INTRODUCTION

Franklin D. Roosevelt established the first Export-Import Bank of Washington in February 1934 to serve his foreign policy and promote economic recovery in the United States. He wanted the Bank to help normalize relations with the Soviet Union. The effort bogged down and failed following protracted discussions over previously unpaid Soviet debts. Another diplomatic objective – improving relations with a turbulent Cuba – prompted the Roosevelt administration to establish the second Export-Import Bank of Washington a few weeks later in March 1934. In June 1935, after officials determined that no business would be done with the Soviet Union, the two banks merged to form one Export-Import Bank of Washington (Ex-Im).

From the first, organized groups of American exporters and bankers supported the new government banking institutions. Exporters needed the Bank's services during the 1930s because of depressed conditions and the rapid deterioration of international trade and finance. Officials of the Roosevelt administration were sensitive to their needs and saw the Banks as contributing to economic recovery.

In its first decade, the Bank struggled to define its own mission. Ex-Im officials created an official dialogue with organized export and banker groups as the Bank developed its operating policies and procedures. Increasingly in the 1930s, Bank officials and staff defined the Ex-Im's role as promoting American export of agricultural and manufactured goods. But there were constraints on what the Bank could do.