Hoover's key convictions about government were that the government had an almost mediating function. The government were supposed to help establish cooperation between groups who were competing and the different interests in society. He also believed that the government could not force cooperation. He also believed that people did not need money from the government, like direct relief or welfare, to succeed and that if they tried they could succeed on their own ("rugged individualism"). He thought the government could help if there was a serious problem, however it would hurt the motivation of people. Those were Hoover's convictions.
2. What did President Herbert Hoover say and do in response to the Great Depression?
President Herbert Hoover responded to the Great Depression slowly. After the market crashed, he urged a group key leaders in business, labor, and banking to make solutions. These solutions would be like not laying people off or going on strikes. Another action was to form a organization to help private charities help the poor. He also had entities negotiate with each other and large banks loaned money to smaller banks, the Nation Credit Corporation. He also helped create the Federal Home Loan Bank Act, which allowed farmers and homeowners to keep their property by letting farmers refinance and lowering mortgage rates. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was also backed by Hoover and this allowed two billion dollars to be dispersed between banks, railroads, life insurance companies, and other large companies. This money was supposed to "trickle down" to the poor. Hoover also did not support the Patman Bill, which would give money to veterans of WWI immediately, and disbanded the group of veterans behind it, the Bonus Army. Those were the actions of Herbert Hoover.
3. Why do you think people blamed Hoover for the nation's difficulties?
People blamed Hoover for the nation's difficulties. One reason was because he was in office when the whole thing happened, so he was the one who was to blame because he did fix the problem, even if he had really just walked in on it. Also, people blamed Hoover for not helping the poor directly. Many thought his trickle down approach just left people starving and that they needed to be taken care of more quickly. Helping the rich made it look as if Hoover did not care about the poor. Another reason is that many of Hoovers efforts to try and have groups cooperate did work and neither did his group of leaders. Since he did not act quickly, was the one in charge when the economy crashed, he did not help the poor, and many of his policies, Americans blamed Hoover.
4. How did Hoover's belief in "rugged individualism" shape his policies during the Great Depression.
Think About:
• what his belief implies about his view of people
• how that translates into the role of government
• Hoover’s policies (How effective were they?) Hoover's belief about rugged individualism shaped his policies during the Great Depression. He thought that rugged individualism meant that people could succeed by themselves. Handouts would weaken their "moral fiber", so the people would not be able to succeed by themselves anymore if the government just gave out money to individuals. So rugged individualism made Hoover oppose direct relief. This shaped his policies and actions because he would not give money directly to the poor, but tried to find other ways to help. He had the government help private charities who would help the poor. Having Hoover's rugged individualism against direct relief, he also helped create the Reconstruction Finance Cooperation, which gave money to large businesses, railroads, and banks in hopes that it would trickle down to the poor. Since this did not work very well, Hoover's policies were clearly affected by his belief about rugged individualism. His trickle down policy did not allow him to help the poor because he beliefs did not allow him to actually give the poor money. Clearly Hoover's belief about rugged individualism shaped his policies.
5. What did the Bonus Army want and how did Hoover respond?
The Bonus Army was a group of veterans from World War I who were promised life insurance and money in 1945. They wanted these in 1932, when they needed them. Although Hoover allowed them to protest peacefully and helped set up a shantytown for them, he thought they were"communists and persons with criminal records" and did not support the Patman Bill they were behind. Hoover disbanded the Bonus Army by using soldiers and gas in June.
6. When Franklin Delano Roosevelt heard about the attack on the Bonus Army, why was he so certain that he would defeat Hoover?
Think About:
• the American public’s impression of Hoover (See your answer to No. 3)
• Hoover’s actions to alleviate the Great Depression (see your answer to No. 4)
• how people judged Hoover after the attack. When Franklin Delano Roosevelt heard about the attack on the Bonus Army, he was he would defeat Hoover because the American public viewed Hoover very negatively. Before the attack, the people did not feel that Hoover was acting quickly enough. They also believed that he did not care about the poor because he did not offer them direct relief. Hoover's beliefs about rugged individualism did not allow him to give the poor direct relief because he thought that would wreck the motivations of Americans. When there were people starving, this did not seem like a valid argument to the American people. So these actions led people to believe that Hoover did not care about Americans and the attack on the Bonus Army strengthened these feelings.
The attack on the Bonus Army looked awful to Americans. Hoover was attacking poor, starving Americans who had just fought for America. Sending soldiers after them seemed like an attack on Americans as a whole. With this strengthening the negative feelings of Americans toward Hoover, Roosevelt was sure that he defeat Hoover after the attack on the Bonus Army.
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