Herbert Hoover's Impact (or lack thereof) Lets make this clear Herbert Hoover was a good person...He just didn't know what to do and to be fair to him I don't think anybody really did. Before the presidency (his only elected office BTW) he was a successful mining engineer and a millionaire. Him and his wealthy friends organized a relief effort with food and supplies to help the people of Belgium who were suffering after WWI. He believed that the principles of science could be used to solve the world's problems. And I mean wouldn't an outsider who has built successful businesses be perfect to run the country during hard times...wink wink get the joke:) Read below to see how Hoover impacted the relief of Americans during the Great Depression.
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World Trade, Gold Standard, and that pesky Treaty of Versailles |
Hoover promised that prosperity was just around the corner in 1930 when our who economy was going off the cliff and that of the rest of the world's too. The world depended on our banking system because of the Treaty of Versailles ending WWI made Germany pay war reparations much of that money was borrowed from America to repay France and Britain. When American credit froze up France and Britain would not get the money it depended on. Also Hoover signed into law the Howley-Smoot Tariff bill that made taxes so high on foreign imports no country could afford to trade with the U.S. In return other countries passed high tariff laws against us as well so nobody was trading with anyone:(
Currency was also a problem, everyone had their money backed up by the gold standard (money backed up by gold reserves which made it hard to fix your currencies value). When Europe went off the gold standard Hoover refused. To put it into words we all understand it's like if everyone traded things using Cheetos as currency and Europe went off Cheetos, but America still used it making it way too confusing and complicated. Staying on the gold standard made it impossible for America to pump money into the economy and provide relief to the struggling. Although Hoover did double public works programs and did increase the amount of Federal aid to the poor it was simply not enough to make a dent in the problem. |
To make matters worse for Hoover a band of WWI veterans marched to Washington looking for a bonus to be paid out in 1945 given to them earlier. There were thousands of them on the White House lawn. Hoover declared he could do nothing (which he really couldn't it was Congresses problem they pay out the money) he ordered that they should be dispersed. When the police were pushing them back a riot broke out and spilled into the city. Even though it wasn't his fault the incident made Hoover look horrible as if he was fighting veterans himself.
Many shanty towns sprung up across major American cities, these were called "Hoovervilles" and made up of the poor with no jobs and houses it will be some of the hardest to look at American pictures you ever see. Hoover would get destroyed in the election of 1932 to a governor from New York, Franklin Roosevelt who promised a "New Deal" for the American people. For more on Hoover go to 22:00 on the video below |