Editing Reconstruction Finance Corporation (section)

==History==
In 1931, amidst the high rates of [[bank failure]], [[deflation]], and unemployment that characterized the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]] in the United States, [[Federal Reserve]] board member [[Eugene Meyer (financier)|Eugene Meyer]] proposed the establishment of a government agency empowered to make loans to banks and businesses in critical sectors of the US economy. Modeled after the [[War Finance Corporation]], a [[State-owned enterprise|government corporation]] that financially supported industries critical to the war effort during World War I, its purpose would be to stimulate economic growth in the United States and restore public confidence in banking and the economy. It would replace the [[National Credit Corporation]], an agency created in 1931 to restore the [[Market liquidity#Banking|liquidity]] of banks on the brink of failure with loans funded by the [[interbank lending market]].

On January 22, 1932, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation Act was signed into law by President [[Herbert Hoover]] after being passed by Congress with broad bipartisan support.<ref>Gue, 2013.</ref> The Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) began its operations on February2, 1932.<ref>{{cite document |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=June 23, 1936 |title=The Democratic National Convention of 1936 |publisher=[[1936 Democratic National Convention]] |pages=393 |doi= }}</ref> Like the Federal Reserve, the RFC would loan to banks, but it was designed to serve state-chartered banks and small banks in rural areas that were not part of the Federal Reserve System. Another distinction was that the RFC could make loans on the basis of [[Collateral (finance)|collateral]] that the Federal Reserve and other lenders would not accept. The related [[Glass-Steagall Act of 1932|Banking Act of 1932]], signed on February 27, broadened the Federal Reserve's lending powers, and gave it the power to make national policy to mitigate the problems with the economy. [[Eugene Meyer (financier)|Eugene Meyer]], who had pushed for both pieces of legislation, after heading up an organization similar to the RFC during [[World War I]], was a governor of the Federal Reserve, and chairman of the Board of the RFC. Essentially, the RFC was the "discount lending" arm of the Federal Reserve.<ref>Gue (2013)</ref>

The initial funding for the RFC came from the sale of US$500 million worth of stocks and bonds to the [[US Treasury|United States Treasury]]. To obtain more capital, it sold US$1.5 billion in bonds to the Treasury, which then sold them to the general public. In its first couple of years, the RFC needed a loan of US$51.3 billion from the Treasury and US$3.1 billion from the public.

The RFC lent to [[Solvency|solvent]] institutions that could not be sold to repay their existing liabilities but would be able to do so in the long run. A main reason for such loans was to ensure that [[Deposit account|depositors]] got their money back. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation spent US$1.5 billion in 1932, US$1.8 billion in 1933, and US$1.8 billion in 1934 before dropping to about US$350 million a year. In August 1939, on the eve of World War II, it greatly expanded to build munitions factories. In 1941, it disbursed US$1.8 billion. The total loaned or otherwise disbursed by the RFC from 1932 through 1941 was US$9.465 billion.<ref name="online at JSTOR" />

'''Chairmen of the Board of Directors'''<ref name="PI173">Preliminary inventory of the records of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, 1932–1964 (PI 181, Record Group 173), National Archives and Records Service, 1973.</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Name !! Dates of service
|-
| [[Eugene Meyer (financier)|Eugene Meyer]]|| February 2, 1932 – July 31, 1932
|-
| [[Atlee Pomerene]]|| August 1, 1932 – March 4, 1933
|-
| [[Jesse H. Jones]]|| May 5, 1933 – July 15, 1939
|-
| [[Emil Schram]]|| July 16, 1939 – June 29, 1941
|-
| [[Charles Henderson (Nevada politician)|Charles B. Henderson]]|| June 30, 1941 – April 9, 1947
|-
| John D. Goodloe|| April 9, 1947 – April 30, 1948
|-
| Harley Hise|| August 5, 1948 – October 9, 1950
|-
| W. Elmer Harber|| October 11, 1950 – May 4, 1951
|}

'''Administrators and Deputy Administrators'''<ref name="PI173"/>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Name and position !! Dates of service
|-
| [[Stuart Symington|W. Stuart Symington]], Administrator|| May 4, 1951 – February 15, 1952
|-
| Peter I. Bukowski, Deputy Administrator|| June 20, 1951 – December 31, 1951
|-
| Leo Nielson, Acting Administrator|| February 15, 1952 – February 26, 1952
|-
| Harry A. McDonald, Administrator|| February 26, 1952 – May 1, 1953
|-
| Clarence A. Beutel, Deputy Administrator|| September 10, 1952 – June 1, 1953
|-
| Kenton R. Cravens, Administrator|| May 1, 1953 – March 31, 1954
|-
| Laurence B. Robbins, Deputy Administrator|| December 10, 1953 – March 31, 1954
|-
| Laurence B. Robbins, Acting Administrator|| March 31, 1954 – April 26, 1954
|-
| Laurence B. Robbins, Administrator|| April 26, 1954 – June 30, 1954
|}