NOTES 2:TRYING TO SAVE A NATION- HOOVER FACES THE DEPRESSION

March 2013Modern US HistoryUnit 2: The Great Depression

President Hoover

Herbert Hoover was elected President of the United States in 1928. Expecting to take over a prosperous country, Hoover was faced with the worst economiccrash in America’s history. Hoover was a Republican president who believed in minimal government intervention. He stuck with the advice of current experts who said to do little or nothing about the Depression.

President Hoover

Immediately after the stock market crash, Hoover called leaders in banking, business, and labor to meet with him and find solutions to the country’s economic problems. He asked businesses to not fire any laborers and he asked unions not to strike. These polite requests made no immediate difference though as the economy continued to sink and unemployment continued to rise.

President Hoover

Hoover also did not believe in handing out money to the people in any form of welfare program. He felt that Americans valued individualism and self reliance. Hoover’s meetings with business elite and his negative feelings about welfare programs alienated many of the common people who were suffering during this time.

Unit 2 Clip 5: Individualism in Americans

An Attempt to Change

Before the Depression, Hoover had been working on a project to construct a large dam on the Colorado River. In the fall of 1929, Hoover was finally able to authorize the building of Boulder Dam (which was later renamed Hoover Dam). Boulder Dam provided electricity and flood control to the region as well as irrigation that allowed southern California to have an agricultural boom. This dam was built with money that would later be repaid from the profits of the sales of electricity that the dam generated.

Construction of Boulder Dam

Hoover Dam – 1941 – by Ansel Adams

Hoover Dam

An Attempt to Change

Hoover believed that this type of “cooperative” project would create jobs and improve the economy with minimal government intervention. He continued to try and foster cooperatives in industries such as banking which established the National Credit Corporation which loaned money to suffering banks.

An Attempt to Change

As the economy continued to fall, Hoover made a last ditch effort for change in 1932 – he passed the Federal Home Loan Bank Act that allowed farmers to refinance their farms at lower rates and avoid foreclosure. He also set up the Reconstruction Finance Corporation which authorized $2 billion for emergency financing for banks, railroads, and other large businesses to prevent bankruptcy.

An Attempt to Change

Hoover believed in the “trickle-downtheory” of economics that states helping large business will eventually ‘trickle down’ through the economy to help those in need. The RFC was an unprecedented piece of legislation that, in the end, was too little, too late – the economy continued to sink.

Unit 2 Clip 6: Hoover NOT Helping the Depression

The Bonus Army

While Hoover’s choices about the government’s actions in the Depression did not make him a favorite of the people, one act in 1932 caused growing distrust and hatred for him among most Americans. In the spring of 1932, veterans of World War I began to demand an early payment on the bonus that the American government promised to pay them in 1945. Congressman Patman sent a bill through Congress to get early payment of the bonus, but it was voted down in the Senate.

The Bonus Army

To get their demands met, a force of 10,000-20,000 WWI veterans and their families marched to Washington D.C. to protest at the capital. One of the leading groups for this “Bonus Army” was from Portland, Oregon.

The Bonus Army

The Bonus Army lived in a shantytown that they had constructed in D.C. The head of the Washington police supported their cause and even provided them with tents and food. When the Senate voted down the Patman Bill, Hoover ordered the Bonus Army to leave. Most did, but 2,000 stayed.

Bonus Army camped out on steps of capitol waiting for

Senate vote on the Patman Bill

The Bonus Army

Bonus Army Marches on Congress

The Bonus Army

In late July, Hoover ordered General MacArthur to disband the rest of the Bonus Army. The infantry gassed more than 1,000 people, killing an infant and blinding a young boy. Two more people were shot, many were injured, and the American people were outraged by the government’s treatment of their veterans.

Unit 2 Clip 7: Bonus Army

The Bonus Army

Hoover’s image suffered its final blow from this public image disaster. In November, Democratic presidential candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt won the election with 23million popular votes to Hoover’s 16 million

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