Why did Herbert Hoover become so unpopular

1
Why did Herbert Hoover become so unpopular?
Was this fair?
2
Who was Herbert Hoover?

• 31st President of the United States (March 1929
  to March 1933)
• Major careers engineering, international relief,
  government and politics
• Republican
• Defeated by FDR in 1933 elections
• President during the Great Depression

1874-1964
3
Hoovers unpopularity

• General feeling of frustration and resentment
  among Americans
• Protests and riots reflected negative feelings
• Shanty towns were nicknamed Hoovervilles

4
Hoovers (lack of) policies and actions

• Hoover had expected that the depression was not
  going to last long
• Although it was not totally true to say that
  Hoover did nothing at all, the effort he put in
  was relatively small.
• Hoovers idea was that the state governments
  should be responsible for providing relief for
  the hungry and the homeless. The state
  governments were not wealthy enough.
• Food prices and the demand for goods were
  falling, but Hoover failed to supply a suitable
  solution for this problem.

5
Cont.

• The policies that Hoover did choose to adopt in
  order to counter the depression had little or no
  use
• He encouraged employers to make voluntary
  agreements with their workforce to keep
  production steady. It however did not work.
• New building programmes such as the construction
  of the Hoover Dam provided new jobs, but it was
  not sufficient to solve the problem.
• HOOVER had believed in self-help and rugged
  individualism, just like he had succeeded in
  doing so himself.

6
Hoovers beliefs

• Quakerism
• inflexible approach when dealing with problems
• American Individualism
• belief that prosperity of 1920s was due to the
  spirit of individualism among Americans
• thought that American economy would solve its own
  problems
• Voluntarism
• encouraged people to continue businesses and to
  continue hiring workers regardless of the poor
  economic circumstances

Voluntarism failed, and the American economy did
not improve, so people became increasingly
frustrated. Hoover gave the impression of an
uncaring leader because he seemed to be doing
very little to end the Depression. His
reluctance to use government intervention was
partly due to his personality and beliefs. He
maintained that the situation would get better
but when it did not, Americans became resentful
and Hoover quickly lost his popularity.
7
Hoovers gloomy image

• During his campaign for a second term in office
  in 1932, Hoovers image had already been quite
  unpopular among Americans.
• He further expressed his belief that business was
  able to take care of the depression as long as it
  was left alone. This gave the impression that he
  was not doing anything for the people of America.
• By providing federal aid, he added, the spirit
  of self-reliance that had made America great
  would be destroyed. Unfortunately, that was not a
  priority for the hungry and the homeless.

8
Cont.

• His attitude was portrayed as being cold and
  uncaring, which was not necessarily true. But the
  image stuck and we can imagine how the people
  thought of him when they named the shanty towns
  after him Hoovervilles.
• This was a strong contrast to the cheerful and
  confident attitude of Roosevelt, his democratic
  counterpart in the elections and soon-to-be
  president.
• He made great speeches and traveled all over the
  country, giving the impression that he actually
  cared about the people. This was an important
  factor in his landslide victory over Hoover.

9
The Bonus Marchers

• 1925, Congress agreed to a veterans bonus to
  be paid in 1945
• 1932, veterans decided they want the grants
  earlier

• March to Washington
• June 1932, 20,000 camped
• House of Representatives voted 226 to 175 to pay
  the bonus but Senate vetoed
• Hoover offered to pay 100,000 for transportation
  fees

10
The Bonus Marchers

• Marchers refused to move some sympathetic police
  gave passive support
• General Douglas MacArthur sent in troops
• Tanks, troops, tear gas used
• Camps destroyed, marchers injured, two babies
  killed because of the tear gas
• Americans were shocked and disappointed with the
  violent way Hoover dealt with the marchers

The event worsened Hoovers already tarnished
reputation. Even though the troops were under
General MacArthurs command, Hoover was regarded
as responsible.
11
WAS THIS FAIR?
YES AND NO (Lets look at both sides of the
argument)
12
Yes, Hoovers time is up .

• Hoover never really did become popular among
  American. He built his own fortune, reaching
  multi-millionaire status by the age of 40, this
  made him quite absorbed in the idea that anyone
  could emulate his achievements through hard work.
  This also caused him to not be empathetic with
  the peoples problems, an error which eventually
  caused him to lose to Roosevelt in the 1932
  elections.
• His other main weakness was his oblivion of the
  strength of the mass media, something which his
  rival Roosevelt had already identified early on.

13
No, it was not fair

• He was unlucky
• He could have made a great President at another
  time
• In bad circumstances, people often look for
  someone to blame and Hoover became the target
• People had very high expectations of him
• In the 1920s he had a very good reputation so
  during the Depression, he seemed to have lost
  popularity drastically
• Contrary to the common impression at the time,
  Hoover did attempt to counter the Depression
• Advocated voluntarism
• Hawley-Smoot tariff in 1930
• Tried to restore confidence in businessmen e.g.
  Reconstruction Finance Corporation

14
Conclusion

• Hoover was partly to blame.
• The impression that he lost significant
  popularity was because he contrasted greatly with
  FDR.
• His beliefs would probably have been useful if he
  served in a more prosperous time. His personal
  beliefs prevented him from trying other methods
  when dealing with the Depression.
• He did act. His measures were unsuccessful and so
  it gave the impression that he didnt do anything
  to help.