NOTES 2:
TRYING TO SAVE A NATIONHOOVER FACES THE DEPRESSION
March 2014
Modern US History
Unit 2: The Great Depression
President Hoover

Herbert Hoover was elected President of the United
States in 1928. Expecting to take over a prosperous
country, Hoover was faced with the worst economic
crash in America’s history. Hoover was a Republican
president who believed in minimal government
intervention. He stuck with the advice of current
experts who said to do little or nothing about the
Depression.
President Hoover

Immediately after the stock market crash, Hoover
called leaders in banking, business, and labor to
meet with him and find solutions to the country’s
economic problems. He asked businesses to not fire
any laborers and he asked unions not to strike.
These polite requests made no immediate
difference though as the economy continued to sink
and unemployment continued to rise.
President Hoover

Hoover also did not believe in handing out money
to the people in any form of welfare program. He
felt that Americans valued individualism and self
reliance. Hoover’s meetings with business elite and
his negative feelings about welfare programs
alienated many of the common people who were
suffering during this time.
Unit 2 Clip 5:
Individualism in Americans
An Attempt to Change

Before the Depression, Hoover had been working
on a project to construct a large dam on the
Colorado River. In the fall of 1929, Hoover was
finally able to authorize the building of Boulder
Dam (which was later renamed Hoover Dam).
Boulder Dam provided electricity and flood control
to the region as well as irrigation that allowed
southern California to have an agricultural boom.
This dam was built with money that would later be
repaid from the profits of the sales of electricity
that the dam generated.
Construction of Boulder Dam
Hoover Dam – 1941 – by Ansel Adams
Hoover Dam
An Attempt to Change

Hoover believed that this type of “cooperative”
project would create jobs and improve the economy
with minimal government intervention. He continued
to try and foster cooperatives in industries such as
banking which established the National Credit
Corporation which loaned money to suffering
banks.
An Attempt to Change

As the economy continued to fall, Hoover made a
last ditch effort for change in 1932 – he passed the
Federal Home Loan Bank Act that allowed farmers
to refinance their farms at lower rates and avoid
foreclosure. He also set up the Reconstruction
Finance Corporation which authorized $2 billion for
emergency financing for banks, railroads, and
other large businesses to prevent bankruptcy.
An Attempt to Change

Hoover believed in the “trickle-downtheory” of
economics that states helping large business will
eventually ‘trickle down’ through the economy to
help those in need. The RFC was an unprecedented
piece of legislation that, in the end, was too little,
too late – the economy continued to sink.
Unit 2 Clip 6: Hoover NOT Helping the
Depression
The Bonus Army

While Hoover’s choices about the government’s
actions in the Depression did not make him a
favorite of the people, one act in 1932 caused
growing distrust and hatred for him among most
Americans. In the spring of 1932, veterans of
World War I began to demand an early payment
on the bonus that the American government
promised to pay them in 1945. Congressman
Patman sent a bill through Congress to get early
payment of the bonus, but it was voted down in the
Senate.
The Bonus Army

To get their demands
met, a force of
10,000-20,000 WWI
veterans and their
families marched to
Washington D.C. to
protest at the capital.
One of the leading
groups for this “Bonus
Army” was from
Portland, Oregon.
The Bonus Army

Bonus Army camped out on
steps of capitol waiting for
Senate vote on the Patman Bill
The Bonus Army lived in a
shantytown that they had
constructed in D.C. The head
of the Washington police
supported their cause and
even provided them with tents
and food. When the Senate
voted down the Patman Bill,
Hoover ordered the Bonus
Army to leave. Most did, but
2,000 stayed.
The Bonus Army
Bonus
Army
Marches
on
Congress
The Bonus Army

In late July, Hoover ordered General MacArthur to
disband the rest of the Bonus Army. The infantry
gassed more than 1,000 people, killing an infant
and blinding a young boy. Two more people were
shot, many were injured, and the American people
were outraged by the government’s treatment of
their veterans.
Unit 2 Clip 7: Bonus Army
The Bonus Army

Hoover’s image suffered its final blow from this
public image disaster. In November, Democratic
presidential candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt
won the election with 23million popular votes to
Hoover’s 16 million
(2004). US Presidential Election Maps: 1860-1996. Retrieved [Date you accessed source], from the University
of Virginia, Geospatial and Statistical Data Center: http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/elections/maps/.