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President Hoover Dbq

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Thesis Question: President Herbert Hoover is often undermined and overlooked as an idle predecessor in comparison to the renowned Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Many people believe that it was Hoover’s lack of action that brought America to its knees before the Great Depression. Should Herbert Hoover be defined as the ineffective president accountable for the aftermath of the Stock Market Crash of 1929 or did he actually play an important role in alleviating the economic turmoil, but simply went unrecognized for his heroic contributions?

Although he is known to be an excellent businessman, the prevention of the Stock Market Crash of 1929 was an impossible feat for even someone as educated as President Herbert Hoover. All throughout the prior …show more content…

The ability to harvest product evolved into a comparatively swift task and the sheer supply of food was on the rise. However, this seemingly joyful moment soon went sour when supply became limited by lack of demand. As a result, crop prices fell and unemployment was on the rise. Upon stepping into office on March 4, 1929, Hoover noticed this decline and immediately began drafting proposals to counteract the effects of agricultural recession. Three months later, he succeeded in passing the Agricultural Marketing Act. In such little time, he had already put forth a resolution by providing farmers financial insurance, which helped sooth the economic unrest. President Herbert Hoover’s Agricultural Marketing Act was an excellent first impression in exhibiting his proactivity and his endeavor to prevent the market crash.
After the crash, Hoover continued to demonstrate his tireless humanitarian character when he agreed to sign off on the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act the following year. He understood that with the economy obliterated, public grievance levels were on a steep rise. Hoover wanted to continue protecting the people, as well as the U.S. agricultural interests, so he decided to draft a bill that would increase thousands of import tariffs. The goal was to encourage international trade and the purchase of goods produced by the United States. With even higher import tariffs and a high international demand for domestic products, perhaps America could be saved. At the time,

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