A Brief Tour of American-Induced Financial Calamities

A Legacy of High-Flying Hubris and Hard Landings

Let’s be clear about one thing: the stock market doesn’t care who’s president—until it does. And when it does, Republican administrations seem to have a peculiar knack for presiding over financial disasters the way I preside over a free bar at a wedding: with great gusto, followed by a lot of regret.

The GOP has a storied history of economic booms that …