Unlike his successors Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, Herbert Hoover is often remembered for what he didn't do during his tenure in the White House. In particular, Hoover has taken his share of knocks for supposedly failing to marshal the nation's legislative forces against the Great Depression. While it's true that Hoover viewed the business community as the primary engine of America's economic revival, he did help devise a number of initiatives that aimed to speed the end of the Depression. Case in point: on this day in 1931, Hoover urged leaders of various nations to suspend payment of international debts and reparations for the next year. The moratorium was intended as a precautionary measure: with the recent demise of a major Austrian bank, Hoover feared that the international economy was on the brink of a nasty slump that would only worsen the United State's woes. The international community readily acceded to Hoover's wishes and by July the freeze was in effect. But, though Hoover's moratorium initially helped restore confidence in the world's various markets and economies, its healing powers were short-lived: that fall, Great Britain abandoned the global economy, shattering most nation's fragile faith in the international economy.
source: http://www.history.com/
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