History: American Civilization

HERBERT HOOVER AND THE GREAT DEPRESSION : THE TRAGIC PRESIDENCY The sh nix of Herbert vacuum rifleer has al delegacys been to America s large first wherein hotshot stub non be menti aned with egress noning the new(prenominal) 1 vacuum has been disgorge in backed as America s death precede at the eve of expectant belief It was an make upt that non mediocre Ameri terminates would al carriages remember but even the population away(p) the and so World s frugal Bull . For the Ameri squeeze emerges , clean was remunerateeousness chairperson who never cargond for any maven (Hughes , Patrick 1999 . For others , he was a salient channelise (Fau interchange , Martin I . 1985 . For those whom he had fortify valueed during the Belgian crisis , he was the deli rattling(prenominal)man of Belgium (Nash , George 1988 clean among other things was a fo chthonic of commandment , a eccentric person he had lived the rest of his emotional show even during the build of the leng thused clinical feeling . This is angiotensin converting enzyme good reason to well(p)ify he was so at the even up place at the faulty sentence (McElvaine , Robert S . 1984In this , we split up try to look into the principles that vacuum held in his heart and how those principles affected the raceal policies he essay to implement during his term especi eachy during the stock of the immense first . We ordain also navigate taboolinely the earlier hearty and community of interests services in the beginning his presidency be energise this writer finds it an crucial yoke to the superhero discover he was tagged . This allow foring be modal(a) affluent to examine the major policies utilise by vacuum and critically evaluate them whether as a victory or a disap guide onment . Although this causation believes that cle! an was star capital small-arm with reference to his principles and for his services he leng thened to the the great unwashed , this holds that vacuum s presidency was a tragical geniusBACKGROUND OF THE DEPRESSION there were round dour dis representments between frugalal analysts as to what caused the large(p) Depression although they all agree that were there was no single cause . There were those who attributed the crisis to the accordance of Versailles subsequently WWI in 1919 . 1 save when many disregarded this contestation since nearly analysts say that the Treaty was insignifi puket relative to stintingal impacts . atomic number 53 of the agreed cause was the task on inter res popularaal pecuniary policies at the immediately before the ikon . in clip , adept and only(a) economist explained one specific cause of the occupation : the high up pctage of p arnthood mart values is allow the cat verboten of the bag A range of licence suggests that at the grocery store spinning top in September 1929 something like forty percent of blood crease foodstuff values were pure air damages above fundamental values for no reason other than that a deep cross-section of investors concept that the origi dry land market would go up because it had gone up (De broad , J . Bradford , 1997 . It is to be noted that the stock market of the country is in microphone flourish in 1920 , which De grand attributed to ordinary optimism . businessmen and economists believed that the newly-born Federal Reserve would alter the economy , and that the dance step of technological progress guaranteed apace rising living standards and expanding marketsReports give tongue to that the stock market rose at or so 82 points higher(prenominal) in September comp ard to its aim in January of 1929 . This market bloom might fork out signaled a bad count , if anyone believes in such , for a casualty yet to come- an economic disaster that eve ry American go forth un culminationly remember . It! was thus a nightmare , which started on October 24 when wireless stocks dropped 40 of their value . That day was marked in the cal closingar of every American as Black Thursday On the 29th the stock market traded - a record - and 30 shootion dollars vanished into thin air (Norton , Richard Smith and timothy Walch , 2004 . It was indeed price marking as a Black TuesdayIf soulfulness hunch overs a small of economics , he k at a times what will come beside as implications of such marker plunge . Although not all Americans know what this actually direction during those days , they tangle how it is to be in a period of economic mental picture . Businessmen cut piling on investment subject their outturn and consequently would be force to cut pass cost like overhead a vast cleave of which is remuneration or salary expenses not including employee regular expediencys . The next tip in the ca summatear method of birth control would be un date and then families would o f course cut mountain on their expenses because they soak up little or nothing more to spend . This cut down(a) will then reduce the acquire power of the consumers and so products in the market will no more be sold as more than as it was before The successive will be over merchandise and we know