The Great Depression

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.

Herbert Hoover had a belief that self-reliance and hard work in industry is what makes America great, unfortunately for Herbert Hoover, this is exactly what got America into the Depression. When Hoover enacted Hawley-Smoot Tariff, he basically isolated the U.S. because no country wanted to pay the high tariff rate. Since America was left alone to suffer, Hoover decided that it would benefit the people if he enacted laws like the Federal Home Loan Bank Act. This act was meant to lower mortgage rates and help farmers refinance their farms, but since the depression was already in full swing, it was again too little too late. Herbert Hoover at one point fully believed that if the depression was virtually left alone, it would fix itself because of the boom and bust economy. This also didn't work, because without government help, the people didn't know what to do with themselves and were left to suffer the depression by themselves. Hoover's attitude was changing from optimistic to desperate because nothing that he tried seemed to work. It seems as though Hoover was afraid of what he had done to America when a group of World War I veterans, known as the Bonus Army, came marching in Washington looking for the bonuses they were promised. The bonus wasn't due until the 1940's, but with the uncertainty of the economy, they wanted to get what they could, while

When President Hoover entered office in 1929, stock market prices were at all time highs and the American economy prospered. Suddenly, in October of 1929, the stock market crashed and thousands of Americans lost their entire life savings. The crash sparked the most horrific and devastating economic crisis of all time. In the tedious years to follow, records suggest that stock prices fell “about 80% from their highs in the late 1920s” (Stock Market Crash). Soon after Black Tuesday, the United States economy crumbled to pieces. Many people became unemployed and homeless. Through the course of a decade, Presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt tried and failed to bring an end to the Great Depression with their own domestic policies and political ideals. Before Hoover’s election, federal administrators praised his humanitarian spirit. When Hoover became president, he fell short of his glowing reputation and failed to recognize the severity of the situation America was facing. The nation felt out of touch with their commander-in-chief and in the presidential election of 1932, Hoover was squarely defeated by his popular Democratic opponent, Franklin Delano Roosevelt who promised a “New Deal” to the suffering American people. The Great Depression was a long and difficult time for many Americans ended only by the beginning of World War II. Two utterly different presidents guided America through the worst financial crisis ever seen with two different policies, two

Many have argued that the New Deal was unconstitutional and violated the rights of government power. Roosevelt responded to these arguments speaking of political and economic inequality claiming that “these economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America. What they are really complain of is that we seek to take away their power. Our allegiance to American institutions requires the overthrow of this kind of of power” (Voices of Freedom, 169). He believed that those who disagreed with his programs sought to protect their own economic interests. The New Deal and its programs assisted so many suffering at the time, and helped save the nation by throwing the people a lifeline, giving them hope for the future as opposed to the alternative which, proven by Herbert

Former President Calvin Coolidge said, “In other periods of depression, it has always been possible to see some things which were solid and upon which were solid and upon which you could base hope, but as I look about, I now see nothing to give ground to hope- nothing of man” and to some extent it was true. Americans lost all hope in life entering a deep dark tunnel with no light in the end. The Great Depression was not something that appeared out of thin air; it grew over time like a tumor and eventually plagued America with an excessive disease. No decade was more terrifying in the twentieth century than the 1930s. The stock market crashing, due to people buying stocks on load, the debts from WWI farmers and consumers in deep debt, and

Shortly after the Great Depression began, society began to fail quickly. The stock market crashed, the unemployment rate skyrocketed, business’ and banks were closing and people were losing their homes they had worked so hard for. Although President Hoover was attempting to help society, he believed that instead of governmental interventions you should be self-reliant and would not fund welfare programs that may incentivize not working. Hoover’s “attempts” to aide the economy were not enough to turn it around, and people began to set their sights on Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the oncoming election. FDR made it his goal to ensure relief, recovery and reform were provided for the country to counteract the Great Depression and to make up for all of the years of negligence and non interference from the government, collectively called the “New Deal” 15 major laws were created in just the first 100 days he was in office, and his “New Deal” was coming into fruition and the governments role was now to step in and take care of it’s people, and to neglect them no longer.

Making of America states that Hoover’s major tool for solving the crisis, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, had some major flaws. For one, it took too long to begin operating. It was already years into the depression when it was established and this was simply too late. Not only that, but while it had loaned money out, this appeared to have no effect on boosting the economy. According to Biography.com, Hoover another highly fundamental mistake in his administrative approach to the Great Depression. In an attempt to guard America’s industries, Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Act into law, which raised taxes on goods to other nations. This inflated tariff on imports to foreign countries, which ultimately led to their refusal to buy American products in a time that money gained from those sales were crucial to economic revival. USHistory.com prescribes the concerns that many individuals have observed, and this was that Hoover did not recognize the seriousness of the issues at different perspectives of the depression, and therefore did little to directly address the desperate needs of the people. This is exemplary by his refusal to enact federal relief funding and programs that could have been greatly beneficial to the critical state of the country.

