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Herbert Hoover // Born: // August 10, 1874 // Died: // October 20, 1964 // Party: // Republican // Term: // March 4, 1929- March 4, 1933 // Vice President: // Charles Curtis

// Presidential Rating: // Herbert Hoover had all the traits a man would need to run a country, like leadership, intelligence and determination. Before he stepped foot into presidency, this guy was qualified to be in charge, his leadership skills got him into the position of the director of the American Relief Committee. He was always determined to succeed, in his job as a miner, in his books as an author, and to his family as a husband and father. Added to this entire list, he was quite intelligent, and received an engineering degree from Stanford. Yet, the “Great Humanitarian” wasn’t the key to a perfect country; he had some positives while serving, but his negatives overpowered the good. Overall, Hoover deserves a **C** for his term in office.

// Goals of Presidency: // Hoover envisioned that if he won the election, he was going to make this country better than it had ever been before. He had all these goals lined up, just waiting for him to make possible. First, he was going to start with the farmers; he knew they were suffering more than the other citizens, so his first goal was to generally improve the lives of the American farmers, by giving them relief. He wanted to develop more waterways, and increase the trades. Thirdly, he felt that it was his job to reform the present immigration laws; to better affiliate the country. He also felt that Prohibition needed to stay a law, so he pushed that it keep from being repealed, since it had positively impacted the United States up to that point. The two main goals though were keeping the protective tariff and bringing back the nonintervention foreign policy previously intact.

These goals were partially accomplished throughout the four years. He did help with the immigration laws, push from Prohibition and keep the protective tariff. While at the same time, he struggled to improve farmer’s lives, and create more waterways. His intentions were high, but that wasn’t going to benefit America like he had hoped. // Relations with Congress: // Overall, Hoover had a neutral relationship with Congress.

In the 71st Congress, the Republican Party had the majority in both the Senate (56-39-1) and the House (267-163-3). These few years, 1929-1931, a small amount was passed through. While the majority support agreed with Hoover, they had little to show for it. They passed the Agricultural Marketing Act on June 15, 1929. This Act created a Federal Farm Board, which was supposed to help Hoover’s goal of better the suffering farmers. On June 17, 1929, they passed the Reapportionment Act of 1929. This Act created the permanent method of having 435 seats in the House, based of the taken census. Further meaning, depending on census shifts, the House had the right to switch up the amount of seats a state was given. Lastly, they passed the Hawley- Smoot Tariff. The main issue of this tariff was the idea that it lead to the Great Depression.

In the 72nd Congress, the Republican’s only had majority in the Senate (48-47-1). The House was Democratically powerful (220-214-0), yet this didn’t cause any issues in terms of passing versus vetoes. In fact, more was passed in these two years than in the first. On January 22, 1932 the Reconstruction Finance Corporation Act was passed. It was used to help alleviate the pain of the Great Depression, by giving money to banks, insurance companies and needy businesses. On March 23, the Norris-LaGuardia Act stated that all workers who wanted to be in a Union, were not allowed to be enforced out of it. A few months later, on June 6, the Revenue Act of 1932 went through. This Act raised the tax rates throughout the country from 25-63%. The last Act of 1932 was the Federal Home Loan Bank Act, which decreased the cost of owning a home. Then, in 1933, the Buy American Act was enforced. People were supposed to buy American products, rather than get any from foreign business.

Even though the Republican’s didn’t dominate all the time in the Senate and the House; Congress was neutral. Things got passed that needed to be passed, but nothing was just given to the majority party.

// President’s Administration: // The Administration had a couple positive achievements, but many of those even turned out to be negative. They had little hope to improvement though, after one of the countries worst economic catastrophes occurred during Hoover’s presidency. Even if they had planned on more positive ideas; they couldn’t control the issue they were dealt with.

While there were many Acts passed in Congress, some of the credit was given to the Administration as well. For example, the Agricultural Marketing Act; in which the Federal Farm Board was created. They used this board to encourage farmers to form cooperation, and keep the amount of surplus under control. While it started out great, the idea was positively going to help meet Hoover’s goal; it turns out nothing ever came of it; making it a negative contribution. Also, Congress passed the Hawley-Smoot Tariff, but the Administration is given partial credit as well. This Tariff was going to help the farmers, and protect them from the global competition they were facing. It didn’t turn out like they had hoped; in fact it increased the global tariff, and hurt the trade.

The positive advance in Administration came during the issue of Prohibition. They appointed the Wickersham Commission. They were supposed to check out how many people enforced the law. It wasn’t that important; but it did show them that America was doing okay at keeping dry. Not everyone was following the rules; but at the same time, problems were not occurring like before either.

The negatives of Administration overpower the good. There were small issues like the Bonus March in 1932. Veteran soldiers were striking in DC for the bonus money they felt they earned from war. Congress overturned this idea; but Hoover, and his tem, decided to use the force of weaponry to stop the issue. Also, the London Naval Treaty; which permitted Japan to increase their amount of fleet to reach the amount of the United States and Great Britain. This mistake played a role in World War II.

The biggest outcome of all was with the Stock Market Crash and Great Depression. The crash started on October 24, 1924, on “Black Thursday”. The prices of stocks plummeted, so the amount of trade increased. Yet, the biggest crash came on October 29, 1924; in which we lost billions of dollars worth of stock. The issue was maintained for a few days, thanks to a few bankers who volunteered to buy such large amounts of stock. But, they couldn’t stop the crash from finally coming, and when it did; the country was changed so dramatically. The Great Depression came out of the crash. While there were many predictors of a future depression, no one was willing to see it. Everything was finally economically perfect. People were living well, and life was where it was supposed to be. The biggest four predictors were 1. surplus of agricultural products, which lowered the price they were sold 2. lack of harness on credit, the limit was endless and no one was stopping themselves 3. the high tariff amounts limited global trade 4. the high speeds of corporate profits were at the extent of higher wages. During this depression, Hoover and his Administration turned their backs, and claimed that “it would pass in 60 days”. They limited the assistance to citizens that they needed, and refused federal aid to the unemployed. People were jobless, homeless, and starving; but Hoover refused to see it. He kept dreaming it would stop, while instead he should have helped the issue right away. He did establish the Reconstruction Finance Corporation in 1932, so things would begin to turn around. They loaned $2 billion to the banks and insurance companies; which would aid the suffering.

// Influential Decisions: // The decision that changed history was the fact that Hoover failed to realize the depth of the Great Depression. He felt that it would all resolve itself in time, and that it wasn’t that large of a deal. Yet, in fact, it was one of the world’s greatest economic catastrophes ever. Had he strived to fix the problem right away; the Depression would have probably been shorter lived, and less of a suffering to the citizens. The country was completely broke, and lives were flipped around. People were living on the street, unable to find food or a job. The intensity of the issue made it the most decisive of his term; which is a shame, because this man had the intentions of perfection.

// Conclusion: // After Hoover ended his term; the country was worse than when he had entered. Yet, all the blame can not be put on him; the Depression left America in crumbles, and this man couldn’t stop that. What he set off to do in the beginning was accomplished pretty well; and he did fix many problems that his got himself into. The economy was suffering, but the running of the country was bettered; he did what he had to do, and lead the nation a whole four years. The grade of a **C** is fair because he did mess up, but he had intentions of perfection; and few presidents can say that.

Works Cited DeGregorio, William A. //Complete book of U.S. presidents//. New York: Wings Books, Distributed by Outlet Book Co., 1992. Print. "Herbert Hoover |." //The White House//. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. . "Herbert Hoover -." //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. . // Herbert Hoover //. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. . "71st United States Congress -." //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. . "72nd United States Congress -." //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. .