Editing Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act (section)

== Opponents ==
In May 1930, a petition was signed by 1,028 economists in the United States asking President Hoover to veto the legislation. The petition was organized by [[Paul Douglas (Illinois politician)|Paul Douglas]], [[Irving Fisher]], James T. F. G. Wood, [[Frank Dunstone Graham|Frank Graham]], Ernest Patterson, [[Henry Seager]], [[Frank Taussig]], and [[Clair Wilcox]].<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=May 5, 1930|url=http://www.clubforgrowth.org/media/uploads/smooth%20hawley%20ny%20times%2005%2005%2030.pdf|title=1,028 Economists Ask Hoover To Veto Pending Tariff Bill: Professors in 179 Colleges and Other Leaders Assail Rise in Rates as Harmful to Country and Sure to Bring Reprisals|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227204101/http://www.clubforgrowth.org/media/uploads/smooth%20hawley%20ny%20times%2005%2005%2030.pdf|archive-date=February 27, 2008}}.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://econjwatch.org/issues/volume-4-issue-3-september-2007|title=Economists Against Smoot–Hawley|date=September 2007|magazine=Econ Journal Watch}}</ref> Automobile executive [[Henry Ford]] also spent an evening at the [[White House]] trying to convince Hoover to veto the bill, calling it "an economic stupidity".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,960038,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101029201229/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,960038,00.html|archive-date=October 29, 2010|title=Shades of Smoot–Hawley|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=October 7, 1985}}</ref> [[J. P. Morgan]]'s Chief Executive [[Thomas W. Lamont]] said he "almost went down on [his] knees to beg Herbert Hoover to veto the asinine Hawley–Smoot tariff".<ref>{{Citation|first=Ron|last=Chernow|title=The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance|location=New York|publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/houseofmorganame00cher_0/page/323 323]|year=1990|isbn=0-87113-338-5|url=https://archive.org/details/houseofmorganame00cher_0/page/323}}.</ref>

While Hoover joined the economists in opposing the bill, calling it "vicious, extortionate, and obnoxious" because he felt it would undermine the commitment he had pledged to international cooperation, he eventually signed the bill after he yielded to influence from his own political party (Republican), his Cabinet (who had threatened to resign), and other business leaders.<ref name="Sobel 1972">{{cite book|last=Sobel|first=Robert|title=The Age of Giant Corporations: A Microeconomic History of American Business, 1914–1970|year=1972|location=Westport|publisher=Greenwood Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ageofgiantcorpor0000sobe/page/87 87–88]|isbn=0-8371-6404-4|url=https://archive.org/details/ageofgiantcorpor0000sobe/page/87}}</ref> After the bill became law, in retaliation, Canada and other countries raised their own tariffs on U.S. goods.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Steward |first1=James B. |title=What History Has to Say about the 'Winners' in Trade Wars |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/08/business/tariff-trump-trade-wars.html |access-date=7 November 2021 |work=The New York Times |issue=International edition |date=March 8, 2018 |location=New York}}</ref> [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] spoke against the act during his successful campaign for president in 1932.<ref name="economist" />