June 17

On June 17, 1930, President Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act into law, raising U.S. tariffs on thousands of imported goods. The legislation, named after Senator Reed Smoot and Representative Willis Hawley, aimed to shield domestic farmers and manufacturers from foreign competition. It sparked international protests and retaliatory tariffs as trading partners responded in kind. Economists widely agree the act deepened the Great Depression by choking global trade. Smoot–Hawley remains a cautionary tale in discussions of protectionist policies.

On June 17, 1952, Guatemala's government under President Jacobo Árbenz passed Decree 900, aiming to redress rural poverty by seizing unused lands from large estates for peasant distribution. The law benefited thousands of landless families, transforming social structures in the countryside. Foreign companies, particularly the United Fruit Company, protested the expropriations, citing property rights violations. U.S. political and economic pressure intensified, culminating in a CIA-backed coup in 1954 that reversed the reform. Decree 900 remains a pivotal example of Cold War-era land policy and U.S.-Latin American relations.