Chris+C.+-+HH+-+SP10

**Born: August 11, 1874** **Died: October 20, 1964** **Terms of Office: March 4, 1929- March 4, 1933 (one term)** **Vice President: Charles Curtis** **Political Party: Republican**
 * Herbert Hoover**
 * Thesis:** President Hoover, our thirteenth president of the United States, is not considered to have had a good term as president. Just eight month into his first and only term, President Hoover fell victim to the stock market crash that plummeted the nation into the great depression. Some feel that it was not his fault for the crash, because the stocks had been on an up rise and were bound to collapse at one point. But other critics claim that Hoover should have took appropriate measures because the stock market was coming on too sharp of an up rise for too long. Furthermore, Hoover did nothing to help the situation believing he should have a more hands off effect and let it work out itself. No matter what he did, the great depression happened n is terms. Because of this, Hoover deserves a grade of an F, but he did do some positives, such as the Good Neighbor Policy and strengthened ties with foreign countries. Because of this, I will give president Hoover a C-.


 * Goals of president:** heading into is term, just a few months away from the greatest domestic tragedy in American history, Hoover was enjoying some economic success. Before the crash, Hoover had goals of land reservations and furthering education but creating more public schools and encouraging more men to go and stay in school longer. But after the crash leading to the great depression, Hoover believed more in focusing on tariffs and agriculture. He believed that higher tariffs would lead to more of an increased money flow from foreign goods, but failed to realize that almost the rest of the world was in a situation as bad or worse (economically speaking) as us. The Hawley-Smoot Act raised tariffs by up to 50% and overall protected domestic industries, but in the long run hurt the country and was a step into making us isolationist. Hoover signed the Agricultural Marketing Act, which in return created the Federal Farm Board, of which Hoover believed would help to control the surplus of crops from farmers. Hoover believed that if he could spark the farmers and control their surplus, the economy could in turn, help itself out by having a more steady, meaningful line of crops going into the market. Instead, the crops were worthless because of the extreme surplus. In 1929 the Act was removed because lack of authority was allowing the farmers situations to continually get worse. Overall, Hoover did not meet his goals


 * Relationship with congress:** Overtime, Hoover's relationship with Congress decreased and eventually hit rock bottom at the end of his term. For the first two years of Hoover's presidency, the Republicans, his party, held majority in both the Senate and House. However, the last two years of his presidency the Democrats took over the House of Representatives while Republicans still held a slight majority in the Senate. Hoover repeatedly failed to get members of Congress to advance his agenda, even though Republicans outnumbered Democrats 267 to 167. In the Senate, the Republicans held a 56-39 margin over the Democrats. The poor relationship was not just restricted to Great Depression recovery programs, but also to normal items on his agenda. It is not like he had the worst relationship, as shown by only 37 vetoes. But, getting public support for some of his ideas was rough like the Bonus Bill.


 * Best Action:** By far Hoovers best action was implementing the Good Neighbor Policy. Hoover was always known for having good administration skills and was one of the very select group of presidents to tour the world first-hand and experience what other people were going through. The Good Neighbor Policy led to better relationships with foreign countries. In 1928, Hoover met with Latin American countries to speak about his decision to reduce America's interference in their affairs. Hoover kept his word when he removed troops in Haiti and Nicaragua. He also helped to settle a dispute between Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. Though the Good Neighbor Policy is known mostly from Franklin D. Roosevelt, Hoover’s policy built the foundation on which Roosevelt’s policies were based on and improved upon.


 * Worst Action:** Hoover did a bad job with some of the situations that came as a result of the Great Depression. An example of this would be the Bonus Army situation. Veterans hoping to get their bonuses early marched to Washington D.C., but when congress refused to pay the bonuses early, most of the men left. But not all, and those who stayed set up shacks and eventually called this place “Hooverville.” Hooverville had a horrible effect on the morale of America. Hooverville was full of poverty and crime. Hoover demanded that these men leave and asked General MacArthur to peacefully escort the veterans out, but these requests were ignored and the veterans were attacked with tear gas guns among others. Although not directly responsible, this created a huge scar on president Hoover’s reputation.


 * Lasting impact:** It is tough to say what president Hoover’s most lasting impact was. The Good Neighbor Policy was a positive things for president Hoover but its hard to say how lasting it was because a decade later we went through rough times with Latin American countries, specifically Cuba and the Missile Crisis. The decision of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1930 had a lasting global impact. Hoover’s intentions in passing the act were to help farmers by protecting them from foreign markets; however, the tariff did not help the farmers or anyone else in the country. The huge new tariff rates angered foreigners seeking trade with America. Overall, the raised tariff furthered pushed America into depression because as one of the first things Hoover did, it failed and then had to think of a plan B. Also, because Hoover was unable to rally the farmers, a major economic problem, the situation could only get worse. The tariff was not a positive effect, but it did make the depression plummet longer.


 * Conclusion:** Overall, I believe President Hoover deserves a C- for his term as president. Under his terms, he went through the worst domestic affair in American History, and did little to shorten it. The Hawley-Smoot tariff was one of many critical mistakes Hoover made. While the Good Neighbor Policy did help foreign affairs Hoover is president of the United States and he went through a catastrophe.

Works Cited:

DeGregorio, William A. The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents. Fort Lee, N.J: Barricade, 2005.

"American President: Herbert Clark Hoover." Miller Center of Public Affairs. Web. 24 April 2010. <[]>. "Herbert Hoover". Online Highways LLC. April 28, 2010 <[]>.