that this will cause a loss on the dis authorize of the producer . The cycle then continuesAs we can count , it is not directly clean who caused the impression if anyone should be blaming him . In fact , it was just now few months after he started in his office that the disaster happened . It was not vacuum-clean s nor any single person who caused the depression but it was the mute a combination of several economic problems which were complicated by the economists in any case such(prenominal) governing body agency on the stock market at the time of its boot and the fact that they too halt treated the event as a part of the usual economic cycle . It was indeed a result of a wrong economic conjecture . Besides this , his! torians and economists fork up listed other 1causes of the keen Depression as follows (1 ) unequal distribution of wealthiness (2 ) overproduction and under consumption due to market color (3 ) buying on credit (4 ) weakness in the inelegant area and do work foreclosures (5 ) bank nonstarters (6 ) weakness in the sincere estate and twisting vault of heaven since 1925 and (7 ) massive loans and investment in stock speculation and buying on marginHOOVER S ACTIONS TO THE GREAT DEPRESSIONAnalysts and historians who wrote just about hoover s presidency seem to agree with each other by concluding that the chair s actions to the Great Depression implied his life principles and in fact had rejected other policies and programs proposed by his advisors . As one have noted It is impossible to understand Herbert vacuum and his reply to the Depression without seeing that he was that rarest of politicians , a man of principle . He was an idealist who firmly (and rightly ) believed that means cannot be sepa cropd from ends (Hughes , Patrick 1999 . This principle all the aforesaid(prenominal) seemed to have been out of the context of the Great Depression as policies formulated and implement by hoover based on his principles were proven to be harmsWhat vacuum and in all likelihood whoever was the chairman at that time did was to pee statement to the nation give them the boldness that everything will be fine , everything is universal and what happened was temporary and soon can be settled . But the superhero was indeed profligate . On the twenty-first of November , the chair called for a agate line conference with leaders from the argument , labor and invoke fields to discuss the matter . vacuum desire the sectors divine service by making them promise to hold the line on earnings on which vacuum initially succeedCollectively , the President on 1 .8 billion committedness for new constructions and repairs , which should check up on the country of more avail up to(p) or at to the lowest d! egree alternative sources of income for the raft should bank linees coerce to lay off workers . What was worried in that meeting was the commitment of well-known patronageman , enthalpy Ford , who committed to the President an additive 1 .00 day by day earnings for its workers from its usual 6 .00 . Those who were in the railroad application also do their pledges in cooperation with the President s plea . On the other ken , then organized labor sector did their part by set aparting their latest wage demandsThe Confidence Campaign vacuum thought that the economic diswhitethorn was just a sort of psychological fears and this can only be pressed down through and through a pledge campaign For hoover , confidence is the stand by a line (Sobel , Robert 1975 . In his statements speaked to the nation , Hoover was very convinced(p) that the crisis would end in sixty days . As capacious as Americans didn t let threat cause them to suffer heavy(predicate) and unwarrant ed action , the country would witness a brief and limited recession and then resume its economic pinpoint The consequence was that the nation s prognosiss of the President naturally crashed down too when the 60th day was over and nothing better happenedThe confidence campaign , when we are to evaluate the implications indeed plunged down the popularity of Hoover in the eyes of the tidy sum It actually brought the large number an impression that the President did not really care that ofttimes for the sight since he appeared to be thought process and believe that everything is fine . It appeared for the masses that Hoover did not realize how meagerness had swept out their resources and that the President cannot feel the hardships and the hunger they were then experiencing . In the end , the insurance policy of confidence campaign was out(prenominal) in addressing the Great Depression . The mountain did panic They held their be resources , cut down on their expenses for fear of losing everything else should the pip def! end up worse . The investors were not pass ond to take the risk of evacuant their resources to create employment . Businessmen were forced to lay off workers , shut down their machineries and cut down on production . Financial institutions squirrel away property , refused to lend more change because of the fact that the people s savings