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August 10, 1874- October 20, 1964 Political Party: Republican Terms: 1 term (March 4, 1929- March 4, 1933) Vice President: Charles Curtis
 * Herbert Hoover **

Hoover had a crowd-pleasing voice and a friendly personality that helped him win the election when radio was used as a campaigning tool, but was very cold and standoffish in public. The public saw his success from being an orphan to making millions and how he naturally seemed a leader that they could follow. Because the country was close to ruins during Hoover’s term and the actions that he took were not solving the problems and created more he can only be rewarded with a C.

Hoover’s first goal for the presidency was to help the farmers that were struggling since the end of the war. He did this by enacting the Agricultural Marketing Act, which set up the Federal Farm Board, and the Grain and Cotton Stabilization Acts. These were meant to help buy the surpluses from the overproduction that the farmers had, but because these were not put in place soon enough and the farmers still suffered this can not be considered a completed goal. Another goal of Hoover was the curb the speculation through the Federal Reserve Board to help with the spiraling stock market. This was not completed because the stock market completely crashes in October 1929. This may not have been avoidable, but Hoover had tried to help. Many things caused the crash and most were already too far for Hoover to fix, because the British tariffs, overproduction, and credit issues based from paying low down payments and not being able to pay the rates had begun far before Hoover became president. Hoover also wanted to help relations with the Latin American countries, which he did. He eventually granted Haiti and Nicaragua and also took a tour and helped eliminate negative feelings towards the United States.

Hoover and Congress during the time had a very hostile relationship. During the first two years of his term both houses had a Republican majority, but they still were uncooperative towards Hoover. During this time not many things were passed, but there should have been a lot to help reduce the depression. They passed the Agricultural Marketing Act and the Hawley-Smoot Act, which raised tariffs to an astonishing 60%, but neither of these could help the farmers as they were meant for. For the second half of his term there was chaos in the election process due to the depression so the Democrats won the majority in the House and almost the Senate. Because Hoover was Republican there was friction, but members of his own party also ganged up on him with the Democrats to harass Hoover. A disagreeing Congress directly caused a lot of the problems in Hoover’s presidency.

It is hard to pick the worst action during Hoover’s presidency because a lot was happening with the country that was not directly his fault. You cannot say that the Depression was the worst part because that was not caused by Hoover, but you can say that he was wrong in the ways that he tried to fix the issues. He was aiming for a trickle-down policy, using the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, by giving the larger companies, banks, railroads, and local governments the money and believing that it would eventually reach the people. This was not the case though as the companies would spend the money to buy new and better equipment and not hire or give the current employees more pay. There was also the “bonus army” issue in Washington where the veterans just wanted to be paid for their services, but Hoover did not want them there so he used force to get them out. The most positive outcome of Hoover’s presidency is the “Good Neighbor” policy. There was also tensions between the United States and the Latin American countries and Hoover eliminated them allowing easier trade and friendships which benefited both sides. There was also the Norris-La Guardia Antijunction Act, which helped the farmers build cooperative businesses to help save money and increase profits. It also made unions and strikes legal to the point that federal courts could not intervene.

Hoover left a huge impact after the presidency but not in a positive way. The Great Depression is the biggest depression in the world and so countries learned from that how to avoid problems of that magnitude. Hoover had believed that like panics before the depression would work itself out and intervention would worsen the problem, but by avoiding the size of the issue it made the losses more extreme. He also left the issues with Japan in 1931 unsolved, which led indirectly to World War II.

Overall Hoover was not a bad person he was more like the guy that got pushed into power at a terrible time and did not know the best method of fixing things. The relationship with Congress only added to that problem and that is not all Hoover’s fault. Because the country was very far in a bad place at the end of his term and Hoover did not take action during the start of the depression and could not help the farmers or people he only deserves a C.

"American President: Herbert Clark Hoover." //Miller Center of Public Affairs//. Web. 04 Dec. 2009. .
 * Works Cited**

//American Presidents: Life Portraits//. Web. 04 Dec. 2009. .

"Herbert Hoover |." //The White House//. Web. 04 Dec. 2009. .

//The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum//. Web. 03 Dec. 2009. .