1. Hoover vs. The Depression Ch. 15, Section 4

2. Hoover’s Strategy Confidence is the key! –If people believe in the economy, they will spend more.

4. Voluntary Action o Companies keep wages high in hopes that it will stimulate the economy This plan fails as the economy worsens…

5. Federal Farm Board o $150 million in loans to farmers (failed)

6. SOME public works (Hoover Dam)

9. Hawley-Smoot Tariff protect American industries –Backfires when European countries pass their own tariffs, slowing down international trade

10. “If it were possible to give this employment to 10,000,000 people by the Government, it would cost upwards of $9,000,000,000 a year. It would pull down the employment of those who are still at work by the high taxes and the demoralization of credit upon which their employment is dependent. It would mean the growth of a fearful bureaucracy which, once established, could never be dislodged.”

11. Reconstruction Finance Corporation  Gave $$$ to banks and big business in hopes that the effect would “trickle down”. –People saw this as Hoover helping the “ Fat Cats ” while the “little man” starved!

13. Bonus Army WWI vets march on DC to demand a pension due to them in 1945

14. By the end of the rout: Two veterans were shot and killed. Two infants died from tear gas asphyxiation. An 11 week old baby was in critical condition resulting from shock due to tear gas exposure. An 11 year old boy, David Barscheski was partially blinded by tear gas. One bystander was shot in the shoulder. One veteran, Christopher Bilger, had his ear severed by a Cavalry saber. One veteran was stabbed in the hip with a bayonet. At least twelve police were injured by the veterans. Over 1,000 men, women, and children were exposed to the tear gas, including police, reporters, residents of Washington D.C., and ambulance drivers.

15. All of these failings made Hoover more and more unpopular.

16. Election of 1932  Took place in the depths of the Depression  FDR had created relief for jobless workers while governor of New York

18. Roosevelt’s New Deal  FDR and Eleanor were a powerful political duo

19. Empathy for the poor Promised a New Deal for America Offered hope and optimism in time that there wasn’t much in the country. Landslide victory for FDR –57% of the popular vote, 89% of the electoral vote

20. Change in viewpoint… For the 1 st time ever, Americans were electing a President to help them, not just lead them.