Paul Johnson's Modern Times also gives special emphasys to the
dirigisme of Herbert Hoover (an almost Saint Simonien "ingenieur
social") and early technocratism during the twenties. He dismisses
the so called laissez-faire of this period, pointing to early signs
of state interventionism, much before the rise of proto-forms of
keynesianism.
So, cloks have to be turned back almost ten years, before the
official start of keynesian policies in middle thirties.
Paulo Roberto de Almeida