Recessions, Elections, and Republicans: 1945-2016

Jon Economy, Market Commentary, Politics

The following chart surveys industrial production in the United States. It was produced by the Federal Bank of St. Louis.
The gray vertical bars mark recessions
Below, I list those recessions that took place in, or shortly before, Presidential election years. As you will see, except for the 1980 Presidential election, recessions since 1945 have led to a Presidential defeat for Republicans when they hit in an election year or shortly before.
1945: this took place immediately after Roosevelt died. Truman was President. He removed price and wage controls in October 1946. The economy boomed. It was over by 1948. Truman defeated Dewey in 1948.

This post was published at Gary North on September 14, 2016.