President Hoover & the Great Depression

Warm-up

Look back at your timeline. When was President Hoover elected? What major events happened during his presidency?

The Role of Government, according to Hoover:

Hoover believed in Laissez-faire government.

Laissez-faire is a French term

meaning “hands-off”. This means that government does not implement policies to deal with economic problems; it just lets the markets work themselves out.

Hoover

Hoover’s Trade Policy: Smoot-Hawley Tariff

Hoover tried to protect American production by getting Congress to pass the Smoot-Hawley Tariff in 1930, right after the crash of the stock market.

The Smoot-Hawley Tarriff was supposed to: Protect farmers through high tariffs, so

things from other countries could not be imported

Protect American production of goods Essentially force people to buy American

Hoover’s Business Policy: Laissez-Faire

Hoover also believed in a “hands-off” policy when it came to how businesses were run

He initially did not support those who were out of work because he feared that Americans would become lazy

Many became resentful towards Hoover because he did not help them like they hoped he would

Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)

Hoover believed providing money to American businesses was the best solution, so he established the RFC in 1932.

The RFC:Loaned money to businesses and banks to

keep them in operationSaved many corporationsSpent money on public works projects, like

building hospitals, roads, and schools

Hoover & Farming

The Agricultural Marketing Act was passed in 1929. This established the Federal Farm Board, which bought surplus crops and made prices of farm products go up.

This plan ultimately failed and the Federal Farm Board spent nearly $180 million before it was ended in 1933

Hoover & Housing

Hoover tried to give indirect aid to homeowners who were at risk of losing their homes

In 1932- he supported the Federal Home Loan Bank Act, which provided money to banks, financial institutions, and insurance companies to provide mortgages.

Hoover did this in order to decrease the amount of foreclosures on homes.

Many people claimed that this was, “too little, too late”

Hoovervilles

Shanty-towns that arose throughout five major areas in the US due to the amount of people without homes

These were named for and blamed on President Hoover

The Bonus Army

Veterans of WWI suffered greatly during the Great Depression

1924- before the Depression- Congress had passed the Bonus Bill; this said that all WWI veterans dwould receive payments, an the money would be put into a fund until 1945.

The depression really hurt many veterans, so they demanded the money right away.

Congress passed a bill to loan veterans up to 50% of their money.

Veterans were so angry that they marched on Washington and protested; they did not receive their money and a riot began.