Hoover Moratorium

The moratorium was the result of a proposal issued on 20 June 1931 by United States President Herbert Hoover that was intended to ease the effects of the Great Depression and the ongoing international financial crisis and provide time for recovery.

Germany welcomed the relief, but other nations resisted, particularly France, which was heavily reliant on German reparations to service its own war debts,[2] and many American citizens.

Germany was caught in a major banking crisis, Britain left the gold standard – the US would follow suit in 1933 as part of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal – and France intended to address the issues again once the one-year suspension had ended.

[1] A few of the former Allies continued to make payments to the United States after the moratorium expired, but only Finland was able and willing to meet all obligations.

[3] Although the United States Congress voted against the proposal to relieve France and the United Kingdom of their debt, they never restarted payments, since previously German reparations had been used for the purpose, and the economic conditions militated against Germany being able to do so in the future.