In December 1930, longtime Reading Clerk Patrick Haltigan stood at the rostrum desk and read President Hoover’s message to Congress. Members in this photograph focused on the message: a year after the Great Depression began, Congress was still grappling with the economic crash. Hoover’s program of self-help was not working, but he stood by his outlook, offering in his message that “economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement.”
