Bell Ringer In the current economic turmoil, if your

parents lost their job and house (and so did you relatives), what would you do?

Hoover on Prosperity

“It has been twelve monthsof unprecedented advance, of wonderful prosperity.

If there is any way of judging the future by the past,

this new year will be one of felicitation and hopefulness.”-New York Times Editorial January 1, 1929

“People stood in long ques with satchels and paper bags to take gold currency away from the banks to store in mattresses and old shoe boxes. It seemed safer to put your life’s savings in the attic than to trust the greatest financial institutions in the country.”

Gross National Product Nearly Halved

The measure of the nation’s total output of goods and services

Hoover and the Great DepressionVillain or Scapegoat?

Hoover to blame?

•One out of every four men are jobless•Unemployment rises to 38%

Unemployment Rate Skyrocket

The measurement many people used to judge the wellness of the U.S. Economy

13 Million Workers

Impact on People’s Lives

Hardship

Homelessness

Hunger

Thousands of people turned to soup kitchens and breadlines – lines of people waiting to receive food provided by charitable organizations and public agencies became a common sight

Lines around every corner

Hoovervilles

“Hoovervilles” – Shantytowns – little towns that sprang up in cities and towns to house the homeless

Hoovervilles continued…

Farmers were hit with many hardships:Many had gone into debt to buy machinery and land, and low prices wiped out potential profits.Drought of 1931-1932 turned much of Midwest into a Dust BowlWhile many Okies and fellow farmers migrated, most stayed put because at least they could still plant food for survival

Americans head west

Route 66

Ridin’ The Rails Some 300,000 transients,

or “hoboes,” wandered the country

300,000 school children out of school

Some famous people who rode the rails Novelist Louis L'Amour TV host Art Linkletter Oil billionaire H. L. Hunt Journalist Eric Sevareid

Bonus Army

Bonus Army – group of WWI veterans denied their pensions marched on Washington, D.C.

Set up a tent city in D.C. Hoover overreacted and sent in the army who burned

the veterans out (Led by Douglas MacArthur and Dwight D. Eisenhower)

The Wrong Place at the Wrong Time Believed government’s role was

to encourage and facilitate cooperation , not control it.

Believed handouts like Direct Relief would weaken the “rugged individualism” of American’s self-respect and moral fiber.

Individuals, charities and local organizations should pitch in – the federal government could direct relief efforts, but not through a huge government bureaucracy

Trickle Down Economics and Rugged Individualism

Andrew Mellon Weed out weak banks Repay War debts Reduce taxes – balance budget No Public relief

Boulder Dam (Hoover Dam)

Hoover obtained approval for constructing Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam) Would supply water to the states of the Colorado

River Basin

Hawley-Smoot Tariff

Against his own wishes Hoover signed this tax on over 20,000 imported goods

Hoped it would protect our devastated farmers as he had promised to do

Thousands of economics petitioned for Hoover to veto the bill b/c economy was on the recovery late in 1930

Other nations retaliated with their own high tariffs shutting down trade around the globe and closing markets when we most needed them