hoover’s policies
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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.”
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