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Hoovervilles During The Great Depression

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“I’m the only person of distinction who’s had a depression named for them” -Herbert Hoover (BrainyQuote). Herbert Hoover was president just before the time period of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. One of the main things Herbert Hoover is remembered for is Hoovervilles. The Salem Press Encyclopedia defines Hoovervilles as “Makeshift shantytowns that arose during the Great Depression”. During the Great Depression, millions of Americans found themselves without a home and were required to build Hoovervilles. These “homeless shelters” were very unsanitary and often unstable. They were built from “tin, tar paper, salvaged lumber, and canvas that offered little protection from the elements” (Asher). Even though Hoovervilles were dirty and disgusting, they were a necessity for many Americans. “Hundreds of thousands of families lost their homes; as many as 2 million men, women and children wandered the highways of America seeking shelter” (Brands 34-41). Hoovervilles, though they may not provide the best means of protection, were the only things homeless Americans could use for shelter. As the Depression progressed, Hoovervilles became more and more prevalent, popping up from New York City to Denver. “Shantytowns appeared across the U.S. as unemployed people were evicted from their homes” (History.com). …show more content…

There were many other products during the Great Depression named after Herbert Hoover. “An old newspaper was called a ‘Hoover blanket’. An empty pocket turned out was known as a ‘Hoover flag’” (Robinson). “When soles wore out of shoes, the cardboard used to replace them was dubbed ‘Hoover leather’, and cars pulled by horses because gas was an unaffordable luxury were called ‘Hoover wagons’” (History.com). What did Herbert Hoover do to earn such a terrible name? He didn’t think that having the government step in would fix anything, which made many people

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Many Americans lost all their money to the stock market when it crashed in 1929. Americans looked to President Hoover to end the depression. Most of Hoover’s policies were not likely to end the Great Depression. For example, President Hoover believed if the government could save business’ like banks, railroads, insurance, etc. that it would stop business collapse.

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The Great depression sent it affects all through the world. Though millions of Americans lost their jobs and homes. Soon “Hoovervilles” started to take over all over the country which were shacks of improvised housing for people who lost everything. When F.D.R came into office in 1932 he helped Americans and America start to recover with the passing of many laws and regulations . One change was the creating of the FDIC, which insured the peoples savings stayed in the bank.

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 Hoover is often blamed for not doing anything to end the Great Depression, but he actually did try to use the government to create infrastructure projects, thus creating jobs. Like the Hoover Dam and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to try to end the Depression. There are two major differences between their approaches.  One is that President Roosevelt was willing to do more than President Hoover to combat the Great Depression.  Roosevelt was willing to let the government become more involved in the economy.

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Cinderella Man “Any lack of confidence in the economic future or the basic strength of business in the United States is foolish,” Herbert Hoover stated when addressing the economy in the 1930’s. Sadly, the statement turned out to be false once the economy plummeted. The Great Depression took many americans by surprise, causing havoc wherever it reached. Many citizens of the United States invested everything to the stock market, and in turn were left on the streets with nothing after the economic crash of the 1920’s.

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Hoover was forced take decisions against his philosophy of rugged individualism, but unfortunately his actions were too little, too late. While Hoover was office, during the depression, his successes were far, and few between. He had a philosophy of government keeping their noses out of business, but when the depression hit, it took him a while to get involved, and came up with the associative state. He thought that the government should team up with businesses and form a partnership.

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. The Great Depression, also known as the "economic crisis of the 1930s", is the period of world history that goes to the crash of 1929 in the United States until the Second World War. Preceded by the mighty expansion of the 1920s, it is the largest economic depression of the twentieth century, which accompanied a major deflation and an explosion of unemployment and pushed the authorities to a deep reform of the financial markets. Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the united states, was Born in 1874 and passed away in 1964, elected in 1929 and in office until 1933. He was a republican and his name is always related to the great depression.

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Hoovervilles could be understood as an enormous tent city within New York's Central Park. This era was known as the Great Depression, the worst economic downturn in U.S. history. Franklin D. Roosevelt responded in a diligent way mainly due to the fact that Roosevelt introduced The New Deal, which included many programs that served as benefactors to the public. Furthermore, Roosevelt's responses were quite effective because the unemployment rate decreased during his presidency. Lastly, the role of the federal government changed because they became more indulged in the lives of its citizens.

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The experience that the majority of urban and rural Americans shared together during the depression was a flat out lack of income. The differences were very few, but in the cities, the depression was more prominently visible because of a higher percentage of the population (Schultz 2014). Besides the lack of income and employment, most Americans underwent periods of time being extremely hungry. In the cities, people spent hours waiting in breadlines and were losing their homes to only end up living on the streets in communities referred to as "Hoovervilles" nicknamed after the president (Schultz 2014). In the country, families suffered because of unusual droughts of the 1930 's that caused crops to fail miserably meant the already indebted farmers commonly lost their properties.

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Herbert Hoover was the 31st President of the United States. He was elected into office seven months before the stock market crashed in 1929. Hoover had to deal with the Great Depression during his Presidency and he was not re-elected, getting beat by Franklin D. Roosevelt. I believe that Herbert Hoover was an okay president, with more bad things during his Presidency than good. He was good because he got the Americans to believe him at the beginning of the Depression and he made the “Star Spangled Banner” our national anthem.

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Life in urban America during the Great depression affected every person, every race, and every community. The number of homeless rose exponentially. The homeless formed little communities called Hoovervilles. (Shultz, 2014). They made shelters out of whatever scraps they could glean.

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He urged many businesses not to lay off workers or cut wages. In 1932 Hoover tried to help banks and industries recover by the establishment of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. All His plans failed as he watched America's Economy spiral down the drain, getting bad reputation, because there was nothing he could do to help; “Just as the shantytowns were named Hoovervilles after him, newspapers became known as "Hoover blankets," pockets of pants turned inside out (to show they were empty) were called "Hoover flags," and broken-down cars pulled by horses were known as "Hoover wagons." (thoughtco.com, Jennifer Rosenberg). In the election of 1932 Hoover stated that the depression was out of his control but people blamed him for the Depression and Franklin Roosevelt was elected.

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Hoover went down in history as the total uncaring chief executive. Hoover presided over economic disaster cared little about his fellow citizens and accepted the great depression as inevitable. Hoover simply be endured regardless of the level of suffering his causes (Yellow). His opponents in congress who he felt were sabotaging his program for their own political gain, unfairly painted him as a callous and cruel president (Pink). Herbert Hoover’s people didn’t like him and they blamed him for the great depression.

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Both, urban and rural Americans suffered during the Great Depression, but not in the same way. Many urban Americans had to deal with living in large communities of homes made out of cardboard boxes due to homelessness and lack of food in the cites (Schultz, 2013). At the same time, rural Americans were losing their farms due to the crops as a result of the drought. The Great Depression was a perfect time for the Communist Party of the United States to thrive, as a large portion of Americans believed that Capitalism was the cause of the whole thing.

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President Herbert Hoover made efforts to try to fix the great depression. Many people disliked him as a president and complained he didn’t even care. However he at least tired to help people recover from the great depression. Some policies he created were the Hoover Moratorium, the Federal Home Loan Bank Act of 1932, and the Great New Deal. Hoover created the Hoover Moratorium to end the war debts however it didn’t help with the economic crisis.

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They were called Hooverville because during the time, President Herbert Hoover took no

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