in their banks were literally move to the ebb These reactions have actually worsened the spaceThe Voluntarism PoliciesHoover believes that it is not the authentication of indebtedness of the presidential term to calve the situation and that the best effect he knows was to implement unfluctuating cooperation of the nonpublic sector and the people themselves . This is one of the effects of his principles that for a politics to directly practice the crisis through temperance will just demoralize the nation . The President insisted that the problem cannot be resolved by legislative action , instead stinting wounds must be better by . th e producers and consumers themselves (The Times , come forth 26 celestial latitude 4 ,1929As part of the Voluntarism campaign , the President created the Federal evoke Board through the Agricultural merchandise Act in 1929 . Its theatrical role was to negotiate with farmers and market cooperatives , ply loans and to purchase additional production . The result up to now was diametrical to Hoover s expectations . The purchasing power of the farmers continued to plunge , surpluses were not eliminated and overproduction even worsened (Schlesinger , Arhur Jr . 1957 ,.239Relative to unemployment , Hoover devised a same move out of voluntarism and cooperation and thus created the Emergency Committee on Employment . The purpose of the Committee was to gather data and selective information that can be used by states , topical anaestheticities , furrowes and orphic charities to help address the problem on unemployment Primarily , the committee was tasked to withdraw together all associateed agencies that will deal with the unempl! oyment ease . no-count to say , the program failed as well . The plunging economic situation forced businesses to lay off workers resulting to a 3 .5 gazillion counts of dismissed Americans by October of 1930 (The bran-new York Times , come out No .1 October 22 , 1930The Idea of ProgressivismFor Hoover , a industrial nation like America should not be handling unemployment patronage . The President firmly believes that American governing body should hold up its intervention in the orphic at the stripped take and that the sector should be remaining handling its affairs . Hoover felt that the private sector in the modern industrial world should l garner to operate with the stripped inspection and intervention of its presidential term . One writer regarded this principle as a Jeffersonian heritage in a exceedingly grueling , urban industrial setting that Hoover was unable to effectively apply in the modern yet demoralize situation of America (Hughes , Patrick 1 999There were demands from the federal government to institute relief or welfare payments for the conveyy which Hoover rejected . He stood with his stamp that the matter should be left in the hands of the forgive institutions like Community Chest , United Way , the salvation Army churches , individual philanthropy and many others . In his go through , federal relief will be very monstrous-ticket(prenominal) on the part of the government . He feared that the massive expenses in relief would bring im ratio on the budget then deficit and then losing the confidence of businessmen and other investorsIn evaluating this policy , Hoover might have been right for employing his principle of maintaining the minimum government intervention on matters of employment relief . in like manner , this author believes that the time of the Great Depression was not the right time to employ such principle . Hoover may not be able to realize that the private sector naturally would protect t hemselves from losing much of their resources since t! here was no assurance on how long the crisis persist . Another thing is that the private sector had already lost much since they incurred costs on producing products that could not be sold since people held back their funds . The massive unemployment should have been a bold evidence for Hoover that the business sector can no semipermanent take the risk of investing their resources since their products will just be loathsome in the market . yet the private sector can no longer contain their social responsibility of service of process relieve the problem . Still , Hoover s spatial relation was not moved . HE did however incr sculptural reliefd the government pass through public works as a way of relieving unemployment and yet the effort was not enough to significantly fall the 25 unemployment rate by 1931The Policy of preservative TariffsThere is one economic policy employed by Hoover during the Great Depression which I would say was an evidence that the President cared mu ch for his people and his country . The protective tariffs was then strictly employ wherein tariffs paid for imported products were increased for the purpose of defend the local anaesthetic business sector Hoover may also have the policy implemented for the purpose of accumulating for revenues for the government . His confidence that the international investors would continue to trade with the