Following a decade of prosperity, thoughts of continuing improvements gained the confidence of Americans. The collapse of the stock market was just the beginning. Under the administration of Hoover and Roosevelt, Americans demanded government intervention for relief but were let down. On October 24, 1929, also known as “Black Thursday”, the rise in stock prices faltered losing half of their value in a single day. When it fell, investors began to sell their stocks. Between 1929 and 1932, the stock market value dropped 75%. Banks and other businesses suffered heavy losses. Layoffs and cutbacks lowered purchasing, so fewer people bought cars and appliances. By 1932, unemployment went up to 25 percent. The reason for the Great Depression is that the U.S. factories produced more than what could be consumed. Too much money went into profits and expansions, and not to the workers (Divine et. al, 2013, p. 844). …show more content…
He blamed it on foreign causes and unstable European banks. He rejected proposals and relied solely on voluntary cooperation within the businesses. He called charities and local governments to feed the poor. At his request, Congress cut taxes to restore public confidence and build projects such as the Hoover Dam. He refused measures of direct relief that would help millions of unemployed (Divine et. al, 2013 p. 847-848). In document 2, he stated, “The true growth of the Nation is the growth of character in its citizens. The spread of government destroys initiative and thus destroys character.” (Hoffman, Blum, & Gjerde, 2012, p. 231). Hoover’s efforts had clearly failed to overcome the depression. The final blow to his career was the banking crisis, and people were finally ready for someone else to help them (Divine et. al, 2013, p.
Herbert Hoover was elected president of the United States on November 19, 1928; unfortunately, less than eight months later, the stock market crashed. Hoover mistakenly considered this crash as only a passing point for America. But it was only three years later when economic slowdown and over speculation brought America into an upcoming Great Depression. This was a devastating blow for Hoover, his administration, and the American people. President Hoover attempted many ways to fix the economy. He founded new government agencies and encouraged cooperation between government and business to try to stabilize prices as well as attempt to balance the budget. These relief attempts might have shown positive outcome in the early years of the depression, but as the economy worsened, calls for more government involvement increased.
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s plan helped make the economy get stable through programs that he started, helping create more jobs for the unemployed. He passed bills that helped both the American people and its environment. For example, new roads and bridges were built. Another one of FDR’S efforts to get out of the depression was to enter WWII. Document 6 shows a cartoon of how much was produced for the war and shows Uncle Sam working, too. Overall, FDR’s decision to enter the war was the greatest impact on the Great Depression because they got out of it. Herbert Hoover was a terrible leader in many Americans’ views because they believed he did not do enough for the people and was more supportive toward big businesses. He gave money to the rich so that they would pass it down to the poor but instead the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. Another downfall of Hoover was Hoovervilles. These were a collection of poor people without homes. The name was given as a disgrace to Hoover. In result, FDR was a more favored president during the Great Depression than Hoover.
Herbert Hoover, the president in office when the Great Depression hit the country, did very little to ameliorate the devastating situation. Hoover underestimated the seriousness of the crisis, misdiagnosed the causes of the problems, and clung to his beliefs in individual achievement and self-help. His corrective measures, aimed at inflation and the federal budget, were thus damaging themselves. Furthermore, he hesitated to mobilize government resources to aid Americans and instead appealed to private groups to lend a hand (Encarta). Thus Hoover’s administration did little to mitigate the impact of the Depression.
In the year of 1929 the stock market crashed and hurt many of the people in America as it continued through the rest of the 1930s and into the early 1940s. This left America in a whirlpool of poverty and despair. When the stock market crashed it led to The Great Depression. It led to being where one out of every four workers became unemployed no matter if they were skilled or not. People became homeless and were struggling to survive. They had to make new homes out of cardboard or whatever they could find, these were called “hoovervilles.” Most people didn’t have enough money to buy food to feed themselves or even their families. President Herbert Hoover did not seem to be going out of his way to help the country in any way. He was against most forms of government relief and he believed that the depression would come to an end on its own. Americans were very tired and frustrated with Hoover’s ways and so they elected a new president. They elected Franklin D. Roosevelt who
Towards the end of the 1920’s the economy in America took a drastic turn. This was when Calvin Coolidge’s presidency had ended and changes in the government began to take place. “Just seven months after Herbert Hoover entered the White House, economic trouble mocked his campaign statement about being near ‘the final triumph over poverty.’ On October 24, 1929 panic swept the New York Stock Exchange as nearly 13 million shares changed hands” (Hamilton). The start to Hoover’s presidency was also the start of the Great Depression. His term consisted heavily on working on taking steps to bring America out of the drastic economic fall that they had just entered. He began taking action by launching public works programs, tax reductions, and the formation
Great Depression. The deepest longest-lasting economic downturn of the history of the western industrialized world. Began soon after the stock market crash of October 1929 (Black Tuesday) which sent wall street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors. Roosevelt was sent in to office replacing Herbert Hoover, a possible cause of the Great Depression, for twelve years or three terms.Though the time was devastating the positive outcomes like the automobile improvement and other improvements still last to this day. Although discrimination was a problem employment was increased so the New Deal was helpful for the problems of the great depression.
