Talk:Robert L. Owen

=Clarifying Owen's later critique of Federal Reserve monetary policies=

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The previous version of this article reported that Owen subsequently "repudiated" the Federal Reserve, on the evidence of his foreword to a book entitled "Money Creators" (though no details were provided of the book's author, date, publisher, etc.). I have now traced a copy of the (1935) book, and provided a full set of details in the article. I have also endeavored to provide a more detailed and nuanced summary of what Owen actually wrote about the Fed in the book in question. He did not state that the creation of the Fed had been a mistake per se. He did argue that, contrary to his own efforts to mandate the Fed to pursue a stable price level, and under the excessive influence of the largest banks, the Fed had followed inappropriately deflationary policies, both during the 1920-21 period, and again during the Hoover Administration, the latter helping to pave the way for the Great Depression. Nandt1 (talk) 22:24, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

=This article is clearly now well beyond stub or start class=

Could we ask an experienced Wikipedia editor/administrator for a review, please.Nandt1 (talk) 02:18, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

=Seeking to substantiate further family information=

From a private (unpublished) source connected to the Owen family I understand that:

(a) Sen. Owen managed in his later life to lose a good part of his fortune, possibly at least in part through ill-advised investments (my source is unclear as to what extent the 1929 Crash may or may not have contributed to his losses);

(b) His daughter Dorothea was married and divorced three times, and the failure of her (last?) marriage prompted Owen to formally adopt his grandson Bobby, which may well explain the latter's assumption of RLO's name reported (based on public information) in the article.

I have not yet found published sources to validate these reports, and as such have not included them in the article. If anyone knows of any public sources that would bear on these points, I would be most grateful to hear from them. Nandt1 (talk) 11:37, 1 June 2014 (UTC)


 * I have subsequently come across (and cited) an essay by Sen. Owen himself, confirming his formal adoption of his grandson. Other questions remain open. Nandt1 (talk) 19:07, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

Common name
Regarding the move of this page, Robert L. Owen (78%) and R. L. Owen (20%) are the only iterations of Owen's name that constitute over 5% of references to him on newspapers.com. Star Garnet (talk) 23:09, 14 June 2023 (UTC)