the Chairman of the National Democratic Committee. Raskob set a $3 million target for the election, give or take $500,000, and came close to raising it.

Raskob was the most vocal Wall Streeter in 1928. He was vice president of both Du Pont and of General Motors and a director of the County Trust Co. and Bankers Trust Co. Gov. Smith strong-armed Raskob into becoming Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Democratic Party. Raskob also gave more to the campaign than anyone else, more than $350,000.

Of all of the people close to FDR, Raskob was the strongest advocate of government spending and industrial leadership, along with Bernard Baruch and Pierre Du Pont. They worried about the economy and wanted a program of public investment in infrastructure. That became FDR's National Recovery Act.

Wall Street directors gave $1.9 million to the Al Smith 1928 Presidential campaign, out of a total raised of $2.36 million, short of Raskob’s $3 million goal. Of all Al Smith for President campaign funds, 79 percent came from Wall Street directors.

Within the Wall Street contingent, the County Trust Company directors, of which Al Smith was one, were the source of an extraordinarily large percentage of Democratic primary campaign funds. Note several Irish names on the list below.

Big Gifts to Al Smith in the 1928 Dem Primary by County Trust Directors

Astor, Vincent, Great Northern Railway, U.S. Trust Co.                 $10,000
Cullman, Howard S., VP, Cullman Brothers                                      $6,500
Fitzgerald, William J.                                                                          $6,000
Kelly, Edward J.                                                                                   $6,000
Kenny, William F., Aviation Corp., Chrysler Corp.                           $275,000
Lehman, Arthur, Lehman Bros., American International Corp., RKO $ 14,000
Meehan, M.J., Meehan 61 Broadway [missing]
Mooney, Daniel J.                                                                               $150,000
Raskob, John J., American Intl. Corp., Bankers Trust, Du Pont, GM $360,000
Riordan, James J.                                                                                   $10,000
Total                                                                                                     $842,000

In the general election, the amounts were greater, and Will Woodin chipped in enough to get himself noticed.

Contributors of $25,000+ to Democratic National Committee, 1928 
Lehman, Herbert H., family, Lehman Bros. and Studebaker Corp. $135,000
Raskob, John J., VP of Du Pont and General Motors                     $110,000
Ryan, Thomas F., Bankers Mortgage Co., Houston                         $75,000
Whitney, Harry Payne, Guaranty Trust                                            $50,000
Du Pont, Pierre S., Du Pont Company, General Motors                  $50,000
Baruch, Bernard M. Baruch, Financier                                            $37,590
Clark, Robert Sterling, Singer Sewing Machine Co.                       $35,000
Ryan, John D., National City Bank, Anaconda Copper                  $27,000
Woodin, William H., General Motors Board                                  $25,000

Woodin's entire gift came early. Only a dozen people had given $25,000 or more as of October 6, 1928, and the largest gift was $50,000. The higher amounts must have come from additional gifts to the DNC in the last weeks of the campaign.

Hoover's Campaign

Herbert Hoover was a prominent supporter of Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party and was not the laissez-faire advocate that he is remembered as and sometimes portrayed himself. Hoover challenged the laissez-faire view that labor is a commodity, with wages to be governed by laws of supply and demand.” Hoover said:

The economic philosophy of laissez faire, or dog eat dog, died in the United States 40 years ago when Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Sherman Anti-Trust Acts.

As Secretary of Commerce, Hoover pushed for government cartelization of business and for trade associations, regulated the radio industry, while the courts were working on a system of private property rights in radio frequencies.

Hoover raised $3.5 million, about 51.4 per cent of which came from within a mile of Wall Street. Contributions to the Republican National Committee in 1928 include the Guggenheim family, Copper smelting, $75,000; and the Mellon and Rockefeller families, $50,000 each. The following gave $25,000 each: Eugene Meyer, Federal Reserve Bank; William Nelson Cromwell, Wall Street attorney; Otto Kahn, Equitable Trust Company; Mortimer Schiff, Banker.

The 1928 Ballot Results

Herbert Hoover won by more than 21 million votes to Smith's 15 million. Despite unenthusiastic Wall Street treatment, Hoover appointed many Wall Streeters to his committees and boards.

Herbert Hoover was elected for two reasons:

• the United States was prosperous, and
• the southern and western states feared Al Smith's Catholicism.

