Hoover’s Policies

1. Hoover’s Policies Chapter 24 Section 3

2. Hoover’s Philosophy • Many Americans looked to Hoover for leadership • Hoover characterized the depression as “a temporary halt in the prosperity of a great people” • Most urgent task was to ease human suffering • Prior to crash, most American’s believed that Gov’t should not intervene in the free-enterprise system • Hoover agreed that the way to economic recovery was through individual effort and not from government assistance

3. Opposing Direct Relief • Citizens demanded direct relief for the needy • “Why are we reduced to poverty and starving and anxiety and sorrow so quickly under your administration as Chief Executor. Can you find a quicker way of executing us than to starve us to death.” • “ I do not believe that the power and duty of the federal government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering… The lesson should be constantly enforced that though the people support the Government the Government should not support the people.”

4. Opposing Direct Relief Continued • Hoover argued that direct federal relief would create a large bureaucracy • “A government big enough to give you everything you need is big enough to take it all away.” – Thomas Jefferson • Hoover urged Americans to lift themselves up through hard work and strength of character • Congress suggest creating Federal Emergency Relief Board in 1931 • Give states $375 million for direct aid for unemployed

5. Opposing Direct Relief Continued • Hoover refuses to support the bill • Proposal fell 14 votes shy of passing in February 1932 • Hoover’s Beliefs • Rugged Individualism = success comes through individual effort and private enterprise • Private charities and local communities, not the federal government, could best provide for those in need.

6. Salvation Army • Founded in London in mid-1800’s • Evangelical organization dedicated to spreading Protestant Christian faith to nonbelievers • Practical needs for food, shelter, and clothing must be met • Spread to United States and throughout the world • One of the foremost aid providers during the Great Depression • Organized soup kitchens, shelters, and rehabilitation programs for the unemployed

7. Encouraging Volunteerism • Hoover was not alone in his belief • Voluntary efforts would not be enough • Local governments stretching funds to cover growing number of needy families • February 1933 New York families received $39 a month, by August 1933 received $23 a month • In 1930 Hoover created President’s Committee for Unemployment Relief (PCUR) • Encouraged donations to private relief organizations • Ex: Red Cross, Community Chest, Salvation Army, and YMCA

8. Boosting the Economy • Hoover was not opposed to government intervention in the economy • Cabinet members proposed a laissez-faire approach to the economy • Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon argued that the Government should keep its hands off the economy • Hoover urged business leaders to maintain predepression levels of production, employment, and wages • “The worst effects of the crash upon unemployment will have passed during the next sixty days”

9. Economy Continued • Congress and State governments funded several public works programs • Provided contracts for construction and materials • Hoover hoped this would stimulate business and reduce unemployment • Giant Boulder Dam on the Colorado River • Later known as Hoover Dam • Federal government built more than 800 public buildings and assisted in building 37,000 miles of highway • Hoover approved $800 million in funding for public-works projects

10. Dealing with the Farm Crisis • 1929 Agricultural Marketing Act which established the Federal Farm Board (FFB) • Budget was $500 million • Instructed to find ways to help farmers help themselves • FFB offered farm loansand also financed the creation farmers’ cooperatives • Reduced farmers expenses by allowing them to buy equipment, fertilizer, and pesticides in bulk • Able to gain higher prices for the famers’ crops by providing storage facilities

11. Farm Continued • Crops were stored to be sold during the periods between harvest when prices were at the highest • Crop prices continued to fall • Hoover instructs farm board to buy up surplus • Farmers refused to limit production • Planted even more crops • By 1931 the FFB stopped buying surplus crops, already spent $180 million • Hoover opposed direct relief to farmers • Home Loan Bank Act in 1932 • Provided money to savings banks and thought that this would reduce foreclosures

12. Reconstruction Finance Corporation • RFC – created in 1932 • Authorized to lend $2 Billion of taxpayer money to stabilize troubled banks, insurance companies, railroad companies, and other institutions • By the end of Hoover’s term the RFC had helped many large corporations avoid collapse • RFC was created once depression was in full swing • Also provided no direct relief to industries or to small businesses • Critics opposed the trickle down approach to economic recovery

13. Government Activism • Failed to end Great Depression but represented a major shift in Gov’t policy • President and Congress accepted the idea that the federal gov’t can and should do something to boost the economy in times of crisis • Americans increasingly blamed their suffering on Herbert Hoover • By 1932 Hoover was the most hated man in America

14. Welcome to Hooverville • http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA04/hess/Slang/Hooverisms.html

15. Radical Protests • Communist Party and the Socialist Party condemned capitalism • Organized mass protests • Socialists – Unemployed Leagues to demand work • Communists – labor-union activism and strikes by migrant farm workers • 1932 marched on Ford auto plant near Detroit • 4 were killed when police opened fire • Seattle – 5,000 unemployed protestors seized a government building • After 2 days local officials forced them out

16. Scottsboro Case • Communist party helped expose racial injustice • 9 African-American youths age 13-21 were sentenced to death on a highly questionable rape charge • Communist party helped to supply legal defense for the defendants • Organized mass demonstrations against the verdicts • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0Bj9LddD6s

17. Protests continued • Some activism was spontaneous • People armed with clubs, pitchforks, and shotguns confronted officials trying to foreclose on homes • Farmers destroyed crops • Blocked roads to prevent food from going to market

18. Bonus Army • More than 10,000 World War I veterans and their families went to Washington D.C. • Supported a Veterans Bonus bill that was in Congress • Bill would have granted the veterans early payment of the pension bonuses owed to them for their service during the war • Group was labeled – The Bonus Army

19. Bonus Army Continued • Officials initially allowed the Bonus Army to live in empty Gov’t buildingsand to camp in open areas along the Potomac River • Rejected by Congress and most returned home • 2,000 Veterans remained defying orders to leave • 2 veterans and 2 policemen were killed • Hoover ordered the army to disperse the squatters • Army moved in with machine guns, tanks, and tear gas • Army was commanded by General Douglas MacArthur • Hundreds were injured and 3 died, including an 11 week old baby • “In Hoover we trusted and now we are busted”

20. Bonus Army Quote • “My husband went to Washington. To march with the bonus boys. He was a machine gunner in the war. He’d say them Germans gassed him in Germany. And then his own Government gassed him and run him off the country up there with a water hose, half drowned him.” • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGft-bzehuk

21. Election of 1932 • Republicans renominate Herbert Hoover • With public sentiment against Republicans no other member of the party wanted the nomination • Democrats nominate New York governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)

22. FDR • Skillful and determined politician • Born into wealthy and famous family • Could have become a Wall Street stockbroker, but chose public service instead • Influenced by progressivism of distant cousin, Theodore Roosevelt • Roosevelt ran as a Vice Presidential candidate in 1920 • Polio left him paralyzed from waist down in 1921 • With help of his wife he became governor of New York in 1928

23. FDR Continued • Earned high marks for his imaginative relief programs the had instituted unemployment benefits and supported failing industries. • “Republican leaders not only have failed in material things, they have failed in national vision, because in disaster they have held out no hope. I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.”