In this weekend's Wall Street Journal, ($?) Douglas Irwin and Amity Shlaes write about the essential role of Cordell Hull in promoting free trade in the 1930s and 1940s, with lessons for today. Irwin is a professor of economics at Dartmouth, just across the river from Vermont (does that make him an almost Vermonter?) and Shlaes was a speaker at the Vermont Tiger symposium last fall.
Hull believed that trade was one of the best ways to prevent a repeat of the carnage of World War I. He wrote: "Though realizing that many other factors were involved, I reasoned that, if we could get a freer flow of trade -- freer in the sense of fewer discriminations and obstructions -- so that one country would not be deadly jealous of another, and the living standards of all countries might rise, thereby eliminating the economic dissatisfaction that breeds war, we might have a reasonable chance for lasting peace."
Hull convinced Roosevelt to reduce trade barriers and undo the notorious Smoot Hawley Tariff of 1930, which contributed to the severity of the Great Depression. Alas,
Hull's efforts to reduce trade barriers were not a big success in his day. Then, as now, Democrats were divided in their support for freer trade. With Europe heading toward war, the secretary of state's initiatives were too little too late.
Ultimately, Hull's work toward promoting freer trade and greater international cooperation would win him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1945.
With the collapse of the Doha Round of trade negoations, it's worth remembering that it takes courageous, visionary, and thoughtful political leaders to advocate for sound economic policies.
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