The picture changed completely within a year, and Al Smith's successor as Governor of New York would be a more formidable challenger to Hoover than Smith. 

In 1928, Herbert Hoover campaigned on the theme of prosperity and efficiency, and Al Smith was tainted with being from Tammany New York and being Catholic and being a "wet". Hoover won with 58 percent of the vote and a 444-87 majority in the electoral college. However, it was clear that urban voters were growing fast, which meant that being "wet" might mean winning. (A cartoon of the period has Smith after the election calling the Vatican, with the one word comment: "Unpack.")

The 1929 Crash

The Depression of 1929-1933 ended with FDR's
 New Deal. The Recession of 1937-1938, resulted
from a weakening of the New Deal.

Understanding the causes of the Depression is vital to avoid repeating the mistakes the nation made in the 1920s.

The stock market crash of October 29, 1929 ("Black Tuesday") can't be "the cause" of the Great Depression, because the Bureau of Economic Analysis at the U.S. Department of Commerce dates the beginning of the Depression back to August 1929, lasting three years and seven months.

Starting with FDR's term, the economy recovered continually from the 26.7 percent decline in the economy since August 1929, until a recession occurred from May 1937 to June 1938, when the economic decline was 18.2 percent.

The second downturn was precipitated by lower profits, and by misguidedly tight fiscal and monetary policies.

So... the stock market crash occurred two months after the Depression started. Since the Depression started before the crash, something else was at work. The crash of the New York Stock Exchange is not a cause of anything. It is an indicator of the valuations of investors.

The cause of the Depression must be sought in the excessively high valuations placed on stocks in the late 1920s, and the reason for the high level of speculation, i.e., borrowed money. The reliance of investors on debt subject to margin calls increased the riskiness of the stock market and added to the intensity of the revaluation of stock prices.

The $40 billion loss by investors in two months doesn't sound like a lot in today's stock market. It is more meaningful to say that the 1929 high value of all stocks on the New York Stock Exchange was $87 billion and this valuation fell to $19 billion in 1933 - a drop of 78 percent. More than three-fourths of the value of listed stocks was wiped out.

One of the sources of the Great Depression is the instability of the banking system and therefore of the stock market that depended on it and the national economy that depended on both. Some people attribute the Great Depression to bank failures. The problem in making bank failures the cause of the Depression is  the timing. For A to cause B, A must precede B. The Depression is dated 1929-1933. There were no bank failures between 1926 and 1929 (see chart).

Bank failures virtually ended in 1933 with passage of the Glass-
Steagall Act, which created the FDIC and separated banking
 from more speculative financial activities.

The largest number of bank failures were the result of stress tests (bank examinations) by the Treasury's Comptroller of the Currency, in 1933, after the previously cited March 1933 end of the Depression.

There were bank failures in 1925, but that's a long time before the onset of the Depression and a lot of growth occurred in the late 1920s. 

An underlying problem was the belief by depositors that they should be able to convert their deposits into gold or currency without limit. But the attempt to do so made banks illiquid and insolvent.

Printing greenback dollars that were not backed by gold or silver was no longer controversial. It had been problematic when Lincoln did it to pay the Union Army, but by 1929 paper dollars were well established.

However, in the 1920s, depositors were still of the belief that some or all of their deposits were backed by gold or silver. Some of the dollars were marked "gold certificates" with a yellow color on a part of the bill to indicate their special status. Some depositors still believed that if they asked for it they would be entitled to redemption of their money in gold.

In fact, what started to happen in the 1920s and especially in the early 1930s, is that banks could not redeem demand deposits even with paper money. They were out of cash. Relatively few were insolvent, but many were illiquid. The fear that a bank could fail and depositors could lose their money was a basic underlying flaw in the banking system, leading to "runs on banks". So...

• Bank failures were not the cause of the Depression - they were a symptom of problems in the banking system that contributed to the Depression. As Warren Buffett has said: "Only when the tide goes out do you find out who is not wearing a bathing suit.”
• Bank failures occurred mostly before FDR was inaugurated in March 1933. The banks that were closed following the March "bank holiday" by the Treasury's Comptroller of the Currency were already insolvent.
• Bank deposits were uninsured only until 1933. Starting in 1933, the Glass-Steagall law created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, insuring most deposits and virtually ending bank closings. In 1934, only 57 banks closed, and after that the FDIC's guarantee and oversight was enough.

