page_title: Henry Morgenthau Jr.
section_title: New Deal
hierarchical_section_title: Henry Morgenthau Jr. / New Deal
caption_attribution_description: English: Franklin D. Roosevelt with Henry Morgenthau and another man at the Little White House, Warm Springs, Georgia.
context_page_description: Henry Morgenthau Jr. was the United States Secretary of the Treasury during most of the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He played a major role in designing and financing the New Deal. After 1937, while still in charge of the Treasury, he played the central role in financing United States participation in World War II. He also played an increasingly major role in shaping foreign policy, especially with respect to Lend-Lease, support for China, helping Jewish refugees, and proposing to prevent Germany from again being a military threat.
  Morgenthau was the father of Robert M. Morgenthau, who was District Attorney of Manhattan for 35 years and Henry Morgenthau III, an American author and television producer. He continued as Treasury secretary through the first few months of Harry Truman's presidency, and from June 27, 1945 to July 3, 1945, following the resignation of Secretary of State Edward Stettinius Jr., was next in line to the presidency. Morgenthau was thus the first Jew to be in the presidential line of succession.
context_section_description: In 1933, Roosevelt became President and appointed Morgenthau governor of the Federal Farm Board. Morgenthau was nonetheless involved in monetary decisions. Roosevelt adopted the idea of raising the price of gold to inflate the currency and reverse the debilitating deflation of prices. The idea came from Professor George Warren of Cornell University. Morgenthau wrote in his diary:
  Saturday — Went to the White House and met Jones there. I said to the President that we did not buy any gold last night. He said, "That is right. Harrison called up and spoke to Jesse." I could not make out whether he also spoke to the President. Then Harrison urged that inasmuch as Saturday was only half a day that they should not buy any gold. Both the President and Jones said that they thought they made a mistake by agreeing with Harrison. I believe it was on Friday that we raised the price 21¢, and the President said, "It is a lucky number because it is three times seven." If anybody ever knew how we really set the gold price through a combination of lucky numbers, etc., I think that they really would be frightened. Saturday we increased the price 10¢. I stayed after Jones left and had a good half hour talk in which most of the time Louis Howe was present.
  In 1934, when William H. Woodin resigned because of poor health, Roosevelt appointed Morgenthau Secretary of the Treasury; even conservatives approved. Morgenthau was a strict monetarist. President Roosevelt, Morgenthau, and Federal Reserve Chairman Marriner Stoddard Eccles jointly kept interest rates low during the depression to finance massive public spending, and then later to support rearmament, support for Britain, and U.S. participation in WW II.
  In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Morgenthau to examine the taxes of William Randolph Hearst because FDR was "advised that Hearst was planning to use his newspapers to launch a major attack on the New Deal and its economic policies." Treasury Secretary Morgenthau explained that he examined the taxes of William Randolph Hearst and actress Marion Davies and "advised FDR to mount a preemptive attack on both her and Hearst."
caption: Morgenthau, President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt and another man at Warm Springs (November 30, 1932)
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