Taylor+B.+-+HH+-+SP10

Herbert Hoover Born: August 10, 1874 Died: October 20, 1964 Party: Republican Term: 1929-1933 Vice President: Charles Curtis (1929-1933)

It was Herbert Hoover in his acceptance speech of the Republican nomination that said, “We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land.” With the 1920's coming to a close and all the prosperity it brought, this statement seemed to be just another reflection on the decade. Yet ironic enough, almost a year later, the stock market crashed and one of the worst eras in history occurred, the Great Depression. Unfortunately for Hoover, he ended up sitting in the driver’s seat to guide us through. It must have been a hard time, but Hoover handled his presidency carelessly and came off as not caring about the people being affected. With this said, he deserves a “D” for his presidency.

When taking office, Hoover established a couple goals he wanted to see accomplished. The first was to improve the economic health of the nation’s agriculture, which had been faltering for some time mostly because of overproduction. To achieve this, the Agricultural Marketing Act was passed in 1929 which created the Federal Farm Board. While this had good intentions, it proved to be insufficient in doing anything worthwhile to improve the economic standpoint of agriculture, and was thus abolished in 1933. His second goal dealt with tariff reform policy, a prolonged issue in politics. The Hawley-Smoot Tariff was passed in 1930, which Hoover hoped would aid farmers and protect them from global competition. This measure backfired, however, sending the nation and the rest of the world spiraling downward with the stock market crash even harder than before.

In the beginning of his term, Hoover and Congress seemed to get along very well. It was an easy time to be president, and he and Congress worked together to further conservation efforts and to provide improvements for the Native American population. Also in the beginning, Hoover was very tuned in to social problems like child labor and such, which he was able to make improvements on. But in later months, Hoover started to appear questionable as a politician. His decisions were limited, and he let Congress legislate. While this relationship seems like just a separation of powers, it actually was a huge price to pay. Tensions arose between Hoover and the Republicans, his own party, especially with Progressives that thought he should be taking more of a leadership role. When the Great Depression hit, this feeling was even more pronounced than it had been.

Positive impacts from Hoover’s administration are hard to say, but the best possible choice would have to be his progressive decisions in the very beginning of his presidency. Working with a nation that was at a pretty calm phase, he accomplished some good things. One decision, for example, was when he directed the Department of the Interior to improve conditions for Native Americans on government-controlled reservations. While not too big of a deal, it was still an improvement of a pretty much outcast society. Another decision followed Teddy Roosevelt ideals, when Hoover gave about two million acres of federal land to national forest reservation. This was applauded as a conversationalist effort, which in the progressive era was a pretty big deal in doing. So while Hoover wasn’t exactly the best president, he showed in the beginning that he could leave some positive impacts. Obviously Hoover had to deal with many conflicts throughout his presidency, one of which was the Great Depression. This could be considered the most negative outcome of his presidency, but since the Great Depression had so many causes Hoover can not be pinned to blame. Therefore, his most negative action came from the passing of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act in 1930. Hoover meant for it to serve as a protective barrier for farmers from foreign competition, but it was an addition that the Great Depression did not need. Along with Americans, this act created severely negative consequences for European countries. Raising an enormous tariff in a faltering economy was like putting up a wall between European and American trade-it barely survived. In retaliation Europe had to raise its protective tariffs, and soon an all out suicidal trade war ensued. If the tariff had not been enacted more trade would have been possible, which would have lent a significant hand to the down-turning economy. Perhaps the initial start of the Great Depression would not have been as bad.

Hoover himself did not really have an effect on the future generations of presidents. His efforts were far and few between, leaving everyone alone to do what they needed to do. However, from his administration the Great Depression can be taken. This was one of the worst economic crisis’s in American history, leaving millions homeless, jobless, and hopeless. If anything our financial system definitely had to change after the Great Depression to prevent it from happening again. In the present day we have a pretty stable financial system that guarantees nothing like the Great Depression will ever happen again.

In the end, it’s safe to say the country would probably have been better off without Herbert Hoover. He had to be the leader while the nation was spiraling into the Great Depression, but his decisions, like the Hawley-Smoot Tariff, just ended up with negative consequences. The nation was obviously worse after his presidency, and he could have had a more take charge attitude in creating ways to at least add temporary relief to the people. The only lasting impact he left was the memory of the Great Depression, which isn’t exactly a great way to be remembered. Hoover did what he thought was right for the country at the time, but in reality he just came into the job as the wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. Therefore, he deserves a “D” for his time as president.

Bibliography: "American President: Herbert Clark Hoover." Miller Center of Public Affairs. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2010. .

Bailey, Thomas, and David Kennedy. The American Pageant: A History of the Republic, 12th Edition. 12 ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007. Print.

Degregorio, William A.. The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents, Seventh Edition (Complete Book of Us Presidents). 7 ed. Fort Lee: Barricade Books, 2009. Print.