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Herbert Clark Hoover Born on August 10, 1874 Died on October 20, 1964 Republican In Office from 1929—1933 Vice President: Charles Curtis from 1929—1933 Rating: D+   Theme: American Identity

Herbert Hoover was a man that not only wanted to idolize the glorious nation he grew up in, but rather wanted to leave a legacy that would shape, form, or arrange the nation to a World Power stature. What Hoover didn’t plan on encountering was a Great Depression that devastated the nation. The Great Depression was truly a force that shaped the United States. Tying into the theme, American Identity, the Great Depression was the true turning point in history in terms of financial crisis and social catastrophe for the United States. The depression crashed the Stock Market, and sent millions of citizens into slums, unable to provide for their family. Not only did the crash hit the working class hard, millionaires lost billions upon billions of dollars. The Great Depression, unlike other minor “panics” completely rewired the thinking of United States citizens. Frugality, savvy, and brutality are the best words to describe the Depression. This action that occurred shaped the United States indefinitely. Due to the lasting effects that it caused, the lives lost due to starvation, malnutrition, or a lack of health standards, and even suicide derived from the Depression, lowered the population, and put the United States into a hole. The fact that the depression was not in the crystal ball, an unforeseen event completely shocked individuals around the country and World. What was unexpected occurred, making the United States at this point in history a ligament byproduct of the Great Depression. The Great Depression truly contributed toward the American Identity.

Moving forward, the United States was also shaped by a piece of legislation designed to help the farmers, but unexpectedly backfired. The Hawley—Smoot Tariff of 1930 was a tariff low enough to give farmers chance to make a comeback. What they didn’t expect was a Global Tariff war, which ultimately led to the demise or rather temporary halt of trade. Hoover’s attempt to help out the underdogs was completely commendable, however vastly overrated. He was trying to contribute to the pity party; unaware of the complications ensued by the Depression. While the gesture was appreciated, he failed to analyze the pattern around the world. The result was the highest tariff rate in history at 42%. This formed the United States into a huge vacuum, sucking up money at a time when money was already tight. If that isn’t enough, farmer’s rates (for crops) went down, causing the farmers to be hit even harder. This obviously formed the United States at this time (and even present day) into a more aware society. Obviously, the Tariff contributed toward the American identity.

Herbert Hoover, a man trying to preserve our nation and establish self-ruling government to ensure a stable, non-monarchal government. In this, Herbert Hoover received a grade of a D+ due to the Great Depression that occurred during his presidency, his hands off federal government ideas, and his attempts to restore order to the Nation. Hoover was a truly memorable president because he drug the whole country into the worse depression the United States has ever seen, only to abandon it after his term.

Herbert Hoover entered the White House with many goals he wanted to achieve. He really wanted to elevate the stature of the United States. By doing so (if actually accomplished it) he would be the glorified President that continued the United States’ legacy of power. At this point, the mid 1920’s, the United States was flourishing. Money was being made (profit), the economy was based around the consumer, and manufacturing was booming. Why wouldn’t Hoover want to be in charge of all of the successes? Moving along, Hoover was for prohibition. He stated in his inaugural address that he wanted to find the crooks and criminals responsible for producing and selling liquor, making this an extremely hard goal to accomplish. He was appalled by the sense of disobedience from the citizens, and even immigrants. All in all, Hoover’s administration caught some of the Gangsters involved, but in a way failed the goal. Due to the arduous challenge he faced, catching anyone or everyone involved in the illegal alcohol business would be impossible. Another goal of Hoover was for citizens to respect the law. With disrespect toward the Prohibition Amendment to the Constitution, many violated the federal law. To Hoover, this was unacceptable, and needed to be changed. Hoover per say did not accomplish this goal. Finally, Hoover advocated that if the citizens do not like the law, they should run for office and change it themselves. This point, was extremely lucid for the nation to understand, but made them [the citizens] hesitant to take action. Hoover’s constituents were unsure about feelings and reactions, some even think he was bi-polar. Concluding, Hoover’s goals had a lot to do with “rewiring” the wires of the nation. Hoover mostly failed at these goals.

