Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover was one of the most qualified and able men to ever have been President of the

United States.

Yet while he was in office, he was one of the most disliked and abused presidents in our history.

Who was this guy?

• orphan• passed around• farm boy• industrious• self-reliant• thrifty

Qualifications to be President• educated

• hard worker

• hero

• successful businessman

• problem solver

• good administrator

• government experience

Was Hoover a Good Guy?

Why do some Good Guys go bad once they

become President?

Was the Great

Depression Hoover’s

fault?

Beyond his control...

• international problems

• unbalanced economy

• distribution of purchasing power

• debt

• overproduction

Why was Hoover in this position?

Was it deserved?

How to Recover?Downplay publics’ fears

Failed to inspire people

NCC Couldn’t meet the need

“Rugged Individualism”

Make it hard to promote gov’t control

RFC Over Cautious

Conferences with businesses

Broken Pledges Asks federal reserve to increase $ cir.

Reserve Board Refuses

Public Works Funding

Consumers vs. Gov’t

ERCA Too late. 1st in U.S. History

Hoover’s Response

Downplay publics’ fears

Failed to inspire people

NCC Couldn’t meet the need

“Rugged Individualism”

Make it hard to promote gov’t control

RFC Over Cautious

Conferences with businesses

Broken Pledges Asks federal reserve to increase $ cir.

Reserve Board Refuses

Public Works Funding

Consumers vs. Gov’t

ERCA Too late. 1st in U.S. History

Bonus Marchers

• veterans’ point

• government’s point

Bonus Marchers

• Gov’t • Veterans

CLEAN ‘EM OUT!!!

• rationale

• action

• reaction

“With the government callous and blundering, with the business elite defensive about the disrepute it had brought on itself, with depression still spreading, Americans began to fear that the whole political and economic system might collapse.”

“Yet they waited patiently, as they had so often before in times of trouble, to see whether the presidential campaign would give them a vote for a brighter future.”

Did the Republicans

“have” to nominate Hoover in

1932?

Who was FDR?

• a rich Roosevelt

• highly educated

• political experience

• Governor of New York

• polio victim