Herbert Hoover and The Great Depression

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Herbert Hoover and The Great Depression

• CHA3U

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• "We in America today are nearer to the final
  triumph over poverty than ever before in the
  history of any land. The poorhouse is vanishing
  from among us."
• - Herbert Hoover accepting the Republican
  nomination for president in 1928

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Herbert Hoover (1929-1933)

• Republican
• 1928 election landslide victory over Democrat Al
  Smith
• Inherited prosperous optimistic nation
• Efficiency Movement a former engineer, believed
  technological solution existed for every
  social/economic problem

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The Great Crash of 1929

• Three phases October 24th, 28th and 29th
• Catastrophic downturn of Black Monday and Tuesday
  (28th and 29th) precipitated widespread panic
• NYSE lost 30 billion in one week
• Onset of unprecedented and long-lasting
  consequences for U.S.

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The Crash
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Causes of The Great Depression

1. Structural weaknesses in both American
   agriculture and industry
2. Frailty of international economy in late 1920s
   and early 1930s
3. Overly speculative and unstable foundations of
   American financial sector

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Hoovers Response

• His policies had little or no effect
• Mexican Repatriation Program (1929) forced 500
  000 Mexicans/Mexican-Americans south of border in
  effort to combat unemployment
• Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act (1930) raised tariffs on
  imported goods and encouraged people to buy
  American

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Banks

• 2 200 banks failed in 1931
• Hoover convinced leading bankers to voluntarily
  est. National Credit Corporation (1932)
• Used 500 million reserve to aid small, insolvent
  banks
• Failed b/c business leaders reluctant to bailout
  small banks
• Economy showed no signs of recovery

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Reconstruction Finance Corporation (1932)

• RFC Hoover's most important achievement
• Government funded and operated
• Designed to provide credit to large business
  concerns railroads, banks, insurance companies,
  agricultural sector
• Historians now praise RFC for saving many of
  nations larger financial institutions from ruin

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Hooverville

• 1932 unemployment 25
• Hooverville nickname of tent cities/shanty
  towns built by homeless
• Houses built of box wood, cardboard and sheet
  metal

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Bonus Army

• 1932 17 000 WWI veterans march on Washington
• Demanded immediate and early payment of WWI bonus
  
• 1.25 for each day of overseas service plus
  interest

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Bonus Army

• Camped in Hooverville on the Anacostia Flats - a
  muddy area across the Anacostia River from the
  federal core of Washington
• July 28th under command of Gen. Douglass
  MacArthur, infantry tank and cavalry regiments
  attack veterans
• Hoover order end to attack, MacArthur ignored
  order

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Aftermath

• Attacked w/ tanks, tear gas, bayonets, guns
• Burned camps in Anacostia, killing one Bonus Army
  member
• MacArthur repeatedly ignored orders to halt
  rampage
• Americans saw horrific images of the attack in
  newspapers
• MacArthur refused to take responsibility
• Hoover accepted blame and standing w/ public sank
  
• 1932 election - Hoovers chance of winning nearly
  extinct

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Election of 1932

• Democrats nominated N.Y. Governor Franklin Delano
  Roosevelt
• "I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for
  the American people."

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The Election of 1932

• Said that Even a vaguely talented dog-catcher
  could have been elected president against the
  Republicans
• FDR wins sweeping victory
• Realigning election - Republicans had controlled
  the Presidency for 56 of the previous 72 years
• Great Depression officially became FDRs problem
  in March 1933

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Election of 1932
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Legacy of Hoover

• By time he left office, nations banking system
  had collapsed
• Economy at a halt
• Left office w/reputation of a do-nothing
  President
• For years was blamed for the Great Depression
  and efforts to solve the crisis criticized
• Unfair judgment??