Herbert Hoover During The Great Depression

In the United States of America the Great Depression began on October 29, 1929. This day is known as Black Tuesday. At this time investors were trading on average about 16,410,030 shares a day on the New York Stock Exchange. In the 1920s the stock market was undergoing rapid expansion. By its peak in August of 1929 unemployment had risen, production had decreased, agriculture was weak, wages were low, many large bank loans were unable to be liquidated as well as many other factors. Because of this stock prices started to decline in September and many began to panic so a record amount of shares were traded that day on October 24 of 1929 which is now known as Black Thursday. There were attempts to stabilize the market but unfortunately the market

As the 31st president he took office in 1929. Many American people believed that most of the blame of this was on Hoover. As things continued to get worse Hoover did not recognize the situation’s severity or try hard enough to address these issues. Many viewed him as insensitive and careless towards the many Americans suffering at the time. To show how poorly they thought of him the poor little towns where many waited in bread lines and were often unemployed were called Hoovervilles. He was known to have vetoed several bills that could have provided immediate relief to many who were suffering. He had a conservative political philosophy and believed that the government should have a limited role. He did not want there to be a threat to capitalism because of too much federal intervention. Because of this he was not reelected in 1932 and Franklin D. Roosevelt took

Roosevelt promised the American people he would fight for them and do everything in his power to end the suffering. He introduced this New Deal program that would deliver relief, recovery and reform. As part of the “First Hundred Days” the first thing he did was declare a four day holiday for the banks so people would be unable to withdraw their money. Congress passed Roosevelt’s Emergency Banking Act. This gave the opportunity for banks to get reorganized and for other banks that were unable to fix themselves to close. One thing that he did that allowed for him to become closer to the people and gave them the opportunity to be more trusting of him were his fireside chats. He insisted that they put all their savings back into the banks and as a result around three fourths of them were able to reopen. Another thing that was established was the Federal Deposit Insurance Commission also known as the FDIC. This backed all deposits of up to $2500 so customers would no longer be afraid of their money disappearing. Other programs such as the Public Works Administration was put forth. Although this project was not the most successful in rebuilding the economy by any means it budgeted money to be spent on constructing buildings such as dams and hospitals and temporarily provided some employment to those who needed