Bell Ringer

In the current economic turmoil, if your
parents lost their job and house (and so
did you relatives), what would you do?
Hoover on Prosperity
“It has been twelve months
of unprecedented advance,
of wonderful prosperity.
If there is any way of judging
the future by the past,
this new year will be one
of felicitation and hopefulness.”
-New York Times Editorial
January 1, 1929
“People stood in long ques with satchels and paper bags to
take gold currency away from the banks to store in
mattresses and old shoe boxes. It seemed safer to put your
life’s savings in the attic than to trust the greatest financial
institutions in the country.”
Gross National Product Nearly Halved

The measure of the nation’s total output of goods
and services
Hoover and the Great
Depression
Villain or Scapegoat?
Hoover to blame?
•One out of every four men are jobless
•Unemployment rises to 38%
Unemployment Rate Skyrocket
13 Million
Workers

The measurement many people used to judge the
wellness of the U.S. Economy
Impact on People’s Lives
Hardship
Homelessness
Hunger

Thousands of people turned to soup kitchens
and breadlines – lines of people waiting to
receive food provided by charitable
organizations and public agencies became a
common sight
Lines around every corner
Hoovervilles

“Hoovervilles” – Shantytowns – little towns
that sprang up in cities and towns to house the
homeless
Hoovervilles continued…
Farmers were hit with many hardships:
Many had gone into debt to buy machinery and land, and low prices
wiped out potential profits.
Drought of 1931-1932 turned much of Midwest into a Dust Bowl
While many Okies and fellow farmers migrated, most stayed put
because at least they could still plant food for survival
Americans head west
Route 66
Ridin’ The Rails

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Some 300,000 transients,
or “hoboes,” wandered
the country
300,000 school children
out of school
Some famous people
who rode the rails




Novelist Louis L'Amour
TV host Art Linkletter
Oil billionaire H. L. Hunt
Journalist Eric Sevareid
Bonus Army



Bonus Army – group of WWI veterans denied their
pensions marched on Washington, D.C.
Set up a tent city in D.C.
Hoover overreacted and sent in the army who burned
the veterans out (Led by Douglas MacArthur and
Dwight D. Eisenhower)
The Wrong Place at
the Wrong Time



Believed government’s role was
to encourage and facilitate
cooperation , not control it.
Believed handouts like Direct
Relief would weaken the
“rugged individualism” of
American’s self-respect and
moral fiber.
Individuals, charities and local
organizations should pitch in –
the federal government could
direct relief efforts, but not
through a huge government
bureaucracy
Trickle Down Economics and
Rugged Individualism
Andrew Mellon




Weed out weak banks
Repay War debts
Reduce taxes – balance budget
No Public relief
Boulder Dam (Hoover Dam)

Hoover obtained approval for constructing
Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam)

Would supply water to the states of the Colorado
River Basin
Hawley-Smoot Tariff



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Against his own wishes Hoover signed this tax on
over 20,000 imported goods
Hoped it would protect our devastated farmers as he
had promised to do
Thousands of economics petitioned for Hoover to
veto the bill b/c economy was on the recovery late in
1930
Other nations retaliated with their own high tariffs
shutting down trade around the globe and closing
markets when we most needed them