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Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874- October 20, 1964)
Political Party: Republican
 * Terms in Office**: March 4, 1929- March 4, 1933
 * Vice President**: Charles Curtis

Herbert Hoover, known for his role as a selfless humanitarian, first became a public figure during World War I when he created a relief organization for Americans stranded in Europe with no money. He was later appointed as the U.S. Food Administrator, the Head of Commission for Relief in Belgium, and created the American Relief Administration to provide food to children in Europe. Furthermore, Hoover was world-renowned for his skills as an engineering-consultant. Despite his extraordinary achievements, Hoover’s presidency did not shine quite as brightly as his previous life with the downfall of the economy, sailing the country into a depression. His administration deserves a C for his good intentions, but bad results.

Hoover’s Republican platform called for a protective tariff, enforcement of Prohibition, the creation of a new farm agency, and lower taxes to continue prosperity. He promised to change the nation’s immigration laws, help struggling farmers, and maintain the isolationism in foreign policy. Overall, he aimed to make the country better than it had ever been before. However, Hoover did not do much to aid the agricultural market. Some farmers suggested federal subsidies to boost their income, but Hoover was against it, so he created the Federal Farm Board, which loaned money to farms to help control production and get them back on track. They just continued to struggle up until the Great Depression, when everything got really bad. Hoover succeeded in created a protective tariff and even created a program forcing Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans back to Mexico to handle immigration. To keep up America’s traditional isolationist foreign policies, he created the Hoover plan and removed all troops from Haiti and Nicaragua, as well as reducing one-third of the world’s naval power. For the most part, Hoover was extremely successful in keeping his promises, with the exception of the farmer’s situation.

The relationship between Congress and President Hoover was pretty good. During his first two years of presidency, the majority party of the House and Senate was the Republicans. Surprisingly, the major legislation only consisted of the Agricultural Marketing Act (to help the struggling farmers and create the Federal Farm Board), the Reapportionment Act of 1929 (to finalize 435 seats in the House), and the Hawley-Smoot Tariff (to raise rates of industrial and agricultural products). In the last two years of Congress, the Democrats held majority. Even more surprising than the small number of legislation passed during the Republican’s rule was the fact that more legislation was passed with Democratic power. So came about the Reconstruction Finance Corporation Act (an agency that gave $2 billion in aid to state and local governments, as well as other programs, organizations and businesses), the Norris-LaGuardia Act (that made yellow-dog contracts unenforceable in court), the Revenue Act of 1932 (to raise taxes), the Federal Home Loan Bank Act (to lower the cost of home ownership) and finally, the Buy American Act (requiring the federal government to prefer U.S. made goods in its purchases). A good amount was accomplished with little conflict.

One of Hoover’s worst decisions was the Hawley-Smoot Tariff. By increasing the cost of imported goods, they thought they were encouraging the purchase of products from the U.S. However, international trade when downhill and other countries raised their rates in retaliation, adding to the severity of the Depression. Another was the Agricultural Marketing Act and its Federal Farm Board went nowhere and made little effect. Additionally, the way Hoover handled the protesting Bonus Army veterans simply made a mess. When the military attacked the group in aggressive ways and Americans received word of the incident, Secretary of War Patrick Hurley and General MacArthur (whom Hoover had ordered to control the protesters) refused to take responsibility. President Hoover stepped up and took the blame, and the citizens were severely disappointed in him. In contrast, his good decisions were certainly unique. These included: the passage of the Hoover Dam which provided power for California, the conservation of two million acres of federal land, and the improvement of Native-American conditions on reservations as well as the option for citizenship as individuals, rather than tribes. His nickname, “The Great Humanitarian” was certainly fit to his actions.

Hoover’s failure to act during the Great Depression hurt Americans severely and put the United States in one of their most devastating times. Extreme poverty, unemployment, and starvation were the major issues surrounding the Depression and causing Hoover’s successor, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to create the New Deal as immediate relief to Americans.

At the end of Hoover’s presidency, the United States was undoubtedly worse off. Leaving his country in a crippling depression, most of his attempts went bad and overshadowed his good intentions. For his good heart and humanitarian efforts, but for the Great Depression that changed the United States and the world forever, Hoover’s presidency deserves a C.

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