The Great Depression was a severe economic panic that drastically impacted the quality of life in the 1930’s. The Depression left in its wake, widespread hunger, poverty and unemployment, as well as a worldwide economic crisis. President Hoover and Congress responded to the downturn with the ideas that individual initiative, voluntarism, and high tariffs, as well as adherence to the gold standard and smaller scale government programs would prove to be adequate in righting the economy. Hoover’s failure to abandon limited government out of fear that the American system would be disrupted (Document D) and his insensitivity to the depth of the crisis led to his increasing unpopularity as well as an increase in severity of the depression. Disheartened

Some of these policies including the Farm Security Act. This act gave loans to tenants so they could purchase farms. The goal for this act was to build back up the farming industry. The Social Security Act provided some financial security for older Americans, unemployed workers, and others. FDR and his advisors viewed this bill primarily as an insurance act, also this act left out aid for farmers. FDR’s New Deal gave a stronger sense of security and stability, balanced economic interest, increased federal power, established a broker state, and a safety net. Hoover, however believed that the government should not be in involved with the assistance of Great Depression. In fact in document 5 Hoover states, “if government legislation protected the wealth of big corporations and the well-to-do, their continued investments would expand the economy and a better life would “trickle-down” to workers and consumers in general.” This idea is the complete opposite of FDR’s, this is one of the reason FDR won a second term, because America felt they owed their lively hoods at the moment to FDR. Lets now look at how effective FDR and Hoover’s programs

President Herbert Hoover inherited the economic problems of the nation. He unfortunately was forced to shoulder the burden and carry on the presidential legacy of continuous conflict

From May 1929 to May 1933 Herbert Hoover served one term as the 31st president of the United States. Hoover was a member of the Republican political party. In his election, he won against Al Smith with 444 of the electoral college votes. A few months into his presidency, the Stock Market Crash occurred. Naturally, the United States as a whole started to look to the president and the government agencies for direction. There were many ideas that Hoover had that didn’t provide relief to the civilians during the Great Depression, they actually worsened the crisis. At some points, he rejected bills that would remedy some of the country 's problems, because he believed that the government should not play a huge part in the bettering of the country. This belief was called laissez- faire. (Herbert Hoover)

After the Depression Hoover had some strategies he used to try and fix the economy, but they did not play out as smoothly as he would have liked them too. Roosevelt 's approach to fix the economy was more uplifting to the people in almost every aspect. Even their campaign songs, Roosevelt’s was about Happy Days coming again, and Hoover’s was about the depression. Roosevelt proposed a “New Deal” to the people and manny clung to it. His deal was that he was going to start experimenting with government roles. WHat he means by this is that he promises to increase government help and use the power of the government to address the people’s issues. Although, he did not explain how he was going to fix things such as unemployment and and improving the stock market in

The roaring twenties was a time filled with hope and change. President Warren G. Harding promised a “return to normalcy”, which reflected his own conservative values and the voters’ wants for stability and order. Americans felt that they had been through more than enough, and desired prosperity. During the years 1919 and 1920 the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Amendments were passed; the outlaw of alcoholic beverages and the right for women to vote, which ones of the many reasons society was turning their backs on Progressivism. Republicans were beginning to return to their previous dominance. The 1920’s was an economic boom for America, including everything from an increase in jobs, a rise in plentiful goods, new consumer products, and the reduction of taxes. The country was filled with jazz music, dance, and what appeared to be a brighter future. The 1929 crash of stock market was the beginning of a downward spiral leading in to the Great Depression. The stock market crash is often to be confused as the cause of the Great Depression, although that is false. A few of the issues that lead to the Great Depression included; farming (which decreased in demand as farms increased through the states during World War I), banking, and mass unemployment. Capitalism took shape as what was once the individualistic Protestant work ethic was reshaped into industrial work on a grand scale. Each worker contributed to the greater good, and the workers were presided over by a boss

Beginning in the early 1930s, banks plummeted, businesses fell, and millions lost their jobs. This left millions hungry, poor, and abandoned. Thousands were without homes and many lived in “hoovervilles.” When Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected as president in 1933, he began to develop the New Deal and government-funded programs to help improve the economy and the lives of United States’ citizens. FDR’s actions upset many republicans for several reasons: the New Deal was spending more money than the country had; deficit spending; the New Deal was only dealing with unemployment by turning of millions of people to government employees; and the New Deal was increasing government involvement.

Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother depicts destitute pea pickers in California, centering on Florence Owens Thompson, age 32, a mother of seven children, in Nipomo, California, March 1936.