Bill McClanahan
On March 12, 1958, the New York Times reported that Eisenhower’s economic plans would cause inflation. Investors bought stocks in companies that were more resistant to inflationary pressures. The unemployment rate of 6.7% was the worst that the country had experienced since 1941. The article states, “One economist remarked that stories of pump-priming at last were beginning to take hold. There is a lot of money around, he felt, and much of it will be going into the market for good building stocks, tobaccos and foods.”
However, the next two months did not provide this economic relief. The New York Times reported on May 7, 1958, “Glints of good news sparkled in the somber business picture yesterday. There, with the expectation that whatever measures the Government takes will produce more inflation, sent stock prices up on the New York Stock Exchange.” In June there were still economists who questioned whether prosperity would remain; in retrospect, by the time this cartoon ran the recession was already over.