By July , when the President wrote this letter to a friend, Governor Louis Emmerson of Illinois, it had become clear that excessive speculation and a worldwide economic slowdown had plunged America into the midst of a Great Depression. While Hoover wrote to Emmerson that "considerable continuance of destitution over the winter" and perhaps longer was unavoidable, he was trying to "get machinery of the country into.
He founded government agencies, encouraged labor harmony, supported local aid for public works, fostered cooperation between government and business in order to stabilize prices, and struggled to balance the budget. As the Depression became worse, however, calls grew for increased federal intervention and spending.
But Hoover refused to involve the federal government in forcing fixed prices, controlling businesses, or manipulating the value of the currency, all of which he felt were steps towards socialism. He was inclined to give indirect aid to banks or local public works projects, but he refused to use federal money for direct aid to citizens, believing the dole would weaken public morale.
Instead, he focused on volunteerism to raise money. During his reelection campaign, Hoover tried to convince Americans that the measures they were calling for might seem to help in the short term, but would be ruinous in the long run. He was soundly defeated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in Roosevelt promised Americans a "New Deal" when he took office, and during his first "Hundred Days" as president, he signed a number of groundbreaking new laws.
Still consumers cut back their spending, which forced many businesses and manufacturers to reduce their output and lay off their workers. But with no direct control of funding for relief or jobs, PECE had only limited success.
As the Depression worsened, Hoover requested that the Federal Reserve increase credit, and he persuaded Congress to transfer agricultural surpluses from the Federal Farm Board to the Red Cross for distribution to relief agencies. Hoover asked Congress for even more spending on public works, and he continued to encourage states and private businesses to generate new jobs. Economic conditions improved in early until a series of bank collapses in Europe sent new shockwaves through the American economy, leading to additional lay-offs.
The national fund drive raised millions of dollars but proved to be woefully inadequate as unemployment soared to record levels. Hoover was criticized for almost every program he proposed.
His public works projects, designed to create jobs, were characterized as wasteful government spending. Born in an Iowa village in , he grew up in Oregon. He enrolled at Stanford University when it opened in , graduating as a mining engineer. For almost a month the settlement was under heavy fire. While his wife worked in the hospitals, Hoover directed the building of barricades, and once risked his life rescuing Chinese children.
One week before Hoover celebrated his 40th birthday in London, Germany declared war on France, and the American Consul General asked his help in getting stranded tourists home. In six weeks his committee helped , Americans return to the United States. Next Hoover turned to a far more difficult task, to feed Belgium, which had been overrun by the German army.
He succeeded in cutting consumption of foods needed overseas and avoided rationing at home, yet kept the Allies fed. After the Armistice, Hoover, a member of the Supreme Economic Council and head of the American Relief Administration, organized shipments of food for starving millions in central Europe.
He extended aid to famine-stricken Soviet Russia in On October 24, —only seven months after Hoover took office—a precipitous drop in the value of the U. Banks and businesses failed across the country. Nationwide unemployment rates rose from 3 percent in to 23 percent in Millions of Americans lost their jobs, homes and savings. Many people were forced to wait in bread lines for food and to live in squalid shantytowns known derisively as Hoovervilles.
Hoover undertook various measures designed to stimulate the economy, and a few of the programs he introduced became key components of later relief efforts. He believed in a limited role for government and worried that excessive federal intervention posed a threat to capitalism and individualism.
He felt that assistance should be handled on a local, voluntary basis. Accordingly, Hoover vetoed several bills that would have provided direct relief to struggling Americans. By the time of the presidential election, Hoover had become a deeply unpopular—even reviled—figure across much of the country.
Carrying only six states, he was soundly defeated by Democratic candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt , the governor of New York, who promised to enact a slate of progressive reforms and economic relief programs that he described as a New Deal for the American people.
He wrote articles and books outlining his conservative political views and warning about the dangers of investing too much power in the federal government. Hoover returned to public service in the s, serving on commissions aimed at increasing government efficiency for presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower By the time Hoover died at age 90 on October 20, , in New York City , assessments of his legacy had grown more favorable.
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