The United States' 1932 Election Essay

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

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.

However, many of the business that had just pledged to President Hoover quickly fired many of their workers and severely cut the pay of any of those left with a job (Goldfield, 722). Hoover himself once said “You know, the only trouble with capitalism is capitalists; they’re too damn greedy” (Goldfield, 722). In order to help raise private funding for the voluntary relief his plan so dearly counted on President Hoover created the President’s Organization for Unemployment Relief. He believed that aid directly from the federal government would only cripple the recipients, take away character, and expand the federal government’s power. President Hoover even went so far as to veto any congressional attempts to send aid to the needy (Goldfield, 722). “The depression rendered Hoover’s beliefs meaningless. Private programs to aid the unemployed scarcely existed. Only a few unions, such as the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, had unemployment funds, and these were soon spent. Company plans for unemployment compensation covered less than one percent of workers” (Goldfield,

Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1932 election and Roosevelt won by a landslide carrying 42 states and Hoover only had 6. Roosevelt was determined to get us out of the Depression so he came up with the New Deal. This was designed to specifically help people who were affected by the depression. Roosevelt stated he would Relief, Reform and Recover America. Relief was to help out those who were unemployed and suffering. The Reform was to find out what the causes were and to prevent them from happening again and the Recover was to fix the economy. Roosevelt’s quest to end the Great Depression was just beginning. He asked Congress to end Prohibition which was later done that year. He created the CCC in 1933 that lasted for ten years and its purpose was conservation of resources. It also provided 2.5 million jobs to men where they earned thirty dollars a month. CWA didn’t last long at all. It was a construction job and lasted a year, but in that year gave over 4 million people jobs. They worked on things like rivers, schools and roads. Also in 1933 the Glass-Steagall Act was passed. This gave regulations to banks and people could obtain insurance up to 5,000 dollars through the new FDIC. After this people were no longer afraid to put their money in the bank. TVA is known as one of Roosevelt’s most ambitious act. This was created for the Tennessee River watershed and built 16 dams to control flooding and create hydraulic power. It also helped with agriculture

His opponent, President Herbert Hoover, was so unpopular that FDR's main strategy was to not to make any mistakes that might take the people's attention away from Hoover's inability to lead and fix the nations problems. FDR traveled the country attacking Hoover, but without saying any specific programs or policies. Roosevelt was so friendly and cheerful—and his solutions for the country so calm—that some people questioned his capabilities and his understanding of how serious the challenges confronting the United States were. FDR told Americans that they would only be able to overcome the economic problems if the worked together, a big difference to Hoover's American individualism in the face of the depression. In a speech in San Francisco, FDR outlined the job of the federal government in saving the American people from the great depression if he was elected as president. In easing the burden of the suffering, and in bringing back the American dream. The outcome of the 1932 presidential contest between Roosevelt and Hoover was quite certain. Americans voted the fifty-year-old FDR into office in a landslide, in the popular and electoral college votes. Voters also gave their approval of FDR to his party, giving Democrats majorities in both houses of Congress. These majorities would

After the Stock Market Crash of 1929, life for Americans changed dramatically as the nation’s economy came to a halt. With unemployment rates reaching historic levels, politicians scrambled to find a fix for the Great Depression; but President Hoover’s attempts to mediate the issue with charity and negotiation were unsuccessful at best. In the end, what had the greatest impact at the time was President Roosevelt’s New Deal. Roosevelt’s New Deal, focusing on the goals of direct relief, economic recovery, and financial form, had limited effectiveness in its time, but expanded the long-term role of the federal government profoundly. Roosevelt’s primary concern was to provide direct relief to the poor by providing jobs and financial assistance.

