Rothbard covers the very start of the Depression in this chapter, basically the second half of 1929, with some historical digressions to set the stage.
The biggest takeaways from this chapter are that Hoover bullied industry into keeping wage rates up and construction expanding. He also went along with farm cartelization efforts over the previous fifteen years and tried to control many crop prices via the Federal Farm Board, which was catastrophically ineffective but tried over and over again.
Show notes here.
See the video on Odysee, BitChute, or Youtube.
References:
Hoover, Memoirs of Herbert Hoover
https://archive.org/details/memoirsofherbert0002hoov
Starr and Newton, The Hoover Administration; a Documented Narrative
https://archive.org/details/hooveradministra0000myer_a1i5
Wilbur and Hyde, The Hoover Policies
https://archive.org/details/hooverpolicies0000rayl
Hoover, The State Papers and Other Public Writings of Herbert Hoover
https://archive.org/details/statepapersother0000hoov/page/n5/mode/2up
Bernstein, The Lean Years
https://archive.org/details/leanyearshistory0000bern_f7p8/page/n5/mode/2up
The White House Conferences in The Journal of Business
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2349281
The American Federationist 37
https://archive.org/details/sim_afl-cio-american-federationist_1930-03_37_3
Clark, Public Works and Unemployment
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1805657
Saloutos, Agricultural Discontent in the Middle West
https://archive.org/details/agriculturaldisc00salorich
Benedict, Farm Policies of the United States…
https://archive.org/details/farmpoliciesofun0000unse
Christensen, Agricultural Pressure and Governmental Response…
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3739440
Valgren, The Agricultural Credits Act of 1923
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1804548.pdf
Phillips, Competition? Yes But…
https://fee.org/ebooks/competition-yes-but/
Nash, Herbert Hoover and the Origins of the RFC
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1892269
Dorfman, The Economic Mind in American Civilization…
https://mises.org/library/book/economic-mind-american-civilization-1606-1865-volume-one
Shideler, The Farm Crisis, 1919-1923
https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.8501036
Black, Agricultural Reform in the United States
https://archive.org/details/agriculturalrefo0000john
Warren, Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression
https://archive.org/details/herberthoovergre0000warr_f2d0
Benedict and Stine, The Agricultural Commodity Programs
https://archive.org/details/agriculturalcomm0000murr
Fite, Farmer Opinion and the Agricultural Adjustment Act, 1933
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1893147
Shannon, American Farmers’ Movements
https://archive.org/details/americanfarmersm00shan