The Great Depression

The Great Depression

American History II

October 2003

The Great Depression:

A look at Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt

Hoover and Roosevelt had very different ideas on how the

Depression should be handled. This was almost entirely a result of two integral differences in their lives. Hoover was a Republican, and had basically worked his way through life, while Roosevelt was not only a Democrat, he had basically been born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth. As one can easily see, in many ways these two are complete opposites. If one looks at both their upbringing and their political affiliation, it seems that Roosevelt's and Hoover's policies must have been different in a many ways.

Hoover was brought up in a poor family, and worked almost his entire life. His father was a blacksmith and they lived in a small house. However, through hard work his father was able to move the family into a much bigger house soon after his birth. He learned early in his life the importance of self- reliance and hard work. In 1880 his father, Jesse, died and four years later his mother passed on. At age 11 he went west to Oregon to live with his Uncle. His uncle worked with him, and later became rich. Hoover had endured a great many hardships in his life, and knew what it was like to do without.

With Hoover having and education and a past like his, one would think that he would know how to run the country like a business, so that it would stay afloat. But when confronted with the Depression, he repeatedly cut taxes. Hoover was basically a hard working Republican, and a self made man. He graduated as a mining engineer from Stanford. After capably serving as Secretary of Commerce under Presidents Harding and Coolidge, Hoover became the Republican Presidential nominee in 1928. He said then: "We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land." His election seemed to ensure prosperity. Yet within months the stock market crashed, and the Nation spiraled downward into depression.

Roosevelt, on the other hand, had been born into a very rich family. He grew up with education at Harvard and Columbia Law School, and had everything basically taken care of for him in his childhood by his mother. This gave him a sense of security, of being able to do anything he wanted, most simply because he didn't fail early on. He had never lived through what the American public was going through, so his view of the world did not necessarily include what it was like to live in poverty. He believed that the Depression could be solved by putting as many people to work for the government as possible. In my opinion, this could relate to how, growing up, he himself did not have to work in any way, shape, or form. Roosevelt did have one other perspective that would always be unavailable to Hoover. He had contracted polio on 1921; by the time he became governor of New York in 1928, he could not walk unaided. He refused to let this stop him, though, and remained a suave speaker, unlike his competitor Hoover.

Political affiliation is also one of the most necessary differences to realize in contrasting Hoover and Roosevelt. Hoover's policies, in my opinion, seem rather strange. One of his major efforts appears to have been lowering taxes; he basically expressed faith in the existent American system. He also gave the economy a big blow by passing the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. Some say this was one of the worst things he could have done. Free market advocates believe that lowering prices would cure the depression. A tariff does exactly the opposite, raising prices. He called leaders of industry to Washington D.C. and made them promise to keep up wages, but when they did not he worked with local welfare agencies. He basically refused to give out any national welfare, believing that it demeaned proud Americans.

While Hoover attempted much to help businesses, it was clear by 1932 that his policies were a complete failure. Thus earning the title of the do-nothing president. Even when the Democrats had control of the congress after 1930, he still stubbornly refused to take stronger action. Throughout this time, the bank failures had been steadily going up. His lowest point in popularity was when a group of veterans camped in D.C. demanding a bonus that they were due. Hoover ordered them removed. Yet even through all of this, he still insisted that the American public did not honestly want national relief.

This brings us to Roosevelt, not having a better