When was Herbert Hoover made Secretary of Commerce?

Answer 1

Hoover was made Secretary of Commerce from 1921-28 under the presidencies of Harding and Coolidge.

As secretary of commerce, Hoover made his most important contributions

to public policy. He was so able and active in the administrations of

Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge that observers often referred to him

as "secretary for domestic affairs." Hoover directly confronted a dilemma

central to American values: the conflict between the tradition of

individualism and the impersonalism of large corporations and big cities.

Hoover deeply believed in the traditional worth of the individual, the

value of personal initiative, the rights of self-expression, and the legacy

of freedom of opportunity. These beliefs were deeply rooted in American

society and in Hoover's personal Quaker faith.

But Hoover, as an engineer, was also profoundly impressed by the

virtues of science. Rational principles could point the way to

disinterested fairness in public policy, bring about greater efficiency in

the economy and in society, and, if applied dispassionately, cause an end

to the bitter conflicts in an America populated by persons of different

creeds, races, and social classes. In his belief that greater rationality

in public life could be combined with respect for the tradition of

individual rights, Hoover conformed to the mainstream of progressive social

thought in the early 20th century.

As secretary of commerce Hoover was concerned with applying rational

principles in order to end conflict between labor and business. But he was

mostly preoccupied with trying to bring the benefits of cooperative action

to business owners and farmers without destroying individual initiative. To

this end his department encouraged firms to join together in trade

associations and thereby develop and share vital information about costs of

production and distribution and about available markets.