Transcript The Failure of Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover
U.S. History
PHS 2013
Hoover’s Election
• 1928, Hoover
elected during a
period of great
economic
prosperity.
• Defeated Alfred
E. Smith. First
Catholic to run for
President.
Background
• Republican
• Served as
Secretary of
Treasury for
Coolidge
• Mining Engineer
• Millionaire
• First President from
West of the
Mississippi River.
Loses re-election of 1932 due to
failing economy.
Direct Relief
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Direct food or money given to poor
NOT supported by Hoover
Food stamps
Welfare
Social Security
Medicare
Unemployment checks
Hoover’s “Indirect Relief”
• Believed churches and private charities
should help America’s poor.
• The Red Cross helped buy food for poor
until the banks closed down
• Believed government should leave
business alone.
Indirect Programs
• Favored “indirect intervention programs”
• “Volunteerism”
• Asked businesses not to cut wages or lay
off workers.
• Asked Unions to not demand pay
increases or go on strike.
• No consequences for not doing it…
• No one listened
Hoover’s Direct Interventions
• 1932 - Federal Home Loan
Bank Act
• lowered mortgage rates
• Allowed farmers to
refinance their farms.
• Did not provide money or
food for poor.
• 1932 Reconstruction
Finance Corporation
(RFC)
• Gave cash to banks,
insurance
companies
• Theory was money
would “trickle
down” to average
Americans in the
form of new jobs
and higher pay.
Boulder Dam
• Built on
Arizona/Nevada
border
• Now called Hoover
Dam
• Created Lake Mead
recreation area
• Provides water to
farms in Arizona, New
Mexico and California.
Were Hoover’s plans
successful?
• NO! It was too little, too late!
• With an election year coming
and things getting worse,
American citizens began to lose
faith in their president
Bonus Army
• 1932, WW I
veterans and their
families march on
Washington D.C.
• Demand early
payment of a “War
Bonus” promised
by Congress by
1945
• President
Hoover used
the military to
forcibly evict
the marchers.
• Becomes very
unpopular
among voters
• 1,000 people are tear
gassed
• 11 month old baby to dies.
• 2 people are shot
• campground was burned to
the ground.
Effect of Bonus Army Treatment
• The treatment of WW
I veterans outrages
most Americans.
• Franklin D.
Roosevelt wins the
election of 1932 by
a large margin.