ipl-logo

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

1037 Words5 Pages

The Great Depression of the 1930s solidified in American conscience as a decisive crossroad event, where something completely different and new happened. During the decade, the United States experienced an unprecedented scale and longevity economic collapse, clearer in retrospect than at first during those years. By the mid-1930s, it had become increasingly apparent that neither unfettered capitalism nor Western ideas of governmentality were coping with the challenges thrown up by the collapse in industrial production, high unemployment, and the rapid erosion of the rule of law (Foner 824). Herbert Hoover, the US president at the time, had the deepest commitment to Western ideas of governmentality: minimal government interference in private …show more content…

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). The New Deal, first introduced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was a broad range of legislation in response to the multi-faceted challenges of the Great Depression. Owing to the sheer scope of the economic system’s failure during this time, there was a pressing need for governmental support to ease the pain, spur production and clear the way for a return to …show more content…

Before the Great Depression, the classical liberal ideology of limited government intervention in the economy and of individual self-reliance framed Republican and Democratic literacies on the economy. This ideology asserted that the natural tendency of markets was towards equilibrium. After the stock market crash of 1929, though, Republican President Herbert Hoover and his party became responsive to the demands of the electorate for the country’s workers and investors, as people experienced a growing abyss between the benefits they felt were their due and the actual conditions of their lives. Given that predicted outcomes differed markedly from the actual conditions of life, President Franklin D. Roosevelt – from the onset of the New Deal – asserted that the federal government must intervene to positively affect the ‘result’ (Foner 821). By institutionalizing this novel ideology he embedded the ‘precedent’ that in times of crisis, particularly economic crisis, the requirements of the public welfare of the American ‘people’ must trump the tenets of

Show More
Related
811 Words | 4 Pages

Nathaniel Ortiz HISTORY 152 Professor Jonathan Rosenberg Section Leader Hamilton Craig December 2022 Paper #3 Documents: “President Herbert Hoover Applauds Limited Government 1931” and “President Franklin D. Roosevelt Says Government Must Act, 1933” President Herbert Hoover and President Franklin D. Roosevelt were both significant government figures during the time they were president. During the time both were presidents, the United States was in a crisis known as the Great Depression which lasted from the early 1930s to the early 1940s, ending during World War II. The great depression is known to many as a time of economic disaster. During this time there was a stock market crash, the money supply plummeted, banks failed, and

Read More
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
762 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the 1920s, the American economy was growing rapidly with the rising stock market, supported by consumer spending, including those enjoying their unrestricted lifestyles and feeding into the illegal liquor industry. However, this came to an end in October of 1929 and lasted for 10 years when the stock market crashed, leaving millions of people with no financial options and unemployment. In addition, international trade and industrial production also collapsed. During this period, President Hoover and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), came forward to try and resolve this economic crisis. The documents shown, Document 1: October 18, 1931: Message Regarding Unemployment Relief by Herbert Hoover, express his solution of collaboration, and Document 2, July 24,

Read More
1192 Words | 5 Pages

The Great Depression was one of the most trying times in American History, and the 1932 election held the fate of the country. The American people were in a desperate time and they were looking to the next president for guidance. When it came down to the nominees, the American people had to choose between Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Herbet Hoover. Roosevelt was the obvious choice for the American people, as many people held Hoover personally accountable for the depression, as well as the fact that Hoover’s plan was for excessive government spending rather than actually dealing with the depression (Foner, p. 641). Franklin Delano Roosevelt was perhaps one of the most impactful presidents in the nation’s history, with one of the most anticipated inaugural addresses of the time.

Read More
134 Words | 1 Pages

Even though Hoover wasn’t re-elected after 1933, his failed attempt at laissez-faire still affected the American people. An example of this is Roosevelt’s attempt at counteracting Hoover’s Rugged individualism. During Roosevelt’s campaign he promised a ‘New Deal’ for the American people, where, especially in comparison to Hoover’s: ‘laissev-faire’, the US government would be more involved with businesses and the country’s citizens. Summed up, the ‘New Deal’ was about doing everything to keep the country from disaster.

