ipl-logo

How Did Herbert Hoover Do During The Great Depression

662 Words3 Pages

Hoover and the Great Depression When Herbert Hoover became president in 1929, he inherited a nation filled with hope and prosperity from the "Roaring Twenties." However, underlying issues such as wealth inequality, risky investments, and overproduction led to the stock market crash and the Great Depression. Hoover initially focused on voluntary solutions but faced criticism, leading to the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal programs in 1932. Hoover, a self-made engineer, valued efficiency and individualism, believing in limited government intervention. Despite his success in managing food relief during WWI, he struggled to emotionally connect with the suffering public during the Great Depression. His focus on private sector …show more content…

During the Great Depression, Herbert Hoover was faced with a myriad of tough decisions. He opted to inject money into infrastructure projects to create jobs, boost consumer spending, and revitalize struggling industries like steel and construction. Improving infrastructure would have long-term benefits by enhancing roads, bridges, and public buildings, ultimately bolstering the economy for years to come. However, Hoover, being a fiscal conservative, was concerned about the national debt and the potential consequences of deficit spending, such as inflation and a loss of confidence in the government's financial stability. Moreover, implementing large-scale public works projects could be slow and susceptible to corruption. The options available to Hoover are a delicate balance between different approaches. However, he had to navigate the challenges of politics and economics. Implementing public works projects could stimulate the economy, but it also carried the risk of increasing the deficit. Providing direct relief could alleviate suffering, but it might create a dependency on government

Show More
Related

Similarities Between Roosevelt's Relief, Recovery, And Reform

1017 Words | 5 Pages

The constriction of the Hoover Damn occurred during the Great Depression, this was an opportunity for employment that attracted an estimated 20,000 men. This project provided a positive temporary solution for the unemployed, although this was only available to a certain audience of people. Hoover did however take many other steps in an attempt to stabilise the economy; unfortunately most were ineffective. For example he placed an even higher tariff on imports through the Hawley-Smoot Tariff, however it backfired as American goods became too expensive to buy in Europe, further contributing to the economic crisis. The programs in place for the public were small in scale and highly specific as to who could benefit, only a small percentage of those who were in need were successfully accounted for.

Read More

Comparison Of Hoover And Roosevelt's Policies During The Great Depression

928 Words | 4 Pages

In Opposite of Hoover was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the man who the American public saw as their saviour and as the one who singlehandedly led them out of the depression. This paper is going to compare and contrast Hoover and Roosevelt's policies in an attempt to explain why one

Read More

Great Depression Dbq

173 Words | 1 Pages

Another policy that wouldn’t help end the depression is “balancing the budget”. Hoover didn’t want to

Read More

How Did Herbert Hoover Blame For The Great Depression

429 Words | 2 Pages

Many blame Herbert Hoover for the Great Depression, but this is a false statement because he stepped into office at the worst time. He had to immediately formulate new policies that would help the US retreat from the Great Depression. He served one term from 1929 to 1933. One item that made him well known for his presidency were the camps that housed the unemployed and the poor, called Hoovervilles. These “shanty towns” were normally on the outskirts of major cities and towns, so the community was close enough to still walk into town.

Read More

Essay Comparing President Hoover's Response To The Great Depression

1974 Words | 8 Pages

 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.

Read More

New Deal Dbq Essay

564 Words | 3 Pages

The wealth during the 1920s left Americans unprepared for the economic depression they would face in the 1930s. The Great Depression occurred because of overproduction by farmers and factories, consumption of goods decreased, uneven distribution of wealth, and overexpansion of credit. Hoover was president when the depression first began, and he maintained the government’s laissez-faire attitude in the economy. However, after the election of FDR in 1932, his many alphabet soup programs in his first one hundred days in office addressed the nation’s need for change.

Read More

Hoover's Hands-Off Approach Essay

3862 Words | 16 Pages

The Great Depression was a time of peril for the strong majority of Americans. Hoover’s main solution was to not do much, to let time pass and hope the problem goes away. Well, that’s being unfair, he enacted some questionable policies. For example, he signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff bill that would tax 40% of trade.

Read More

Herbert Hoover's Major Accomplishments

490 Words | 2 Pages

Herbert ran as the Republican Party’s nominee in 1928. Herbert won over Alfred Smith when he said he promised to bring “prosperity and peace to the Nation”. The Great Depression took place a few months into Hoover’s presidency. As the Great Depression was still going on, people lost their savings, jobs, and homes. Hoover barely took control of the harsh events that happened, and the nation worsened throughout his presidency years, causing Franklin D. Roosevelt to win the election in 1932.

Read More

What Did Hoover Do During The Great Depression

799 Words | 4 Pages

According to “Two Presidents and the Depression” it states, “He asked neighbors to help one another and not rely on government aid.” Hoover's beliefs brought about social change because it lead people to maintain a positive outlook and an increase in the amount of confidence they had in the economy. With a gained amount of confidence, stock prices would rise, factories would open, and people would go back to work. The text states, “...when the Depression started, Hoover called business leaders to meet him in Washington. He then asked them to keep up production and not to lay off workers or cut wages.”

Read More

What Did Hoover Do During The Great Depression Of The 1930s

1037 Words | 5 Pages

As unemployment rose and businesses failed, Hoover came to be seen as uncaring and ineffective in his approach to the growing crisis. (Fonner 811). While Hoover tried to get businesses to cooperate with each other and local government, the breadth and scope of the crisis meant that a stronger response was required (Foner 814). Roosevelt’s landslide victory over Hoover in the 1932 presidential election marked a huge change in the American political system (Foner 821). Roosevelt’s promise to Americans of a New Deal and the opportunity to have relief from unemployment, recovery of the economy, and reform of the economy captured the imagination of the country (Foner 822).

Read More

Herbert Hoover's Response To The Great Depression

495 Words | 2 Pages

Hoover believed that this issue would work out itself and that all would be okay within time. Also, he believed in rugged individualism. This means picking yourself up and working out your issue. He was horribly wrong, the Great Depression was going to need much more work than he thought it did. (Keplinger, Hoover Struggles with the Depression class notes.) Even though Hoover did many things wrong, there were a few things that he did correctly.

Read More

Herbert Hoover's Underlying Causes Of The Great Depression

1004 Words | 5 Pages

The Great Depression was an almost global event that affected many countries between 1929-1929. There are many reasons and underlying causes for the depression and stock market crash. Some blame Herbert Hoover and his Individualistic Ideals. Herbert Hoover didn’t actually have much to do with the depression, and there wasn’t much he could’ve done. The depression was caused by poor American spending and consumerism, advancements in farming, and the unequal distribution of wealth.

Read More

Harlem Renaissance Influence

1645 Words | 7 Pages

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.

Read More

Hoover As The Main Cause Of The Great Depression

1888 Words | 8 Pages

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.

Read More

Herbert Hoover And The Great Depression

1236 Words | 5 Pages

In tackling the Great Depression, he relied not on government assistance but on “mutual self-help” amongst Americans to prevent “hunger and cold” (H). President Hoover, a staunch conservative, believed that implementing such welfare policies would “strike at the roots of self government” (H). During his presidency, therefore, he avoided government handouts instead aiming to indirectly aid the American people through the pursuit of trickle-down economics. Many hostile critics commentated that the “Great Humanitarian” would appropriate money to feed the hungry Belgians and American livestock but fail to provide direct relief to Americans. Yet Hoover overestimated the effect that charitable organizations and trickle-down economics would have on the American people.

Read More

More about How Did Herbert Hoover Do During The Great Depression

Open Document