What was President Hoovers approach to the economic crisis?

Brother, Can Y'all Spare a Dime? The Great Depression, 1929-1932

President Hoover'south Response

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Learning Objectives

Past the end of this section, y'all will exist able to:

• Explicate Herbert Hoover's responses to the Great Depression and how they reflected his political philosophy
• Place the local, urban center, and country efforts to combat the Nifty Depression
• Clarify the frustration and anger that a majority of Americans directed at Herbert Hoover

President Hoover was unprepared for the scope of the depression crunch, and his limited response did not begin to help the millions of Americans in need. The steps he took were very much in keeping with his philosophy of limited government, a philosophy that many had shared with him until the upheavals of the Bully Depression made it clear that a more directly government response was required. But Hoover was stubborn in his refusal to requite "handouts," as he saw direct regime aid. He chosen for a spirit of volunteerism amongst America's businesses, asking them to keep workers employed, and he exhorted the American people to tighten their belts and brand exercise in the spirit of "rugged individualism." While Hoover'southward philosophy and his entreatment to the land were very much in keeping with his character, it was not enough to keep the economic system from plummeting further into economic chaos.

The steps Hoover did ultimately take were too petty, too tardily. He created programs for putting people back to work and helping beleaguered local and country charities with aid. Just the programs were small in scale and highly specific as to who could benefit, and they but touched a small percentage of those in need. Equally the situation worsened, the public grew increasingly unhappy with Hoover. He left office with i of the lowest approval ratings of any president in history.

THE INITIAL REACTION

In the immediate backwash of Black Tuesday, Hoover sought to reassure Americans that all was well. Reading his words later the fact, it is piece of cake to discover fault. In 1929 he said, "Whatever lack of conviction in the economic hereafter or the strength of business organization in the United states of america is foolish." In 1930, he stated, "The worst is behind us." In 1931, he pledged federal aid should he e'er witness starvation in the country; simply as of that date, he had even so to see such need in America, despite the very real evidence that children and the elderly were starving to decease. Yet Hoover was neither intentionally blind nor unsympathetic. He simply held fast to a belief system that did not change every bit the realities of the Bang-up Depression set in.

Hoover believed strongly in the ethos of American individualism: that hard work brought its ain rewards. His life story testified to that belief. Hoover was born into poverty, fabricated his style through college at Stanford University, and eventually made his fortune every bit an engineer. This feel, as well as his all-encompassing travels in People's republic of china and throughout Europe, shaped his fundamental conviction that the very being of American civilization depended upon the moral cobweb of its citizens, as evidenced by their power to overcome all hardships through individual effort and resolve. The thought of government handouts to Americans was repellant to him. Whereas Europeans might need assistance, such as his hunger relief work in Belgium during and after World State of war I, he believed the American character to exist different. In a 1931 radio address, he said, "The spread of authorities destroys initiative and thus destroys character."

As well, Hoover was not completely unaware of the potential impairment that wild stock speculation might create if left unchecked. As secretary of commerce, Hoover often warned President Coolidge of the dangers that such speculation engendered. In the weeks earlier his inauguration, he offered many interviews to newspapers and magazines, urging Americans to curtail their rampant stock investments, and fifty-fifty encouraged the Federal Reserve to raise the discount rate to go far more costly for local banks to lend coin to potential speculators. Notwithstanding, fearful of creating a panic, Hoover never issued a stern warning to discourage Americans from such investments. Neither Hoover, nor any other politician of that day, ever gave serious thought to outright government regulation of the stock marketplace. This was even true in his personal choices, equally Hoover often lamented poor stock communication he had once offered to a friend. When the stock olfactory organ-dived, Hoover bought the shares from his friend to assuage his guilt, vowing never again to advise anyone on matters of investment.

In keeping with these principles, Hoover'due south response to the crash focused on two very common American traditions: He asked individuals to tighten their belts and work harder, and he asked the business community to voluntarily help sustain the economy past retaining workers and continuing production. He immediately summoned a conference of leading industrialists to meet in Washington, DC, urging them to maintain their current wages while America rode out this cursory economic panic. The crash, he assured business organisation leaders, was not part of a greater downturn; they had nothing to worry about. Similar meetings with utility companies and railroad executives elicited promises for billions of dollars in new structure projects, while labor leaders agreed to withhold demands for wage increases and workers connected to labor. Hoover also persuaded Congress to pass a $160 million tax cut to bolster American incomes, leading many to conclude that the president was doing all he could to stem the tide of the panic. In April 1930, the New York Times editorial lath concluded that "No 1 in his place could have done more than."

