Herbert Hoover and the Depression

Herbert Hoover Republican Hoover took office at a time of unparalleled economic prosperity and optimism BUT at the end of his presidency- the US was at the bottom of the deepest economic depression in history

Hawley Smoot Tariff Effort to protect American industry form foreign competition Congress passed the 2nd highest tariff in US History Tariff badly hurt the sale of US goods overseas as foreign nations raised their own tariffs against American-made goods

Rugged Individualism or Direct Relief? Americans had long believed in the idea of “rugged individualism”- that it was up to the individual to take care of himself when hard times came When economy collapsed people began to support idea of “Direct Relief”- the gov’t should act to help those who could no longer help themselves

Dust Bowl Between 1930 and 1936, a terrible drought, coupled with decades of damage to the topsoil from plowing, led to unimaginable wind erosion and huge dust clouds that covered the Plains. Thousands of Midwestern farmers lost everything and, bankrupted, were forced to move west to try to find work as migrant labor.

Dorothea Lange (1895-1965) Photojournalist Lange’s photographs humanized the tragic consequences of the Dust Bowl and profoundly influenced the development of documentary photography

John Steinbeck (1902- 1968) Author of The Grapes of Wrath, a Pulitzer Prize winning novel about the tragedies which befell his fictionalized family of Oklahoma farmers during the Dust Bowl Steinbeck also wrote Of Mice and Men, a story about the tragic friendship between two poor migrant workers

Hoover’s Response to the Economic Collapse

The Public Response After “Black Tuesday,” Hoover worked hard to assure Americans that the economy would recover quickly Hoover stepped up propaganda campaign aimed at boosting consumer confidence, believing that if Americans would just start buying stuff again then the economy would bounce back

The Private Response Hoover, however, knew that the economy was extremely unstable He held multiple meetings with major business leaders trying to win pledges from them that they would keep all of their factories open, but to no avail

The National Credit Corporation NCC Hoover tried to ease the nation’s credit crisis by creating the NCC The NCC controlled a pool of private money that it could lend to banks so that banks could continue to offer loans to the public; the NCC, however, never had enough cash to meet the demand for credit and so was a FAILURE.

Reconstruction Finance Corporation When the NCC failed, Hoover resorted to lending gov’t money to banks The RFC was created to make direct loans to banks and railroad companies Even the RFC could not meet the demands for loans, and the economy continued to fail

Emergency Relief and Construction Act In desperation, Hoover approved $1.5 Billion in spending on public works projects and an additional $300 million to provide “direct relief”—money provided directly to families in need Still, the efforts of the government were too small to stimulate economic growth

Consequences of Hoover’s Failed Policies

Hunger Marches Crowds of the unemployed and the hungry began to hold large scale demonstrations across the US, demanding gov’t relief

Farmers Revolt Desperate farmers began to destroy their own crops and produce in an effort to increase prices; some even resorted to burning their crops for heat in their home Anger continued to grow as more and more farmers had their land foreclosed

Breadlines and Soup Kitchens Appear As unemployment approached 30%, many people began to rely heavily on soup kitchens and breadlines run by churches, charitable organizations, and even some city governments in order to survive Demand was too high, however, to be met by charity alone

Hoovervilles In large cities, as people could no longer afford to pay rent, they were forced into homelessness Many began to live in homemade shacks that they built in any open space available, usually public parks like NYC Central Park Whole villages began to appear referred to as “Hoovervilles”

Hobos Hundreds of thousands of homeless, jobless men began to live nomadic lifestyles, moving from place to place Often lived in temporary Hoovervilles called Hobo Jungles, near any major railroad junction

The Bonus Army In 1924, Congress had promised to pay every American WWI Vet a $1000 service bonus in 1945 In May 1932, over 150,000 WWI vets arrived in DC to lobby Congress to give the bonus earlier- Congress voted against this After the vote, many of the Bonus army stayed in DC living in Hoovervilles President Hoover ordered the Bonus Army dispersed Hoover sent the Army, who used tear gas and bayonets to clear the Bonus Army our and then burned their camp Re-election campaign damaged

Election of 1932 Hoover V. FDR Roosevelt pledged a “New Deal” for the American people Roosevelt wins the election