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Date of Birth: August 10, 1874 Date of Death: October 20, 1964 Political Party: Republican Terms of Office: March 4, 1929-March 3, 1933 Vice President: Charles Curtis

 After accepting his Republican nomination in 1928, Herbert Hoover erroneously declared that “we in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land” and that “the poorhouse is vanishing from among us.” As the stock market crashed in 1929 and the Great Depression ensued, Americans came to see that his predictions were far from the truth.

Hoover deserves a C+ for his presidency. The Great Depression was tossed onto him through no fault of his own, and he responded with more effort than any other president before him had ever used in an economic depression. His plan of “trickling down help” to the unemployed was not effective but prevented a more serious collapse of the economy. He eventually came to help some of the unemployed as well as labor unions. He also improved relationships with Latin America by agreeing to using less American intervention in their affairs. However, the Hawley-Smoot Tariff greatly hurt both the domestic and worldwide economy and the Bonus Army conflict left Americans aghast and disgusted with the government. Hoover turned out to be a fairly “average” president, with a few more positive outcomes than negative.

When Hoover first entered office, his three primary goals focused on prohibition, tariffs, and agriculture. He wanted to help farmers by controlling price-depressing surpluses. Through the Agricultural Marketing Act in 1929, the Federal Farm Board was created. It was intended to loan money to farmers in order to control surpluses. However, the Board was ineffective at controlling surpluses and was abolished four years later, while agricultural prices continued to drop. Hoover was in favor of a tariff that would protect farmers from foreign markets. His passing of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act in 1930 did just the opposite when all trade in the country suffered. Hoover also supported Prohibition and wanted stronger enforcement. This was not successful because many Americans were opposed and ignored the law entirely. When the nation entered the Depression, relief was a huge problem. Hoover did not support government handouts; nonetheless, he acknowledged that it was the government's duty to help its people in a national crisis. His goal was to help the unemployed through a “trickle-down” policy, where he would assist industry and hope their prosperity would help the masses. This goal was also ineffective.

Hoover’s relationship with Congress was shaky at times. The Congress during his presidency was Republican in both the House and the Senate during 1928, but only Republican in the Senate in 1930. He had many proposals, but rather than getting involved, he let Congress deal with legislation. Even though Congress was mostly Republican, Hoover sometimes got into disagreements. Hoover wanted John Parker to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court, but some of Hoover’s own party voted against him because of his hostility to blacks. On the issue of tariffs, Hoover supported high tariffs and a tariff commission to adjust rates, but the progressive Republicans supported government compensation for farmers who sold their products overseas. These two conflicts, as well as his several vetoes, worsened Hoover’s relationship with the progressive Republicans and the Democrats in his Congress. He vetoed a total of 37 bills, including a Wagner bill setting up state employment agencies, the Bonus Bill (which was overridden), and the Muscle Shoals Bill, which would dam the Tennessee River.

Hoover’s best action as president was establishing the Good Neighbor Policy. After the election of 1928, Hoover toured Latin America and spoke to the countries about reducing American interference in their affairs. He followed through on his promise by removing troops in Nicaragua and Haiti. 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.

The worst action of Hoover’s administration was the handling of the Bonus Army situation. World War I veterans marched to Washington, D.C. in hopes that they would receive their bonuses early, though not meant to be paid for another thirteen years. Congress refused to meet the demands, and most of the veterans left. Those who stayed took up camps nearby. The government wanted the camps removed, so Hoover told General MacArthur and Secretary of War Patrick Hurley to peacefully escort the veterans away. They ignored his orders and violently attacked the veterans with tear gas and guns while burning down their camps. Though Hoover was not directly responsible for the events, it was still a negative mark on his presidency that contributed to his defeat in 1932.

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 nor anyone in the country. The huge new tariff rates angered foreigners seeking trade with America. It not only worsened the global economic depression, but the domestic depression as well. In response to the high tariffs, foreign countries made their own high tariffs. A “tariff war” ensued and made the depression even worse. Recovery became much more difficult as foreign trade was almost impossible and America was pushed one step further along its path of isolationism.

Overall, Hoover deserves a C+ for his presidency. The country was obviously much worse off after his term ended because the stock market didn’t crash until partway through his term. However, this was not Hoover’s fault. When his “trickle-down” method didn’t work, he took new steps to providing some relief to the Americans. His establishment of the Good Neighbor Policy improved Latin American relations with the United States and laid the basis for improvements by Franklin Roosevelt. Nevertheless, Hoover had some faults. The Hawley-Smoot tariff destroyed foreign trade and made recovery from the depression even more difficult. The conflict with the Bonus Army also disheartened Americans and made Hoover very unpopular.

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. .

"List of United States Presidential Vetoes." Wikipedi, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 24 April 2010. . .