Read More
1885 Words | 8 Pages

During the Great Depression there was great skepticism of the role that the government should play in the economy. Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover were two political leaders, among many, who went head to head in trying to justify their opinions related to government involvement economically. Hoover critiqued Roosevelt’s push towards a more positive government because he believed that freedom could only be accomplished with less government intervention—less rules—but what he failed to see was that the government was not limiting peoples freedom, it was protecting it. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Second Bill of Rights aimed for a new foundation of security and equality that could be achieved despite someone’s race or class.

Read More
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
802 Words | 4 Pages

The Great Depression was a time of strife and hardship for the American people and as expected, a remedy was called for. Hoover and Roosevelt were the two presidents at the time of this crisis and their philosophies for improvement, while sharing some similarities, had two very different stances. Hoover’s belief was held in the people and he thought that with the right motivation the country’s problems would be solved through one another. Roosevelt however thought that help laid within the federal government. He believed that America had a strong government exactly for the purpose of helping the people.

Read More
344 Words | 2 Pages

The Americas experienced drastic change during the Great Depression, causing it to be a large turning point in federal government’s role in managing the economy. Although it was a time of significant destitution, The Great Depression promoted the reformation of government and management in order to rehabilitate the economy and secure a better and prosperous future. New Deals were formed to restructure what was dysfunctional in the order. These changes were allowed by the opinions raised by political leaders and the public, after viewing startling statistics showcasing a negative downturn in America’s economy.

Read More
662 Words | 3 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.

Read More
931 Words | 4 Pages

Although the Great Depression had torn apart the prosperity of the United States, hope soon enough resurfaced in the form of presidential candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s promises of a “new deal”. However, Roosevelt’s attempts at economic and social reform met mixed results - although his efforts to mend the extreme personal debt of farms and banks (as well as the general population) did succeed (at least in part), his attempts to remedy the unemployment crisis and the growing national debt were failures, and in the case of national debt, he may have even made the problem worse. The origin of these failures is likely the methods Roosevelt used themselves - one effort to fix the economy surrounding farmers was even deemed unconstitutional,

Read More
957 Words | 4 Pages

The longest and most dreadful downturn in economic history tossed millions of the hardworking people of America into poverty, for more than a decade neither the federal government or the free market were able to restore themselves from prosperity. Due to the Great Depression, an impetus was provided for President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, this deal would forever change the relationship between the government and the American people. The New Deal was considered to be one of the most remarkable times of political reform in American history. In hindsight, it began to become easier to view the New Deal as the essential response to the Depression. However, the New Deal at the time was only one of the countless possible responses to an American capitalist system that had professedly lost its way.

Read More
1080 Words | 5 Pages

Herbert Hoover’s presidency is associated with the Great Depression seeing that eight months into his term, the stock market collapsed starting an economic depression that would leave 23% of Americans unemployed by 1932. Hoover failed to take the actions needed to help the country initially, however in his annual speech to Congress in 1932, Hoover discusses three directions in which the government can take to aid the rebuilding of the economy. When the United States Stock Market crashed in October 1929 and the country began its ten year Depression, businesses and banks began closing left and right. This caused many Americans to lose their jobs and created massive amounts of poverty throughout the country. Prices became inflated and simple,

Read More
785 Words | 4 Pages

Through the formation of numerous potent solutions, or agencies, the New Deal proved to be effective in solving the economic hardships caused by the Great Depression. This is evident in Document 1, where it states, "More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil [hard work] with little return. " This quote highlights how the Great Depression led to extreme unemployment rates and inadequate pay for workers. As a result, Roosevelt proposed the New Deal in which the creation of numerous programs and government involvement could support millions of Americans. Therefore, the New Deal could combat these issues and alleviate the suffering of the people to restore the economy back to what it was like in the Roaring 20s, prosperous and flourishing.

Read More
1057 Words | 5 Pages

The chaos set out by the Great Depression on the American people set the stage for radical reform of the variety brought upon by Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration and the New Deal. However, this administration ran into the issue that it is difficult to give without the power to do so. The thing the Roosevelt administration was trying to give the American people was a stable economy which would drastically improve the Positive Liberty of the populace, yet to do so it would need to take power away and vest it in the hands of the federal Government. In doing so, FDR’s New Deal Liberalism would balance the ideas of Positive and Negative liberty by slightly lowering the Negative liberty of the states and corporations in order to greatly advance

Read More

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

Open Document