In order to be a successful president, it is essential to have a cooperative Congress willing to work with you, not against you. It is completely fair to say that the Congress in session during Hoover’s presidency was pretty cooperative. At first, the majority was Republicans, until the 1930 election, when the majority party was Democrats, due to the Great Depression. It is shocking that Congress wanted to be supportive of Hoover’s requests. Both branches of the government, executive and legislative, scratched each other’s back. For example, Hoover asked for a lower income tax low to compensate for the Depression that had taken ahold of the country, and they signed it in. Another prime example would be the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Congress drew up a bill that would essentially rewire the financial issues that the country was experiencing. When it landed on Hoover’s desk, he denied it, commented on what needed to be done, and the passed it after Congress reworked. The system, established by the U.S.’s founding fathers was at it’s best. There were really no big snags between the President and Congress, which was really commendable. Essentially, Hoover was the right guy in terms of domestic relations, but not for national economic reform.

Although it is hard to say, Hoover was not known for the positive outcomes of his administration. It can be said that he wanted to help those in need, especially the farmers. The disappointing part is that any of Hoover’s ideas to help the country ultimately failed simply because one, they were not executed properly, and two, they were not followed through. His attempts were weak, uninterested, and not honorable. With that being said, one act of Hoover’s administration that can be deemed as “positive” would be the Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1930. Since the farmers were hit hard by the depression, Hoover wanted to help them out by lowering the national tariff to an all time record low. What Hoover didn’t account for was a worldwide tariff war, which drove up the United States’ tariff up to 42%, an all time high. This essentially screwed the farmers over. They had to sell their crops at an extreme low, and bought products or machinery at the highest price it had ever been. Hoover’s attempt was positive, yet the outcome was truly negative. It was not completely Hoover’s fault, but it did happen during his presidency.

As mentioned, Hoover’s presidency is not known for the successes that occurred. It is known for the failures. Hoover was president when the Great Depression happened, ultimately deeming this the negative outcome of his administration. The Great Depression was caused by over speculation, a lack of credit limits, high tariffs, and weather destroying crops (DeGregorio 473). The Great Depression put millions of citizens out of jobs, crashed the stock market, and put the United States into a hole that would take years to get out of. The worst part was that Hoover didn’t want anything to do to reform the disheveled country. Since he was a republican, he firmly believed in small, local government honing in the reins of power. Since the Depression was at a national level, he [Hoover] had no idea what to do. He waited at first before he took action, which only made the result even worse. Hoover and his administration did not understand the severity of the depression. They assumed it was like a panic of the past. Once they found out, they waited a little longer before they decided to look at possible legislation options. Because of this, Hoover was truly negligent toward his country. For a man whom idolized the country and wanted to instill respect toward the country, he did a pretty terrible job. The execution on his part was horrendous. A man decided to sit back and watch his country suffer. He is almost as terrible as Buchanan, whom didn’t even do anything to stop the South from seceding. The Great Depression was truly the worst outcome of the Hoover’s administration.

Hoover was definitely a huge influence on presidents to come. Firstly, he didn’t get reelected in the 1933 election due to his negligence of the U.S., causing the burden of the Great Depression to be passed on to the next guy. The Depression was a huge impact on whoever was elected next [Roosevelt]. The Great Depression was only three years in when it was passed to Roosevelt. With the wound freshly opened, Roosevelt had a lot on his plate. Hoover influenced Roosevelt and presidents to come because someone had to deal with the Depression. All future presidents thereafter had to learn from the precedent set by the Great Depression to avoid it from happening again. This obviously didn’t teach some modern presidents today, being that the United States is currently in an economic recession. Hoover should be remembered as the president presiding over the depression in its early years. The president unprepared to tackle issues in the United States.

In the end, the United States would have been better off without Hoover. He was the wrong man, in the wrong time. He probably would have been better to preside in the late 1800s. He was unable to manage a country when it was in danger and didn’t think of the nation as a whole at first. Hoover managed to become too attached to the Republican Party platform, that he was unable to look past it. The fact that the great depression happened automatically dropped Hoover to a B, because in essence, it wasn’t Hoover’s fault. Hoover was uninterested in taking action, which dropped him to a C. The final straw that gave Hoover a D+ was that he really didn’t know how to do his job. In any legislation the he supported or drew up, a little research would have avoided ultimate failure or insubordination. All in all, Hoover was not equipped to be president, especially at the lowest point of America’s economic status.

Works Cited DeGregorio, William A. "Herbert Hoover." //The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents//. Fort Lee, NJ: Barricade, 2005. 463-77. Print.

"Herbert Hoover." //The White House//. The White House, 2011. Web. 27 Nov. 2011. .

"Herbert Hoover." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. The Wikipedia Foundation, 27 Nov. 2011. Web. 27 Nov. 2011. .

Whitney, David C., and Robin Vaughn. Whitney. //The American Presidents//. Pleasantville, NY: Reader's Digest Association, 2001. Print.