Louis T. McFadden

McFadden was born in Granville Center, Troy Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Warner's Commercial College (currently known as the Elmira Business Institute) in Elmira, New York. In 1892 he entered the employ of the First National Bank in Canton, Pennsylvania. In 1899 he was elected cashier, and became its president on January 11, 1916, serving until 1925.^[1]

He served as treasurer of the Pennsylvania Bankers’ Association in 1906 and 1907, and as president in 1914 and 1915. He was appointed in 1914 by the agricultural societies of the State of Pennsylvania as a trustee of Pennsylvania State College.^[1]

In 1914, McFadden was elected as a Republican Representative to the Sixty-fourth Congress and to the nine succeeding Congresses.^[1] He served as Chairman of the United States House Committee on Banking and Currency during the Sixty-sixth through Seventy-first Congresses, or 1920-31.^[1] Though re-elected without opposition in 1932, in 1934 he lost to the Democratic nominee. He was an unsuccessful candidate for nomination in 1936.^[1]

McFadden's main official legacy was the working on and the passing of the McFadden Act of 1927 limiting federal branch banks to the city in which the main branch operates. The Act sought to give national banks competitive equality with state-chartered banks by letting national banks branch to the extent permitted by state law. The McFadden Act specifically prohibited interstate branching by allowing national banks to branch only within the state in which it is situated. Although the Riegel-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994 repealed this provision of the McFadden Act, it specified that state law continues to control intrastate branching, or branching within a state's borders, for both state and national banks.^{[citation needed]}

McFadden is also remembered as a "vociferous foe of the Federal Reserve,"^[2] which he claimed was created and operated by European banking interests who conspired to economically control the United States. On June 10, 1932, McFadden made a 25-minute speech before the House of Representatives,^[3] in which he accused the Federal Reserve of deliberately causing the Great Depression. McFadden also claimed that Wall Street bankers funded the Bolshevik Revolution through the Federal Reserve banks and the European central banks with which it cooperated.

McFadden moved to impeach President Herbert Hoover in 1932, and also introduced a resolution bringing conspiracy charges against the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. The impeachment resolution was defeated by a vote of 361 to 8; it was seen as a big vote of confidence to President Hoover from the House.^[4] According to Time magazine McFadden was ��denounced and condemned by all Republicans for his ‘contemptible gesture’.^[2][4] The Central Press Association reported that he was “virtually read out of his party…[had] his committee posts…taken away from him…was ostracized by Republicans [and] called crazy…”.^[5] Sen. David A. Reed (R-PA) said “We intend to act to all practical purposes as though McFadden had died”.^[6]

In 1933, he introduced House Resolution No. 158, articles of impeachment for the Secretary of the Treasury, two assistant Secretaries of the Treasury, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, and the officers and directors of its twelve regional banks.^[7]

In 1934 he made several Antisemitic comments from the floor of the house and in newsletters to his constituents wherein he cited the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, claimed the Roosevelt administration was controlled by Jews and objected to Henry Morgenthau Jr., a Jew, becoming Secretary of the Treasury.^{[8][9][10][11][12]} He was also reported to have made various comments “in support of Adolf Hitler”.^[13] In September the Nazi tabloid Der Stuermer praised McFadden.^[14] He was also lauded by the publications of William Dudley Pelley, leader of the fascist Silver Shirts, on several occasions ^[9][15] On election day that year he lost to Charles E. Dietrich by “about 2,000 votes”.^[16] This was the only election between 1912 and 1950 when the district elected a Democrat.^[17]

According his Jewish Telegraphic Agency obituary ‘In January 1935, he announced his candidacy for president with the backing of an organization called "the Independent Republican National Christian-Gentile Committee" on a platform to"keep the Jew out of control of the Republican Party!"’ ^[18] Not garnering much support for his presidential bid he tried to win back his congressional seat but lost the nomination by a wide-margin to Col. Albert G. Rutherford ^[19][20] who went on to win the general election.

He was in New York City visiting with his wife and son in late September 1936, when he was taken ill at a political banquet and became violently ill after partaking of food. He was treated by a physician friend at the banquet, who at once procured a stomach pump and administed emergency treatment. He died shortly thereafter in the Hospital for Ruptured and Crippled, in Manhattan. ^[21] The illness was subsequently announced as a poisoning. ^[18][22][23] He was interred in East Canton Cemetery in Canton, Pennsylvania.^[1] The cause listed on his death certificate is coronary thrombosis.

• Flaherty, Edward, Ph.D. The Legendary Tirade of Louis T. McFadden — Article criticizing McFadden's speech against the Federal Reserve.
• The Political Graveyard

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