Fundamental Speculation: Real Estate Speculation

Friedman and Schwartz, Monetary 
History of the United States, 1963

In the 1950s, the cause of the Great Depression was attributed simply to 1920s over-speculation in real estate, with Florida as the poster state.

 Subsequently, monetarist economists have put the blame on blunders by the Federal Reserve System, which was adrift after the death in 1928 of its able New York Bank President, Benjamin Strong.

Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz demonstrated that the Fed was selling government securities instead of buying them, taking liquidity out of the financial system and keeping interest rates too high in the 1930s.

However, making the Fed the culprit may have contributed to a complacent feeling that the Fed knows so much now that the Depression couldn't happen again. The problems of the Japanese financial system since 1990 have been brushed off (e.g., by former Fed Governor Larry Meyer) as indicators that the Japanese response to a downturn was just too slow and too timid.

Polly Cleveland has recently reasserted the older version of the story, namely that the Depression was primarily a reaction to the 1920's real estate bubble. Speculation began with the production of cars in 1899, which grew exponentially (with just a two-year interruption for World War I) until a peak of 4 million cars in 1929. The improved transportation system opened up real estate for home-building, as did the building of subways and commuter railroads.

The auto suddenly opened up vast suburban and rural areas to housing. Developers—legitimate and bogus—leapt at the opportunity. Banks jumped in too, creating so-called "shoestring mortgages", effectively allowing property purchases on margin. Within a few years, tens of thousands of acres around major cities had been subdivided and sold. In rural areas, developers bought up farms, dug a pond, built a "clubhouse" and sold cheap "vacation" lots. As reported in Homer Hoyt's classic One Hundred Years of Land Values in Chicago, from 1918 to 1926, Chicago’s population increased 35 percent and land values rose 150 percent, or about 12 percent a year.

Land values tapered off in 1926, then fell. After 1929, home construction and car production collapsed. In Chicago, by 1933 land values had fallen some 70 percent overall; peripheral areas fell even more. U.S. auto production did not regain the 4 million level until 1949. Housing production did not pass the 1926 peak until 1950. Cleveland continues:

Around Detroit, more than 95 percent of recorded lots were vacant as of 1938. Nationally, the number of vacant lots rose to 20-30 million, compared with about 30 million occupied housing units. According to economic historian Alex Field, the barren subdivisions ringing the cities hindered the recovery of construction: Missing titles of defaulted owners and poor physical layout created de facto brownfields. The real estate bubble helped set off and then worsen the Depression. Collapsing land values left people suddenly much poorer, so they cut spending. They also defaulted on mortgages, sticking the banks with "toxic" assets: liens on near-worthless property. The struggling banks in turn cut off lending even to good customers. Bank runs—panicky depositors withdrawing cash—further crippled the banking system.

Cleveland compares the innovation of the automobile with the innovation of collateralized debt obligations. Both started off innocently enough (securitization of housing debt was a good idea when properly monitored), but ended up setting off destructive real estate bubbles. What we have found out is that because of a watering down of the Glass-Steagall Act, the downside of the business cycle became in the early 21st century no more under control than it was in the 1920s.

The New York State Campaign of 1930

As is usual, in 1930 corporate money went to the incumbent, FDR. Hugh Johnson, later the Administrator of Roosevelt's NRA, went through a training program in the 1920s under Bernard Baruch's tutelage and persuaded FDR to propose greater investment in infrastructure. The Raskob speeches of September and October 1928 in the Al Smith campaign were the start of Roosevelt's NRA, which was essentially a plan for a greater government role in industrial planning and a partnership with business for the purpose of investment.

Bernard Baruch outlined the NRA plan on May 1, 1930 in a speech at Boston. It included the regulatory framework, codes, enforcement, and the carrot of welfare for the workers. Baruch's speech contains the core of his proposals. His reference point was the War Industries Board of 1918.

The first phase was financing the costs related to the New York State Democratic Convention.

