What did Herbert Hoover do?

Answer 1

31st President: Herbert Hoover (Republican)(August 10, 1874 - October 20, 1964)

Term: March 4, 1929 - March 4, 1933

Background: Herbert Clark Hoover was born on August 10, 1874, in West Branch, Iowa, and was the first president to be born west of the Mississippi River. His father, Jesse Clark Hoover, of German and German-Swiss descent, was a blacksmith and owned a store in which he sold his farming products. Hoover's mother, Hulda Minthorn, of Irish and English descent, was a Quaker. In 1891, Hoover entered Stanford University and graduated in 1895 with a degree in geology. Hoover traveled to Australia in 1897 to work in gold mines. In 1899 he married Lou Henry and had two sons. During World War I, he worked toward bringing home 120,000 United States citizens from Europe, and volunteered by giving out food and clothing. Once the United States entered the war, Hoover was appointed head of the United States Food Administration by Woodrow Wilson. Hoover then implemented "meatless Mondays, wheatless Wednesdays." Hoover became the 3rd United States Secretary of Commerce and was in office from March 5, 1921 to August 21, 1928.

Major Domestic Policy: Issues that were due to The Great Depression dominated Hoover's presidency. The country had very low morale as technologies such as the radio and movies informed the public of the difficulties that the country was facing. On October 29, 1929, the stock crashed, which caused the Great Depression. The crash was mainly due to the debts of farmers and to the over speculation of the Stock Market. This then lead to the unemployment of close to 15 million people. Up to 25% of farms went bankrupt and were taken away because farmers could not pay their taxes or their mortgages. This in turn caused a third of the railroads to become bankrupt and over 5500 banks to close.

Hoover sought to end the Great Depression by encouraging people to become less dependent upon the government and more dependent upon themselves. Once he saw that the Great Depression was deepening, he passed bills to improve housing for the poor, who lived in "Hoovervilles," where living conditions were considered inhumane. In 1930, Hoover established a public-works program with a budget of $150 million. Then, in 1932, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation was formed. This Corporation was able to lend up to $2 billion to large businesses and companies. Hoover's reasoning, which became known as "pump-priming," was based upon the idea that, by giving money to businesses, the businesses would then give the money to their employees, which would in turn end the Great Depression.

Also occurring during this time was the signing of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act on June 17, 1930. This act raised the tariffs on up to 20,000 imported goods. While the act was immediately successful, slowly the amount of exports decreased by 66% between 1929 to 1934 throught the world. Another result was that foreign countries imposed tariffs on American goods, which caused international trade to decrease even more, thus hurting the world economy.

In June 1932, World War I veterans camped in Washington D.C. when they did not receive the immediate payment of a bonus from the Adjusted Service Certificate Law. Congress offered money to these veterans, but a majority of the "Bonus Army" stayed. Police then tried to remove these individuals, but they were outnumbered and unsuccessful. The military was then call to remove the remaining veterans.

Major Foreign Policy: The Great Depression led to a decline in the amount of international political activity. The National Origins Immigration Act was passed right before the Great Depression and was enacted to control immigration from southern and eastern Europe. Up to 75% of all immigrants in 1914 had come from those areas. Then the first quota laws were passed, thus limiting the further immigration to just 3% of the immigrant population that was counted in the 1910 census. Later, Hoover signed the National Origins Act to replace the quota laws with an even more severe plan. Now only 150,000 immigrants were allowed in the United States.

Major Supreme Court Decisions:

• Near v. Minnesota ex rel. Olson (1930): Held that the Minnesota law that was against "malicious, scandalous, and defamatory" publication was also against the First Amendment.

• Stromberg v. People Of State Of California (1931): Held that states don't have the power to violate the First Amendment, which protects the freedom of speech.

• Nixon v. Condon (1932): Held that all of the white Democratic Party primaries in the state of Texas are unconstitutional

• Powell v. Alabama (1932): Held that, since the defendants were denied the assistance of counsel until their trial, it was in violation of the 14th Amendment due- process clause.

Intellectual and Social Development:

• The Great Depression took a toll on the nation's morale as the stock market crashed and Americans grew more despondent.

• Farming families moved from the Dust Bowl to places in the West such as California.

• There was a rise in the labor movement, and married women became more prevalent in the workforce.

After he was President he was appointed to chair two Hoover Comissions which made nearly 600 recommendations on how to streamline government.

Hoover's Legacy: Hoover will always be blamed for causing the Great Depression due to his idea of keeping the government out of the economic troubles. He will be recognized for his volunteerism during the Great Depression; his efforts on both the President's Emergency Committee on Employment and The President's Organization for Unemployment Relief; his aid to the National Credit Corporation; and also his ideas for increasing public-works spending. He will always be criticized for not creating relief programs to boost the economy. Overall, he was unable to handle the new consumer culture, such as the television and the press, and to work well with Congress. He lacked political leadership and will always be remembered as the president who lacked the programs to put an end to the Great Depression.

Answer 2

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