Analyze the responses of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration to the problems of the Great Depression. How effective were these responses? How did they change the role of the federal government?
In 1929, the United States Stock Market crashed, heralding the tumble into world-wide depression. President Hoover tried to pacify the people by telling them it was temporary and would pass over. But a new figure rose out of the people, promising he would do anything and everything he could to restore their lives. In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to the presidency, and his new policies would soon sweep over the country. Roosevelt's responses to the problems of the Great Depression were successful in strengthening the power of the federal government and instilling hope in the public, yet were unsuccessful in that they did not help him achieve his intended goal: the restoration of the economy. His responses were, however,
(Quote) “ It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another, but above all, try something” (FDR). (Background) This was explained by FDR when he was president of the United States. (Explanation) FDR wanted Americans to try new things because of the new public works programs and even if they failed to admit it, they would just try something new again. (Relationship) Critics stated that FDR and his administration methods were not effective, however, (Thesis Statement) the response of FDR and his administration to the problems of the great depression were effective, because they created the new deal programs, revived enterprise, and they created better conditions in the workplace.
Even during the Great Depression, Hoover believed that government should minimize the help given to the people, and furthermore, he stated in document B to the American people that "Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement. " Document C also repeats the same point Hoover stresses repeatedly: If the government were to help restore the economy, it would do more harm than good. Hoover's conservative stance did grow more liberal nearing the end of his presidency, however. He eventually created programs of relief meant to aid unemployment -Document B- and loans to farmers -Document C- in the form of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation which was made to help banks, farms, railroads, and such.
The country was going through an ongoing rough depression that the previous President Hoover left in the road for his processor, President Roosevelt. Although not only President Hoover decisions and approval of laws added to the great depression, but the
Hoover attempted many plans to end the Great Depression. Hoover rested on his belief of “volunteerism” which was a key concept of progressivism. Hoover believed private organized charities were sufficient to meet social welfare needs and was the “American Way”. Progressivism was when you displayed the wrong actions businesses were taking to the public in hopes that the public would make businesses reform their ways. This was a keen reason to why Hoover failed to solve the problems of the Great Depression. The first solution to the Great Depression attempted by Hoover came after the great crash. Hoover received a petition from the president of General Electric, Gerard Swoop, in 1929. It called for series of voluntary wage and price freezes of leading industries in the U.S. in exchange for freezing wages and prices. They asked in return for the government to cover the cost of welfare capitalism; which was an attempt to break the union, by providing benefits to make companies obsolete. They would pay workers 80% when laid off, but when the stock market crashed, they would only give them 20% salary. This was due partially to welfare capitalism. They
The Great Depression was a time of great economic tragedy during the 1930’s. October 24, 1929 was the day of the stock market crash, causing economical shortage everywhere, even globally, and this scared everyone, including the rich. This day was/ is known as “Black Thursday”, where over 2.9 million shares were traded. On “Black Tuesday”, five days later, more than 16 million more shares were traded in another wave of panic. Many investors then lost confidence in their banks and demanded deposits in cash which forced the banks to liquidate loans in order to supplement their on hand cash reserves. By 1933, around 15 million Americans were unemployed and nearly half of the country’s banks had failed. This stopped Americans from purchasing which then led to less production of goods and decreased the amount of needed human labor. In the end, millions of shares ended up worthless, and those investors who had bought stocks with borrowed money were wiped out completely.
During Herbert Hoover’s administration any mistakes were made after the Stock Market crash. After the crash during the depression Hoover took action but made a few mistakes along the way. Many of Hoover’s acts were passed by congress and signed by Hoover himself. His worst offense was the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, which raised tariffs. The raising of tariffs was the worst possible thing that could have occurred. Hoover tried his best to reassure the country that the economy would become improved, although it actually worsened. To improve things after the crash Hoover prepared all Federal Departments to speed up public works. He did this with hopes to generate supplementary jobs and bring back the economy. As well, Hoover asked congress if they would reduce spending, and use what was no longer required to restart public works. Unfortunately for Hoover a collapse in Europe and a change in foreign trade caused prices for United States manufactured goods and farm equipment. After this occurrence President Hoover asked congress once again for more money, his time he wanted the money for farm loans and to establish the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which would be used to help buildings in need as well as banks and railroads. With all of Hoovers efforts by July 1932 the Depression began
In the 1920s, American economy had a great time. The vast majority of Americans in 1929 foresaw a continuation of the dizzying economic growth that had taken place in most of the decade. However, the prices of stock crested in early September of 1929. The price of stock fell gradually during most of September and early October. On “Black Tuesday” 29 October 1929, the stock market fell by forty points. After that, a historically great and long economic depression started and lasted until the start of the Second World War. The three causes of the Great Depression are installment buying, uneven distribution of wealth and the irrational behavior in the stock market.