The Great Depression was a test of will for Hoover, one that proved too difficult for him to manage. His “rugged individualism” approach failed to stimulate the consumption and production that was necessary to jump-start the dead economy. Hoover did eventually support some interventionist government programs that aimed at combating the Depression, he feared that government aid would breed a sense of dependence among the poor. Thus, he refused to extend assistance to millions of the nation’s unemployed and hungry who were overwhelming private relief agencies. In the public eye, Hoover appeared uncaring and unwilling to admit that the people of the U.S. were starving and that his ideas and philosophies were failing miserably. He lost significant public support. In 1932, Hoover ran for reelection, anxious to prove that his policies could still revolutionize the economic crisis. Nonetheless, the Americans were captivated by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal. The New Deal vaguely promised a crusade to restore America to its own people. Roosevelt won, with an unprecedented majority.

The elections of 1948, and 2004 had many similarities. In both elections we had the two major political parties, plus a third independent party. We had a war going on, polls trying to predict the election, and two main candidates working on getting elected. The elections did have some differences though. Money spent, mediums campaigned through, and the number of votes for the third party. Despite the differences, there was one main similarity that stood out between the two elections, the type of rhetoric used to sway votes from both sides.

He also believed in the importance of volunteerism and of the role of individuals in society and the economy. Hoover, who had made a small fortune in mining, was the first of two Presidents to redistribute his salary (President Kennedy was the other; he gave all his paychecks to charity).When the Wall Street Crash of 1929 struck less than eight months after he took office, Hoover tried to fight the ensuing Great Depression with moderate government public works projects such as the Hoover Dam. The record tax bracket from 25% to 63%, coupled with increases in corporate taxes, in 1933 but the economy plummeted simultaneously and unemployment rates rose to afflict one in four American workers. This downward spiral set the stage for Hoover's defeat in 1932 by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, who promised a New Deal. After Roosevelt assumed the Presidency in 1933, Hoover became a spokesman for opposition to the domestic and foreign policies of the New Deal. In 1947, President Harry S. Truman appointed Hoover to head the Hoover Commission, intended to foster greater efficiency throughout the federal bureaucracy. Most historians agree that Hoover's defeat in the 1932 election was caused primarily by the downward economic spiral, although his strong support for prohibition was also significant, but because of the Great Depression Hoover is ranked lower than average among U.S.

During the time leading up to the Great Depression, Hoover was in denial, claiming that the government was “strong”. Hoover “did not want to injure 'the initiative and enterprise of the American people', so when he took action, it was too late. He created a few relief groups, like the President's Organization for Unemployment Relief (POUR) and the Restruction Finance Corporation (RFC). Both plans,

Overall, the people of America were not impressed with Hoover 's presidency, which proved to give Franklin D. Roosevelt a huge upper hand in the election of 1932.

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)

President Hoover even said that it was not really the federal government’s job to solve the problems. As a results of president Hoover not caring but the lives that the great depression was affecting. He simply “asked” the state governments to undertake public-works projects, he also asked big companies to keep workers pay steady and asked labor unions to stop demanding rises. His actions did not really do anything to help the suffering American of the 1930’s. Meanwhile, the unemployed workers of the 1930’s did whatever they could to survive by standing in breadlines and selling what they own or find to support their families.

President Hoover’s term of office ran from 1929-1933. Hoover believed in the Laissez Faire policy but he also believed in coarse individualism. This refers to the idea that each individual should be able to help themselves out and solve their own problems by working harder and that the government does not need to involve itself in people’s economic lives nor in national economics in general. It was this belief that lost Hoover the next elections

In 1929, seven months into Hoover’s Presidency, the stock market crashed and this marked the beginning of what became known as the “Great Depression”. Hoover, at the time, believed this was just a small bump in the road, and in no time things would be back to normal (Responses to the Great).. He soon realized this was a great deal bigger and calls grew to him to increase spending and the intervention of the federal government. Hoover denied involving the federal government in fear of controlled businesses, forced fixed prices, and the manipulated value of currency (digitalhistory.uh). Hoover felt involving the federal government would be just moving the country closer to socialism. He did give indirect aid to local public works projects and banks. He refused to use money from the federal government for direct aid to the citizens. He did believe the dole would weaken