He blamed the government's "commercial loan theory" of banking for monetary tightening in mid-1929, when the economy was already declining, and then for its passivity during the next four years in the face of mass liquidations and bank failures. Instead, he advocated control of the money supply to stabilize income and expenditures. Currie cited his colleague and Soviet agent Silverman for his "many helpful suggestions and criticisms" in the formation of this line of thinking. New Deal Freshman brain trust In 1934, Currie became a naturalized United States citizen and joined Jacob Viner's "freshman brain trust" at the U.S. Treasury where he outlined an ideal monetary system for the United States which included a 100-percent reserve banking plan to strengthen central bank control and prevent bank panics in the future by preventing member banks from lending out their demand deposit liabilities, while removing reserve requirements on savings deposits with low turnover. Later that year, Marriner Eccles moved from the Treasury to become governor of the Federal Reserve Board. He took Currie with him as his personal assistant. Harry Dexter White, another "freshman brain trust" recruit, became a top adviser to Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, and for some years White and Currie worked closely in their respective roles at the Treasury and the Federal Reserve. Soon afterwards, Currie drafted the Banking Act of 1935 which reorganized the Federal Reserve and strengthened its powers. He also constructed a "net federal income-creating expenditure series" to show the strategic role of fiscal policy in complementing monetary policy to revive an economy in exceptionally acute, persisting depression. Currie's preferred 100-percent reserve banking idea, however, was not one of the reforms implemented. Alan Meltzer wrote in his history of the Federal Reserve that "Lauchlin Currie wrote a remarkable memo for a Treasury committee in 1934 emphasizing the role of money in cyclical fluctuations, at a time when virtually no one thought that money mattered." After four years of recovery, the economy declined sharply in 1937. In a four-hour interview with President Roosevelt, he was able to explain that the declared aim of balancing the budget "to restore business confidence" had damaged the economy. This was part of the "struggle for the soul of FDR" between the cautious Morgenthau and the expansionist Eccles. In April 1938, the president asked Congress for major appropriations for spending on relief and public works. In May 1939, the rationale