Hoover’s Policies

Chapter 24Section 3

Hoover’s Philosophy Many Americans looked to Hoover for leadership Hoover characterized the depression as “a

temporary halt in the prosperity of a great people” Most urgent task was to ease human suffering Prior to crash, most American’s believed that Gov’t

should not intervene in the free-enterprise system Hoover agreed that the way to economic recovery

was through individual effort and not from government assistance

Opposing Direct ReliefCitizens demanded direct relief for the needy“Why are we reduced to poverty and starving and

anxiety and sorrow so quickly under your administration as Chief Executor. Can you find a quicker way of executing us than to starve us to death.”

“ I do not believe that the power and duty of the federal government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering… The lesson should be constantly enforced that though the people support the Government the Government should not support the people.”

Opposing Direct Relief Continued

Hoover argued that direct federal relief would create a large bureaucracy

“A government big enough to give you everything you need is big enough to take it all away.” – Thomas Jefferson

Hoover urged Americans to lift themselves up through hard work and strength of character

Congress suggest creating Federal Emergency Relief Board in 1931

Give states $375 million for direct aid for unemployed

Opposing Direct Relief Continued

Hoover refuses to support the billProposal fell 14 votes shy of passing in February

1932Hoover’s BeliefsRugged Individualism = success comes through

individual effort and private enterprisePrivate charities and local communities, not the

federal government, could best provide for those in need.

Salvation ArmyFounded in London in mid-1800’sEvangelical organization dedicated to spreading

Protestant Christian faith to nonbelieversPractical needs for food, shelter, and clothing must

be metSpread to United States and throughout the worldOne of the foremost aid providers during the Great

DepressionOrganized soup kitchens, shelters, and

rehabilitation programs for the unemployed

Encouraging VolunteerismHoover was not alone in his beliefVoluntary efforts would not be enoughLocal governments stretching funds to cover

growing number of needy familiesFebruary 1933 New York families received $39 a

month, by August 1933 received $23 a monthIn 1930 Hoover created President’s Committee for

Unemployment Relief (PCUR)Encouraged donations to private relief organizations

Ex: Red Cross, Community Chest, Salvation Army, and YMCA

Boosting the EconomyHoover was not opposed to government

intervention in the economyCabinet members proposed a laissez-faire

approach to the economySecretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon argued

that the Government should keep its hands off the economy

Hoover urged business leaders to maintain predepression levels of production, employment, and wages

“The worst effects of the crash upon unemployment will have passed during the next sixty days”

Economy ContinuedCongress and State governments funded several

public works programsProvided contracts for construction and materialsHoover hoped this would stimulate business and

reduce unemploymentGiant Boulder Dam on the Colorado River

Later known as Hoover DamFederal government built more than 800 public

buildings and assisted in building 37,000 miles of highway

Hoover approved $800 million in funding for public-works projects

Dealing with the Farm Crisis1929 Agricultural Marketing Act which established

the Federal Farm Board (FFB) Budget was $500 millionInstructed to find ways to help farmers help

themselvesFFB offered farm loans and also financed the

creation farmers’ cooperativesReduced farmers expenses by allowing them to buy

equipment, fertilizer, and pesticides in bulkAble to gain higher prices for the famers’ crops by

providing storage facilities

Farm ContinuedCrops were stored to be sold during the periods

between harvest when prices were at the highestCrop prices continued to fallHoover instructs farm board to buy up surplusFarmers refused to limit productionPlanted even more cropsBy 1931 the FFB stopped buying surplus crops,

already spent $180 millionHoover opposed direct relief to farmersHome Loan Bank Act in 1932

Provided money to savings banks and thought that this would reduce foreclosures

Reconstruction Finance Corporation

RFC – created in 1932Authorized to lend $2 Billion of taxpayer money to

stabilize troubled banks, insurance companies, railroad companies, and other institutions

By the end of Hoover’s term the RFC had helped many large corporations avoid collapse

RFC was created once depression was in full swingAlso provided no direct relief to industries or to small

businessesCritics opposed the trickle down approach to

economic recovery

Government ActivismFailed to end Great Depression but represented a

major shift in Gov’t policyPresident and Congress accepted the idea that the

federal gov’t can and should do something to boost the economy in times of crisis

Americans increasingly blamed their suffering on Herbert Hoover

By 1932 Hoover was the most hated man in America

Welcome to Hoovervillehttp://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA04/hess/Slang/

Hooverisms.html

Radical ProtestsCommunist Party and the Socialist Party

condemned capitalismOrganized mass protestsSocialists – Unemployed Leagues to demand workCommunists – labor-union activism and strikes by

migrant farm workers1932 marched on Ford auto plant near Detroit

4 were killed when police opened fireSeattle – 5,000 unemployed protestors seized a

government buildingAfter 2 days local officials forced them out

Scottsboro CaseCommunist party helped expose racial injustice9 African-American youths age 13-21 were

sentenced to death on a highly questionable rape charge

Communist party helped to supply legal defense for the defendants

Organized mass demonstrations against the verdicts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0Bj9LddD6s

Protests continuedSome activism was spontaneous

People armed with clubs, pitchforks, and shotguns confronted officials trying to foreclose on homes

Farmers destroyed crops

Blocked roads to prevent food from going to market

Bonus ArmyMore than 10,000 World War I veterans and their

families went to Washington D.C.Supported a Veterans Bonus bill that was in

CongressBill would have granted the veterans early payment

of the pension bonuses owed to them for their service during the war

Group was labeled – The Bonus Army

Bonus Army ContinuedOfficials initially allowed the Bonus Army to live in

empty Gov’t buildings and to camp in open areas along the Potomac River

Rejected by Congress and most returned home2,000 Veterans remained defying orders to leave2 veterans and 2 policemen were killedHoover ordered the army to disperse the squattersArmy moved in with machine guns, tanks, and tear gasArmy was commanded by General Douglas MacArthurHundreds were injured and 3 died, including an 11

week old baby“In Hoover we trusted and now we are busted”

Bonus Army Quote“My husband went to Washington. To march with

the bonus boys. He was a machine gunner in the war. He’d say them Germans gassed him in Germany. And then his own Government gassed him and run him off the country up there with a water hose, half drowned him.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGft-bzehuk

Election of 1932Republicans renominate Herbert Hoover

With public sentiment against Republicans no other member of the party wanted the nomination

Democrats nominate New York governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)

FDRSkillful and determined politicianBorn into wealthy and famous familyCould have become a Wall Street stockbroker, but

chose public service insteadInfluenced by progressivism of distant cousin,

Theodore RooseveltRoosevelt ran as a Vice Presidential candidate in

1920Polio left him paralyzed from waist down in 1921With help of his wife he became governor of New

York in 1928

FDR ContinuedEarned high marks for his imaginative relief

programs the had instituted unemployment benefits and supported failing industries.

“Republican leaders not only have failed in material things, they have failed in national vision, because in disaster they have held out no hope. I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.”