Hoover As The Main Cause Of The Great Depression

The economy of America, during the 1920s, though prosperous, was fundamentally unsound. The collapse of the economy that defined the Great Depression did not occur all together, nor for one certain reason. Experts on the Great Depression have identified four interwoven and reinforcing causes of the one of the nation’s most severe economic crises: structural weakness in both American agriculture and industry, the fallibility of the international economy in the late 1920s and early 1930s, and the overly unstable foundations of the American financial sector. As discussed two paragraphs ago, America’s farming sector was unhealthy during the 1920s, a condition due mostly to overproduction. While production and profits from the industry were rising,

Immediately after the inauguration of Franklin Roosevelt on March 4, 1933, Hoover retreated to his old home in Palo Alto, California. For many decades so on and so forth, much of the public - and most of all of the Democratic Party, took Hoover as the main fault for the Great Depression. Because of this, very little Republicans wanted him in politics anymore. Very wealthy and truly generous, Hoover did not need to work, but even fishing, the hobby that he loved so much, could only take away so many hours of his free time. When Hoover was riding in motorcades, he was often pelted with eggs or rotten fruits. While on a tour of Europe in 1938, Hoover met Adolf Hitler. Hoover opposed U.S. intervention in World War II, but when the Japanese launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, he changed his mind. As in World War I, the war needed Hoover’s organizational and humanitarian skills. FDR put aside his disliking for his predecessor and made Hoover run yet again another relief organization, this time for Poland, Finland, and Belgium. Even though Hoover attempted, he was not successful in getting food and supplies to nations controlled by the

Starting in the 1970s, though, Hoover’s reputation began to grow back again. Historians pointed out Hoover’s embrace of voluntarism, his faith in social science expertise, and his motivation of cooperation next to and among the American economic order was sourced not in heartless and reactionary conservatism but in the progressive social thought of his time. Nevertheless, many scholars still criticize Hoover’s rejection to allow big, large-scale relief programs that could have lessened suffering and hunger, his reluctance to use big spending of federal money to stabilize the economy, and his fault to not fully see the effect the Great Depression would have on the general public. Hoover never really seemed to get the fact that the Great Depression possessed a grave threat to the entire nation, and that solutions to the economic crisis may have required leaving behind some of his deeply held beliefs. Hoover compounded these mistakes, every one of which had political implications, with amateur political maneuvering. Hoover proved himself that he was unable to hold the weight of Congress, the press, and the public, or hard situations like the Bonus Army, in such ways that built confidence in his leadership. It also should be noted that Hoover’s problematic political judgement and leadership was not brought on by