Contributors to the Pre-Convention Expenses of FDR ($3,500+ ), 1930
Edward Flynn, Director of Bronx County Safe Deposit Co.                           $21,500
W.H. Woodin, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Remington Arms Co.    $20,000
Frank C. Walker, Boston Financier                                                                  $15,000
Joseph Kennedy                                                                                               $10,000
Lawrence A. Steinhardt, Guggenheim, Untermeyer & Marshall                    $8,500
Henry Morgenthau                                                                                           $8,000
F.J. Matchette                                                                                                 $6,000
Lehman family, Lehman Brothers                                                                  $6,000
Dave H. Morris                                                                                                 $5,000
Sara Roosevelt                                                                                                 $5,000
Guy P. Helvering                                                                                                 $4,500
H.M. Warner,  Director, Motion Picture Producers & Distributors of America $4,500
James W. Gerard,  Financier                                                                               $3,500
Total                                                                                                                 $117,500

Once FDR was the nominee again of his party, the State Democratic Party swung into action.

The chief fundraiser in FDR's 1930 gubernatorial reelection campaign was Howard Cullman, Commissioner of the Port of New York and a director of the County Trust Company, which had an extraordinarily large interest in FDR's reelection. Besides Howard Cullman, the major contributors to FDR's campaign who were also directors of the County Trust Company included Alfred Lehman, Alfred  E. (Al) E. Smith, Vincent Astor, John Raskob, Dan Riordan, William F. Kenny.

Other prominent business leaders, mostly Wall Streeters, financing FDR's 1930 campaign were the Morgenthau family (with the Lehmans, the heaviest contributors); Gordon Rentschler, president of the National City Bank and director of the International Banking Corporation; Cleveland Dodge, director of the National City Bank and the Bank of New York; Caspar Whitney; August Heckscher of the Empire Trust Company; Nathan S. Jones of Manufacturers Trust Company; William Woodin of Remington Arms Company; Ralph Pulitzer; and the Warburg family.

U.S. Mid-Term Election Returns, 1930

The 1930 United States midterm elections were held on November 4, 1930. Hoover and the Republican Party suffered substantial losses. It was the first time since 1918 that Democrats controlled either chamber of Congress.

In the House, the Republicans lost 52 seats to the Democratic Party. The Republicans still maintained a one-seat majority, but after losing a few special elections because of the death of Republican members before the start of the new Congress, the Democrats took control with a one-seat majority.

In the Senate, the Republicans lost eight seats to the Democrats, but were able to maintain a one-seat majority.

Notes

Woodin Wrote a Letter to the Union League Club: AP Story, as printed in Port Arthur News (Tex.), July 26, 1928.

Contributions to Smith and Hoover Campaigns: Louise Overacker, Money in Elections (New York: Macmillan, 1932), p. 155. Directory of Directors in the City of New York 1929-1930. The Steiwer Committee - United States Congress, Senate Special Committee investigating Presidential campaign expenditures, Presidential Campaign Expenditures, Report Pursuant to S. Res. 234, February 25 (Calendar Day, February 28), 1929, 70th Congress, 2nd session, Senate Rept. 2024 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1929). Freidel, The Ordeal. AP Story, "$1,570,628 in Party Chest," October 6, 1928 (as printed in the Syracuse Herald, p. 1). Steven Lomazow, M.D. and Eric Fettman, FDR’s Deadly Secret, Public Affairs, 2009.

Hoover's Views: The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Cabinet and the Presidency 1920-1923 (London: Hollis and Carter, 1952), p. 300. Book by Murray Rothbard.

The Crash of 1929, Causes of the Depression. Martin Kelly in his  "Causes of the Great Depression" makes the Crash of 1929 the cause of the Depression; but what caused the Crash, and why is the beginning of the Depression dated before the Crash?

Dating of the Depression: The Great Depression is dated by the beginning of negative growth in U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is a measure of all goods and services produced during a year. Business cycles are dated by an independent Business Cycle Dating Committee, also known as the "Wise Men", though not in recent years composed solely of men. It reports through the National Bureau of Economic Research. The Committee is generally considered to date the Great Depression by two quarterly declines in GDP, although it is on record as preferring to keep its daing options open.

NRA: John T. Flynn, "Whose Child is the NRA?" Harper's Magazine, Sept. 1932, pp. 84-5. Hugh S. Johnson, The Blue Eagle from Egg to Earth (New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1935), pp. 116, 140-41, 156-57. The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt; Vol. 1, The Genesis of the New Deal, 1928-1932 (New York: Random House, 1938), p. 632.