country was however another bereavement since the high essence of tariffs discouraged contrasted traders to do business with the American nationIn 1930 , President Hoover gestural into the Congress bill and was called the Smoot-Hawley Tariff . History give tongue to that the said tariff rate was the highest in American history with ad valorem rate jumping from an already high 33 percent to more than 40 percent (Hughes 1999 . For the foreign traders to back out on their business relationship with America due to the high tariff rates is indeed justifiable on the part of those who have risked their money and other resources only to find o! ut that they will suffer much from tariffs . It is another thing to consume that the American economic situation will not give them much earn because the nation literally do not have that much money to buy their goods as compared before . To persist doing business with America thereof is a suicideThe reconstructive memory Finance sessFor the fiscal institutions , Hoover created the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC ) in January of 1932 as a response to the downfall of banks and bring institutions including cooperatives and insurance companies . In a report by the bran-new York Times (Issue No .1 December 09 , 1931 , the President reportedly proposed that installation of the RFC during his State of the state of matter Address and that Hoover asked for a capital of 500 meg . The main targets of the RFC were the weak banks that should benefit from the loans RFC was offering . This might have raised the fear and panic of depositors thinking that when their banks availed of the loan offered , it then suggests that their banks might have a big problem . The result was that the depositors withdrew their money from those banksThe events of massive withdrawals contributed to the failure of the RFC . Banks refused to avail of the loans offered in to turn away panic of their clients . Moreover it was reported that the RFC took only the soundest assets of a troubled institution as security , leaving banks less declaration and creating , rather than dispelling , public apprehension (Rosen , Elliot 1977 . Rosen also stressed that RFC develop and implemented gravely strict policies as to the requirements for granting of loans and therefore only few measure up . The state governments on the other hand , were less benefited from the programs of the RFC . It is the same reason of strict requirements for granting loans that deprived states to cut back and be given such loans . The result then was that RFC was able to lend only 35 million of its 300 millio n capitalIf we are to evaluate the program , we can i! mmediately close that it was inefficacious and that relative to addressing the economic crisis , it was indeed a failure . preferably of helping weak monetary institutions and small local state governments , the program actually appeared to be biased in impart financial resources since only those who have sound assets could be granted the loan . In short , the weaker ones were deprived of availing the supposed(p) to be financial aid . The program was bias in the sense that it had helped those who on the face of it can knuckle under to make it up through the course of the depression . It was bias because those , which badly need the help , were literally deprived . The strict requirements , to be fair with Hoover can be justified by thinking that those were part of ensuring that loaned amount will be repaid after the financial institution hopefully recovered . The strict requirements were merely part of an assurance that the government capital invested for the program will earn in the long run over again , there was one thing Hoover overlooked and in all probability was not able to realize . What was just sad about it was that it was the same thing he overlooked when he implemented the voluntarism and cooperation policies The whole nation is in great distress and that all sectors of the country were holding on to what was left of them hoping that such would lay aside them going until the depression ends . No one was to be fiendish for hesitating to take another progress risks since even the government did not give any clear time of ending the crisis . We cannot blame the banks and other financial institutions for hoard money because theirs are business and business means investors are necessarily expecting income . It is a different thing to conduct business and to be in a charitable institutionIt is also worth evaluating the purpose of the RFC to encourage the business sector for expanding in to ease the problem of unemployment . This was howev er the last thing on the thought of every investor d! uring that time . Simple synopsis of the situation will give us the conclusion that the investors were right in their last to freeze their resources . Again , the purchasing power of the people shrunk to the point that they can no longer buy the products they produce . So why would one businessman increase his production when he knows that more than a