Jeremiah Smith, jr. and Hungary, 1924–1926: The United States, the League of Nations, and the Financial Reconstruction of Hungary

✍ Scribed by Zoltán Peterecz

• Publisher: De Gruyter Open Poland
• Year: 2013
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 324
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Zoltán Peterecz presents in this monograph the personality and work of Jeremiah Smith, Jr. (1870–1935), the League of Nations Commissioner-General for the 1924 loan to Hungary. He deals also in extenso with the economic and political problems associated with the financial reconstruction of Hungary – both on the domestic and international scene.

In his multidimensional presentation, Zoltán Peterecz gives a vivid insight into the official and unofficial trends in the foreign policy of the United States after World War I. The author skilfully interweaves the diplomatic and economic history against the background of international events, and supports the narrative with an impressive body of diverse sources, which include archival materials, contemporary newspaper citations from a number of countries, and an extensive range of secondary sources.

The final result is a valuable, well-executed and well-written work that will be welcomed not only by students of the interwar period, but also among non-specialist readers.

Zoltán Peterecz was awarded his PhD by the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary, in 2010. He specialises in American foreign policy and American-Hungarian relations in the 20th century. He is an Assistant Professor at the Department of American Studies, Eszterházy Károly College, Eger, Hungary.

✦ Table of Contents

beggining
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
The International Landscape in the early 1920s
Chapter 1
An American in Paris
1.1 The Last months of World War I in Europe
1.2 Smith at the Paris Peace Conference
Chapter 2
The United States, the League of Nations, and the Postwar Financial Scene
2.1. The New World Order after the War
2.2. The US and the Financial Advisory System
Chapter 3
The Beginning of the European Financial Rehabilitation
3.1. The First Steps
3.2. The Austrian Reconstruction
Chapter 4
Hungary’s Appeal to the League of Nations
4.1. The Postwar Situation
4.2. The Economic Situation and Attempts for a Loan
Chapter 5
The Selection of Jeremiah Smith, Jr.
5.1. Search for the Commissioner-General
5.2. Enter Mr. Smith
Chapter 6
Raising the Hungarian Loan
6.1. The Unsuccessful Attempts
6.2. Flotation of the Reconstruction Loan
6.3. The Adviser to the New National Bank
Chapter 7
The Technical Side of the Hungarian Reconstruction
7.1. The First Year
7.2. The Year of 1925
7.3. The Closing Accords of the Great Work
7.4. Balance Sheet
Chapter 8
The Personal Side of the Hungarian Reconstruction
8.1. The Human Side at Work
8.2. Smith’s Great Magnanimity
8.3. Difference of Personalities
Chapter 9
Post-Reconstruction Relations between an American and Europe
9.1. Smith and Hungary
9.2. Smith and the League of Nations
9.3. The Last Years
Chapter 10
The Financial Reconstructions in Europe
10.1. Two Schemes, One Aim: The Comparison of the Austrian and Hungarian Reconstructions
10.2. Other Schemes in Europe by the League
10.3. Reconstruction Programs outside the League
10.4. The Three American Financial Controllers in Europe in the 1920s
Conclusion
Index
Appendix 1.
Works Cited