The Global Economic Crisis: Hoover V. Roosevelt

On the day of August 10, 1874, Herbert Hoover was born in West Branch, Iowa. As Hoover was advancing in age, he worked excessively hard to become involved in the political world. As an American politician, Hoover contributed to the negative impact in the background of America. Herbert Hoover was primarily recognized for serving one term during 1929 until 1933 of the thirty-first president for the United States. This president is considered significant in American history, as citizens of the U.S concluded that Hoover triggered the commencement of The Great Depression. During Herbert Hoover’s term in serving president for The United States Of America, The Great Depression revealed the negative and positive aspects of his presidency.

The Great Depression was a time during 1929 to 1939, It was the longest lasting economic disaster. The two presidents in term during this crisis, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover, approached this problem in different ways. Hoover’s idea on this was to have private citizens help each others, while Roosevelt believed the government should take care of its people with social programs. Looking at these ideas in more depth we can infer ways our country should go.

Hoover was not interested in the affliction caused by the Great Depression. In fact, people’s way of life started deteriorating as they had no support from the government. His inability to face national upcoming crisis was a mistake to the US economy and the way down to massive depression. Hoover marked into law the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which prompted an emotional decrease in global exchange; and also consenting to impose increments on homes, organizations, and checks. His business profession, and individual convictions, made him ill-suited to giveaway effectively with a monetary calamity as desperate as the Great Depression.

. Compare and contrast the responses of Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Great Depression.

In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt became the president of the United State after President Herbert Hoover. The Great Depression was also at its height because President Hoover believed that the crash was just the temporary recession that people must pass through, and he refused to drag the federal government in stabilizing prices, controlling business and fixing the currency. Many experts, including Hoover, thought that there was no need for federal government intervention. ("Herbert Hoover on) As a result, when the time came for Roosevelt’s Presidency, the public had already been suffering for a long time. Half of the banks had closed their doors, more than twenty percent of the US population was unemployed, and the economy was lacking regulation. ("The Great Depression.") Therefore, President Roosevelt wanted to bring stability to people’s lives and the economy. Stating “I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.”("Franklin D. Roosevelt.") The New Deal was a series of experimental projects and programs, and there were three main programs know

Even though Hoover wasn’t re-elected after 1933, his failed attempt at laissez-faire still affected the American people. An example of this is Roosevelt’s attempt at counteracting Hoover’s Rugged individualism. During Roosevelt’s campaign he promised a ‘New Deal’ for the American people, where, especially in comparison to Hoover’s: ‘laissev-faire’, the US government would be more involved with businesses and the country’s citizens. Summed up, the ‘New Deal’ was about doing everything to keep the country from disaster.

There were six major causes of the Great Depression. The six major causes were industries, agriculture, consumers having less money to spend, an uneven distribution of income, the stock market, and bank failures. The president at the beginning of the Great Depression was Herbert Hoover. Hoover’s philosophies were that the government should encourage competing groups to cooperate with each other and society’s interests. Hoover was also against providing federal welfare or direct relief to the people.

The wealth during the 1920s left Americans unprepared for the economic depression they would face in the 1930s. The Great Depression occurred because of overproduction by farmers and factories, consumption of goods decreased, uneven distribution of wealth, and overexpansion of credit. Hoover was president when the depression first began, and he maintained the government’s laissez-faire attitude in the economy. However, after the election of FDR in 1932, his many alphabet soup programs in his first one hundred days in office addressed the nation’s need for change.

Although the result of the Great Depression did not go in favor of Hoover, he did try to improve the situation by making changes which ultimately made the situation even worse. One defeat Hoover had as President was the signing of the smoot-hawley tariff. Hoover signed the tariff so he could get more money from other countries. But by signing it, other countries turned their backs to America because the cost to import materials into the US increased. By this cause, the citizens of the US thought that Hoover did not care for the wellbeing of the citizens.

The transition between presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt marked the transformation from a weak, to a strong form of government, which became directly involved in the lives of the people. This was primarily caused by the difference in the executive leaders ideologies, where Hoover was more focused on individual responsibility and capitalism, Roosevelt was more concerned with immediate action based on government intervention. Overall, the New Deal sacrificed the amount of personal responsibility that the people had with their own economic security. The power of the federal government was strengthened, but the long-lasting effects based on the social and economic policies was beneficial for the United States.

The Great Depression was a financial and industrial recession that began in 1929. Two long-term causes of the Depression were the overproduction of crops by farmers, which exhausted the land and spurred a huge decrease in crops’ value, and a large number of people buying on margin in the stock market, forcing banks to lose more money than they could afford. President Herbert Hoover, elected in 1928, believed in rugged individualism, which meant there would be no government handouts, voluntary cooperation, where people help themselves and the government only mediates, and that the economy has cycles and therefore the Depression should not be considered dangerous. These beliefs prolonged the Depression because Hoover did not give aid to citizens nor did he attempt to change the economy. When President Franklin

As a demonstration, Hoover explains that “Freedom does not die from frontal attack, It dies because men in power no longer believe in the system based upon liberty…” to explain how the New Deal was manipulating the country, leaving the citizens with no other option but to follow the rules. Indeed, what Roosevelt was trying to do was to create monopolies and to fix prices with his program to control the economy. Demonstrating how freedom was not a high priority presented in the New Deal. In conclusion, Roosevelt took an excessive amount of authority while on his presidency to eliminate the depression.

Eventually, people started to realise this and turn against Hoover, blaming him for the deteriorating state of their country. In 1932, a new president was elected, Franklin D Roosevelt or more commonly known as FDR.

During the 20s, which became known at the Roaring 20s, American society was at an all time high and people were prospering as the nation’s wealth almost doubled and American was sent into the modern, consumer age. However following almost directly after the Roaring 20s, America entered a period of economic failure, also known as the Great Depression. During this period, the U.S faced economic, social, and political turmoil. The government and various individuals quickly sought after solutions to address the problems facing America during this time. Herbert Hoover, who was President at the start of the Depression, and his many reforms intended to revitalize the economy and create more jobs but would fail and his belief in rugged individualism

Hoover President Herbert Hoover didn’t believe that it was the federal government’s role to provide direct relief. Instead he suggested voluntarism, asking corporations to improve working conditions and wages. Lowering income taxes was another idea promoted by Hoover. If people would spend less on taxes, they would invest in stock market and purchase products. Hoover refused against any form of a welfare program.