Hoover and the Great Depression...Multiple Choice!!?

Question

The reaction of President Hoover to the Great Depression:
a - was to mount a recovery program that was greater than any attempted by previous presidents to stop a depression.

b - was to do nothing, because the market would correct itself.

c - was to only give direct relief to farmers because if the farming sector improved the entire economy would soon follow.

d - left many people believing he could save the nation from the depression.

PLZ PLZ help me OUT. Thank you so Much!

Answer 1

I'm not sure the truth fits the choices you've presented--at least not exactly. There is a common misconception about Hoover. Many people thought he did nothing, but they are wrong.

It was against his character and experience for Hoover to do nothing. Michael Teitelbaum wrote "Herbert Hoover" and told of how Hoover was known as "the Great Humanitarian"--which helped elect him to the presidency--because of his running the Commission of Relief for Belgium and later the American Relief Administration that tried to curb hunger in Europe because of World War I (6, 7). Hoover had several projects, including Farm Relief and road construction, that FDR would later do the same or similar things in different packaging and scope--when Hoover did it, it was wrong or wasteful, when FDR did it, it was genius (43).

Fergusson and Hall say Hoover did nothing because of popular economic advice that such economic downturns were usually of short duration (104-105). They also note that economist John Maynard Keynes had applauded Hoover's economic sense after WWI, by the way. They noted that Hoover "took no MAJOR action" [emphasis added]. They then described how the inaction of the Federal Reserve was exacerbating the problem--the Fed was an INDEPENDENT agency, I might add. Hoover promoted the formation of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to pick up where the Federal Reserve was dropping the ball.

Something to note, with a bearing on today and the political climate of this moment, Fergusson and Hall noted that when Hoover proposed a tax hike to pay for the extra costs the federal government was incurring, it made the recession still deeper (105). They also described very clearly that Hoover was dedicated to a balanced budget, causing part of the seeming inaction of Hoover (106). Notice too, there was a balance of payments problem that devalued the currency because of the gold standard. Starting on 43, Fergusson and Hall described that much of the Great Depression was international in scope and stemmed from WWI, which as noted before Hoover was with Wilson in pushing for more peaceful terms for the peace negotiations.

It is ironic that Hoover would suffer for the stock market meltdown, as iconic of a symbol in his time as 9/11 is in ours, because then-Commerce Secretary Hoover kept warning then-president Coolidge that the Federal Reserve money practices were fueling a dangerously wild stock market (Liebovich, 101). Liebovich notes how debt in stock trading had caused the crash (traders couldn't cover the debts from losses)--one of Hoover's first actions was to tighten the rules and rates for trading on margin--, indeed personal debt in general made matters worse (102). He also describes how things in europe made matters worse, and those were factors beyond Hoover's control. If you read Liebovich, however, be sure to read page 106, where the major papers ran editorials praising Hoover's cautious efforts. An extra note from a source I can't now lay my hands on, Hoover was the first president to use the telephone, and he had several lines installed and used them extensively during the crisis.

The truth sort of hits several of those, and misses at the same time.

Answer 2

As he did nothing, I would say, B. It was his successor, FDR, who began the great recovery program. Many farmers, esp. in Oklahoma, lost their land. Hoover sent (MacArthur) soldiers to stop people from gathering and mounting complaints in D.C.

Answer 3

i might probable say B with the aid of fact he became a extraordinarily lasseiz faire dude yet: He did enforce some classes, and that's attainable that they have been extra important than any previous attempt (no President incredibly tried direct releif in the past FDR) besides the shown fact that, the question is probable searching for B

Answer 4

That's a good question!

Answer 5

a

Answer 6

d

Answer 7

e.This is your homework,you do it.