However, these small-scale steps were not enough. By belatedly 1931, when it became clear that the economy would non improve on its ain, Hoover recognized the need for some government intervention. He created the President's Emergency Committee for Employment (PECE), afterward renamed the President'southward Arrangement of Unemployment Relief (Pour). In keeping with Hoover's distaste of what he viewed every bit handouts, this organization did non provide straight federal relief to people in demand. Instead, information technology assisted land and private relief agencies, such as the Red Cross, Salvation Army, YMCA, and Community Chest. Hoover likewise strongly urged people of means to donate funds to assistance the poor, and he himself gave significant individual donations to worthy causes. Just these private efforts could not alleviate the widespread effects of poverty.

Congress pushed for a more than direct government response to the hardship. In 1930–1931, it attempted to laissez passer a $60 million bill to provide relief to drought victims by allowing them access to food, fertilizer, and animal feed. Hoover stood fast in his refusal to provide food, resisting any element of direct relief. The concluding bill of $47 million provided for everything except food simply did non come up close to adequately addressing the crunch. Once more in 1931, Congress proposed the Federal Emergency Relief Neb, which would have provided $375 one thousand thousand to states to assistance provide food, habiliment, and shelter to the homeless. But Hoover opposed the bill, stating that it ruined the residuum of power between states and the federal authorities, and in Feb 1932, it was defeated past fourteen votes.

However, the president's determined opposition to directly-relief federal government programs should not be viewed as 1 of indifference or uncaring toward the suffering American people. His personal sympathy for those in need was boundless. Hoover was one of only 2 presidents to reject his salary for the office he held. Throughout the Great Depression, he donated an average of $25,000 annually to various relief organizations to assist in their efforts. Furthermore, he helped to enhance $500,000 in private funds to back up the White House Briefing on Child Wellness and Welfare in 1930. Rather than indifference or heartlessness, Hoover'south steadfast adherence to a philosophy of individualism as the path toward long-term American recovery explained many of his policy decisions. "A voluntary deed," he repeatedly commented, "is infinitely more precious to our national platonic and spirit than a thousand-fold poured from the Treasury."

As weather condition worsened, still, Hoover somewhen relaxed his opposition to federal relief and formed the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) in 1932, in role considering it was an ballot yr and Hoover hoped to keep his office. Although not a course of direct relief to the American people in greatest need, the RFC was much larger in scope than whatsoever preceding try, setting bated $two billion in taxpayer money to rescue banks, credit unions, and insurance companies. The goal was to boost confidence in the nation's financial institutions by ensuring that they were on solid footing. This model was flawed on a number of levels. Commencement, the program only lent money to banks with sufficient collateral, which meant that about of the aid went to big banks. In fact, of the showtime $61 1000000 loaned, $41 meg went to merely 3 banks. Minor town and rural banks got near nothing. Furthermore, at this time, conviction in financial institutions was non the primary concern of most Americans. They needed food and jobs. Many had no money to put into the banks, no matter how confident they were that the banks were safe.

Hoover'south other endeavor at federal aid also occurred in 1932, when he endorsed a bill by Senator Robert Wagner of New York. This was the Emergency Relief and Structure Act. This human activity authorized the RFC to expand beyond loans to fiscal institutions and allotted $ane.5 billion to states to fund local public works projects. This programme failed to evangelize the kind of help needed, however, as Hoover severely limited the types of projects information technology could fund to those that were ultimately self-paying (such as price bridges and public housing) and those that required skilled workers. While well intended, these programs maintained the status quo, and in that location was however no direct federal relief to the individuals who and then desperately needed it.