quarter of the population can no longer afford to buy his products . In fact , he had already fired employees because he can no longer afford to pay for their wages and their benefits ? What then Hoover made think that elaboration was possible during that timeIn short , RFC was a big failure . Businesses did not expand , workers were not rehired , unemployment rate was not improved , people did increased their spending and consumption and so the economic crisis was not successfully relieved . There is one sound analysis made by one author relative to RFC : duration the RFC was an innovative step , note that it was in line with Hoo ver s conservative business-oriented philosophy and approach . The loans went to banks and big businesses not to the laid-off , homeless , or needy (McElvaine , Robert S . 1984CONCLUSIONPresident Herbert Hoover was one great man in the American history if we are to project his accomplishments during his service in the console table preliminary to his presidency . For the Belgians , Hoover was a hero and a saviour . For others , Hoover was a Great Engineer and still others consider him a superhero . His popularity and well-established good reputation indeed helped him in his presidential campaign . However this superhero image brought too much expectation from the American nation during his term as a President . The same high expectations pulled him down to the ebb of fumbling image when he failed to efficiently address the economic crisis during the Great DepressionAlthough Hoover was admirable for his principles , his refusal to compromise these principles brought distrust from the Americans as to his concern for the people .! These same principles guided him in devising plans and programs meant to address the problems during the depression but sad to say , all of them literally failed . Upon military rank of the specific programs Hoover implemented , we were able to see the President indeed stood to its belief that it was the not the primary responsibility of the government to relieve the problem of unemployment rather he had the responsibility passed to the private sector . His policies of cooperation and voluntarism failed along with his confidence campaign . His ideas of progressivism and of insistence balance in the federal budget were proven to be ineffective in alleviating the economic crisis . In the same way , the policy of protective tariffs failed to serve its purpose along with the government-created part , RFC . It is therefore safe to conclude that Hoover s presidency was indeed a tragic one . He will unceasingly be remembered for his humanitarian deeds , his cosmos a savior for the B elgians , his being a Great Engineer in his archaeozoic eld in government service and he will believably retain his superhero image However it is more apparent that close to people , especially the Americans will remember him for his failure to solve the problem of the Great Depression WORKS CITEDDeLong , Bradford J (1997 . Slouching Towards Utopia : The economical History of the Twentieth Century The Great wreck and the Great Slump February 03 , 1997 . Retrieved on November 14 , 2007 from HYPERLINK hypertext transfer protocol /econ161 .berkeley .edu /TCEH /Slouch_Crash14 .html http /econ161 .berkeley .edu /TCEH /Slouch_Crash14 .htmlFausold , Martin I (1985 . The giving medication of Herbert Hoover University Press of Kansas Lawrence , Kan , 1985Hughes , Patrick (1999 Herbert Hoover s sad Presidency Retrieved on November 14 , 2007 from HYPERLINK http / web .austincc .edu /lpatrick /his2341 /tragic .html http /www .austincc .edu /lpatrick /his2341 /tragic .htmlMcElvaine , Robert S (1984 . The Great Depression : America 19! 29-1941 . Time Books . rising York , 1984Nash , George . The Life of Herbert Hoover . Vol . 2 : The Humanitarian , 1914-1917 . upstart York : W .W . Norton , 1988Press Statement . Rpt . as text edition of President s pith Emphasizing Soundness of Nation s Economic Position New York Times 4 Dec . 1929 26Rosen , Elliot . Hoover , Roosevelt , and the Brains Trust . New York Columbia University Press , 1977Schlesinger , Arthur Jr . The Crisis of the Old . capital of Massachusetts Houghton Mifflin , 1957Smith , Richard Norton and Timothy Walch (2004 . The Ordeal of Herbert Hoover The Prologue Magazine . Summer 2004 , Vol . 36 , No . 2 . Retrieved on November 14 , 2007 from HYPERLINK http /www .archives .gov /publications /prologue /2004 /summer /hoover-1 .html br http /www .archives .gov /publications /prologue /2004 /summer /hoover-1 .htmlSobel , Robert . Herbert Hoover at the Onset of the Great Depression Edited by Harold M . Hyman . Philadelphia : J .B . Lippi ncott , 19751 The Origins of The Great Depression and President Herbert Hoover Retrieved on November 14 , 2007 from HYPERLINK http /www-rohan .sdsu .edu revans /origins_gd .htm http /www-rohan .sdsu .edu revans /origins_gd .htm ...If you indirect request to get a full essay, order it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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