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Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover became president in 1928 with a a landslide victory over Democrat Al Smith. The nation was prosperous and optimistic at the time, and had no reason to believe that wouldn't continue under Hoover's leadership. In his first 6 months of office, he held more regular and frequent press conferences than any other President, before or since, and was mostly viewed positively by the media and the public. When the stock market crashed less than 8 months after he took office in October of 1929, the public looked for him to take action or, at the very least, for simple reassurance that everything would be ok. He ended up doing the opposite by greatly reducing his availability to the press. This made it look like he was hiding from the new reality facing the country, and by his lack of action... maybe he was.
When the Great Depression that followed gained momentum throughout 1930, Hoover eventually tried to slow it down mainly by encouraging volunteer efforts funded by wealthy individuals or successful businesses. Hoover did not believe in having the federal government provide direct relief to people affected by the Depression (food, $$$, etc...). He thought this would cause people to quit trying to help themselves and become dependent on the government for all of their needs. He did believe in trying to put people to work for the government if possible, and started some federal government building programs around the country. The most famous of these is the construction of what later became known as the Hoover Dam in Nevada (see below). To pay for these construction projects, Hoover raised taxes dramatically for struggling businesses and on people's incomes, if they were lucky enough to still have a job. This caused an already bad economic environment to get even worse.
By the end of his term in office, he began to support some actions Congress came up with to help the economy out. He raised tariffs (Hawley-Smoot) and encouraged larger, more stable banks to provide loans to ones that were failing. Unfortunately for him (and for the country), none of these actions produced significant economic recovery for the country during his term. Most historians believe Hoover's overwhelming defeat in the 1932 election was caused mainly by his failure to end the downward spiral into deep Depression, combined with his lack of action to end Prohibition... which had become very unpopular by the end of his term as many people wanted to drown their sorrows in legal alcohol (Prohibition was repealed shortly after he left office in 1933).
When the Great Depression that followed gained momentum throughout 1930, Hoover eventually tried to slow it down mainly by encouraging volunteer efforts funded by wealthy individuals or successful businesses. Hoover did not believe in having the federal government provide direct relief to people affected by the Depression (food, $$$, etc...). He thought this would cause people to quit trying to help themselves and become dependent on the government for all of their needs. He did believe in trying to put people to work for the government if possible, and started some federal government building programs around the country. The most famous of these is the construction of what later became known as the Hoover Dam in Nevada (see below). To pay for these construction projects, Hoover raised taxes dramatically for struggling businesses and on people's incomes, if they were lucky enough to still have a job. This caused an already bad economic environment to get even worse.
By the end of his term in office, he began to support some actions Congress came up with to help the economy out. He raised tariffs (Hawley-Smoot) and encouraged larger, more stable banks to provide loans to ones that were failing. Unfortunately for him (and for the country), none of these actions produced significant economic recovery for the country during his term. Most historians believe Hoover's overwhelming defeat in the 1932 election was caused mainly by his failure to end the downward spiral into deep Depression, combined with his lack of action to end Prohibition... which had become very unpopular by the end of his term as many people wanted to drown their sorrows in legal alcohol (Prohibition was repealed shortly after he left office in 1933).
The Bonus Army
The Hoover Dam
The Hoover Dam controls the flow of the Colorado River between Arizona and Nevada, about 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas. The purpose of the dam is to prevent flooding as well as provide much-needed irrigation to dry areas in states like California and Arizona and provide cheap hydroelectric power to the entire region. At 726 feet high and 1,244 feet long, Hoover Dam was one of the largest man-made structures in the world at the time of its construction. It continues to be one of the world's largest producers of hydroelectric power.