PUBLIC REACTION TO HOOVER

Hoover's steadfast resistance to government aid cost him the reelection and has placed him squarely at the forefront of the most unpopular presidents, according to public opinion, in mod American history. His name became synonymous with the poverty of the era: "Hoovervilles" became the common name for homeless shantytowns ([link]) and "Hoover blankets" for the newspapers that the homeless used to continue warm. A "Hoover flag" was a pants pocket—empty of all money—turned inside out. By the 1932 ballot, hitchhikers held up signs reading: "If you lot don't give me a ride, I'll vote for Hoover." Americans did non necessarily believe that Hoover caused the Great Depression. Their anger stemmed instead from what appeared to be a willful refusal to assistance regular citizens with direct aid that might allow them to recover from the crunch.

Hoover became one of the to the lowest degree popular presidents in history. "Hoovervilles," or shantytowns, were a negative reminder of his role in the nation's financial crisis. This family (a) lived in a "Hooverville" in Elm Grove, Oklahoma. This shanty (b) was one of many making up a "Hooverville" in the Portland, Oregon surface area. (credit: modification of piece of work by United states of america Farm Security Administration)

FRUSTRATION AND Protest: A BAD Situation GROWS WORSE FOR HOOVER

Desperation and frustration oft create emotional responses, and the Groovy Low was no exception. Throughout 1931–1932, companies trying to stay adrift sharply cut worker wages, and, in response, workers protested in increasingly biting strikes. Every bit the Depression unfolded, over fourscore percent of automotive workers lost their jobs. Even the typically prosperous Ford Motor Company laid off two-thirds of its workforce.

In 1932, a major strike at the Ford Motor Visitor factory near Detroit resulted in over sixty injuries and four deaths. Often referred to equally the Ford Hunger March, the consequence unfolded as a planned sit-in among unemployed Ford workers who, to protest their desperate state of affairs, marched nine miles from Detroit to the company's River Rouge establish in Dearborn. At the Dearborn urban center limits, local law launched tear gas at the roughly three thousand protestors, who responded by throwing stones and clods of dirt. When they finally reached the gates of the plant, protestors faced more police force and firemen, as well every bit private security guards. As the firemen turned hoses onto the protestors, the police and security guards opened fire. In add-on to those killed and injured, police arrested l protestors. One week subsequently, sixty thousand mourners attended the public funerals of the four victims of what many protesters labeled police brutality. The issue set the tone for worsening labor relations in the U.Southward.

Farmers besides organized and protested, ofttimes violently. The most notable example was the Farm Holiday Association. Led by Milo Reno, this organisation held pregnant sway among farmers in Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Dakotas. Although they never comprised a majority of farmers in any of these states, their public actions drew printing attention nationwide. Amongst their demands, the association sought a federal government plan to fix agricultural prices artificially high enough to encompass the farmers' costs, every bit well as a regime commitment to sell any farm surpluses on the earth market. To attain their goals, the group called for farm holidays, during which farmers would neither sell their produce nor buy any other goods until the government met their demands. Even so, the greatest force of the association came from the unexpected and seldom-planned deportment of its members, which included barricading roads into markets, attacking nonmember farmers, and destroying their produce. Some members even raided small town stores, destroying produce on the shelves. Members also engaged in "penny auctions," behest pennies on foreclosed farm state and threatening whatsoever potential buyers with actual harm if they competed in the sale. Once they won the sale, the clan returned the state to the original possessor. In Iowa, farmers threatened to hang a local judge if he signed any more farm foreclosures. At to the lowest degree 1 expiry occurred as a direct result of these protests before they waned following the ballot of Franklin Roosevelt.

One of the well-nigh notable protest movements occurred toward the terminate of Hoover's presidency and centered on the Bonus Expeditionary Force, or Bonus Ground forces, in the spring of 1932. In this protest, approximately xv m Globe War I veterans marched on Washington to need early payment of their veteran bonuses, which were not due to be paid until 1945. The group camped out in vacant federal buildings and ready camps in Anacostia Flats near the Capitol building ([link]).

In the jump of 1932, Earth State of war I veterans marched on Washington and fix camps in Anacostia Flats, remaining there for weeks. (credit: Library of Congress)

Many veterans remained in the city in protest for nearly two months, although the U.S. Senate officially rejected their request in July. By the middle of that month, Hoover wanted them gone. He ordered the police to empty the buildings and articulate out the camps, and in the commutation that followed, law fired into the crowd, killing two veterans. Fearing an armed insurgence, Hoover then ordered General Douglas MacArthur, along with his aides, Dwight Eisenhower and George Patton, to forcibly remove the veterans from Anacostia Flats. The ensuing raid proved catastrophic, equally the armed forces burned downwardly the shantytown and injured dozens of people, including a twelve-calendar week-erstwhile infant who was killed when accidentally struck by a tear gas canister ([link]).

