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Herbert Hoover (August 10, 1874-October 20, 1964) Republican March 4, 1929-March 4, 1933 Vice President: Charles Curtis
 * Doug White**

Thematic Context: Religion The simple fact is that there wasn’t much emphasis placed on religion during Hoover’s presidency. The nation was too busy dealing with losing their jobs and their money and their assets. Everyone was focused on stopping the economy from falling apart. Nevertheless, the one thing that can be said is that many turned to their faith when they lost nearly everything due to the Great Depression. It would lift spirits for some, but would leave some questioning why these unfortunate events were happening to them.

Herbert Hoover was a President where you can easily overlook the bad things he did for the good things, or vice-versa. However, when accounting for his actions throughout his entire term, Hoover earned the grade of a D. When he first took over the White House, he made (what seemed like) many small, yet positive decisions, such as providing tax cuts for the middle class and improving foreign relations with Latin America. However, the Great Depression hit Hoover and the States like a tidal wave. And although it eventually engulfed most of the world, Hoover was unable to prevent, nor lessen the hit of the Depression on America, no matter what methods he tried. Therefore, Hoover ended up having a below average presidency. Hoover’s main goals when entering into the White House was to improve the economy through various reforms. He wanted to lessen the government’s control over business, and over the American economy as a whole. He went in and quickly provided tax cuts for the middle class, and all seemed to be going well. That is until the Great Depression hit. When the stock market collapsed, Wilson couldn’t do anything to stop it, and once it had ravished America, there was nothing he could really do to limit the damage or bring an end to it. He stated that America, under his leadership, would “be in sight of the day when poverty would be banished from this nation.” However, America saw drastically high unemployment numbers during his presidency. With that said, Hoover was not very reliable when it comes to him delivering on his early goals. Although many of Hoover & his Congress’s attempts failed, they seemed to have a very good relationship. Throughout his term, and even during the chaotic Depression, Hoover and Congress were able to communicate very well in trying to improve the country. However, the key word in that sentence is “trying.” They passed many pieces of legislation fairly quickly to try and fix what was broken in regards to the economy, even though most of those efforts failed. Their main focus seemed on raising taxes and tariffs for the good of the nation, but nothing seemed to work. Nevertheless, their relationship was very good, even though the outcome didn’t necessarily reflect that. In a presidency remembered mostly for the Great Depression, Hoover did make great strides in foreign relations. He started withdrawing troops from various Latin American nations, and also provided mediation between Chile and Peru. These actions would help the relationship between America and Latin America at this time and for the future. However, Hoover was a terrible cog in the Great Depression. Although it would’ve taken a miracle to completely prevent the Depression, none of the decisions made by Hoover helped the situation, and many ended up hurting the nation. His tax spikes and revenue bills only weakened the economy. Also, his inability to recognize when the American people who were out of jobs needed aid was a terrible overlook on his part. The Great Depression put a great weight on Hoover’s shoulders, and, unfortunately, he folded under it. If anything, Hoover showed future presidents what not to do in wake of an economic depression. Hoover only made things go bad to worse, and that set a precedent for future heirs to the White House seat. He left quite an economic mess to be cleaned up by his successors. He also left a nation of people that was riddled with poverty and very low standards of living. When looking back, Herbert Hoover’s term as president was mostly a classic case of the wrong man being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Once the Depression hit, he couldn’t do anything to stop it, couldn’t do anything to clot the bleeding, and couldn’t really stop making decisions that made the situation worse. It could’ve definitely happened to many politicians, but Hoover was the unfortunate soul that had to lead economy through the disaster that was the early 1930’s; and because of that, it reflects poorly on his presidency.

// American Presidents: Life Portraits //. Web. 01 Dec. 2011. .

"Herbert Hoover." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. Web. 01 Dec. 2011. .

"Many Eyes : Herbert Hoover's Inauguration Speech, 1929." //Many Eyes//. Web. 01 Dec. 2011. .