When the U.S. Senate denied early payment of their veteran bonuses, and Hoover ordered their makeshift camps cleared, the Bonus Army protest turned violent, cementing Hoover's demise as a president. (credit: U.S. Department of Defense)

As Americans bore witness to photographs and newsreels of the U.S. Army forcibly removing veterans, Hoover'due south popularity plummeted fifty-fifty farther. By the summertime of 1932, he was largely a defeated human being. His pessimism and failure mirrored that of the nation'due south citizens. America was a state in desperate need: in need of a charismatic leader to restore public confidence also as provide physical solutions to pull the economy out of the Great Depression.

Whether he truly believed information technology or simply thought the American people wanted to hear information technology, Hoover continued to state publicly that the state was getting back on runway. Listen equally he speaks about the "Success of Recovery" at a campaign stop in Detroit, Michigan on Oct 22, 1932.

Section Summary

President Hoover's deeply held philosophy of American individualism, which he maintained despite boggling economic circumstances, fabricated him particularly unsuited to deal with the crisis of the Great Depression. He greatly resisted authorities intervention, because information technology a path to the downfall of American greatness. His initial response of asking Americans to observe their ain paths to recovery and seeking voluntary business measures to stimulate the economy could not stem the tide of the Depression. Ultimately, Hoover did create some federal relief programs, such as the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), which sought to boost public confidence in financial institutions by ensuring that they were on solid footing. When this measure did piddling to assistance impoverished individuals, he signed the Emergency Relief Act, which allowed the RFC to invest in local public works projects. Only fifty-fifty this was too picayune, too late. The severe limits on the types of projects funded and type of workers used meant that most Americans saw no benefit.

The American public ultimately responded with anger and protest to Hoover'southward apparent inability to create solutions. Protests ranged from factory strikes to farm riots, culminating in the notorious Bonus Army protestation in the bound of 1932. Veterans from World War I lobbied to receive their bonuses immediately, rather than waiting until 1945. The government denied them, and in the ensuing anarchy, Hoover called in the military machine to disrupt the protestation. The violence of this act was the final blow for Hoover, whose popularity was already at an all-time low.

Review Questions

Which of the post-obit protests was directly related to federal policies, and thus had the greatest impact in creating a negative public perception of the Hoover presidency?

the Subcontract Holiday Association

the Ford Motor Company labor strikes

the Bonus Expeditionary Force

the widespread advent of "Hooverville" shantytowns

C

Which of the following groups or bodies did not offering directly relief to needy people?

the federal government

local police force and schoolteachers

churches and synagogues

wealthy individuals

A

What attempts did Hoover make to offer federal relief? How would you evaluate the success or failure of these programs?

Hoover formed the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) in 1932. This represented a significant try, although it did non provide whatsoever direct assist to needy Americans. The RFC prepare aside $two billion in taxpayer money to rescue banks, credit unions, and insurance companies, hoping to promote Americans' confidence in financial institutions. Still, by lending coin but to banks with sufficient collateral, he ensured that well-nigh of the recipients of the assistance were large banks. Additionally, most Americans at this fourth dimension did not take avails to place into banks, however confident they may have felt. In 1932, Hoover also endorsed the Emergency Relief and Construction Act, which allotted $1.five billion to states to fund local public works projects. Hoover's limitations upon the types of projects that could receive funding and the types of workers who could participate, however, limited the program'southward utility.

Glossary

American individualism

the belief, strongly held by Herbert Hoover and others, that difficult work and individual effort, absent government interference, comprised the formula for success in the U.S.

Bonus Army

a group of Globe War I veterans and affiliated groups who marched to Washington in 1932 to need their war bonuses early, merely to be refused and forcibly removed past the U.S. Regular army

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Source: http://pressbooks-dev.oer.hawaii.edu/ushistory/chapter/president-hoovers-response/

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