Herbert Hoover And The Great Depression

The Great Depression affected everyone. From the kids to the adults, everyone’s lives were changed tremendously by the depression. Many people found themselves out of work and trying to . The kids had to deal with changes in their education if they wanted to go to school. The years of the Great Depression were very difficult for those who lived through them. In 1930, 2.25 million girls and boys from the ages of 10 through 18 worked in factories, mines, canneries and on farms to help support their families. Some middle-class families managed to keep hold of their homes by bartering, boarding and stretching out every last dollar they could. “By 1932, three years after the initial crash, near thirty million Americans had lost their source of
income, from unemployment or loss of a family breadwinner. This included more than a quarter of the population of Washington State. Of those lucky enough to have consistent work, more than half were reduced to part-time schedules. Though there had been devastating economic depressions before, the 1930s crisis encompassed both urban and rural regions and devastated middle-class and working-class people alike.” (The great depression Washington staff.) At it’s highest point during the Great Depression unemployment reached 25% in 1933.

President Herbert Hoover was a strong believer that cooperation would lead to economic growth.
Many people blamed President Herbert Hoover for the severity of the great depression. He just thought that the depression would just be a passing incident in our nation’s lives, thinking that it would be over in a few months. “Herbert Hoover (1874-1964), America’s 31st president, took office in 1929, the year the U.S. economy plummeted into the Great Depression. Although his predecessors’ policies undoubtedly contributed to the crisis, which lasted over a decade, Hoover bore much of the blame in the minds of the American people. As the Depression deepened, Hoover failed to recognize the severity of the situation or leverage the power of the federal government to squarely address it. A successful mining engineer before entering politics, the Iowa-born president was widely viewed as callous and insensitive toward the suffering of millions of desperate Americans. As a result, Hoover was soundly defeated in the 1932 presidential election by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945).” ( History.com staff.) Hoover’s fiscal policy in 1931 and 1932 was weak and feeble fiscal expansion, woefully inadequate.”( Robert, Murphy.) However, Hoover did pursue many policies in attempt to pull the country out of the depression, but by doing so, it reduced international trade and worsened the
problem.

When President Franklin Roosevelt took office in 1933, he quickly acted to try and stabilize the economy and provide jobs to those who were suffering.
Over the next eight years, the government did a series of experimental programs, which is known as the new deal. “Franklin D. Roosevelt was in his second term as governor of New York when he was elected as the nation’s 32nd president in 1932. With the country mired in the depths of the Great Depression, Roosevelt immediately acted to restore public confidence, proclaiming a bank holiday and speaking directly to the public in a series of radio broadcasts or “fireside chats.” His ambitious slate of New Deal programs and reforms redefined the role of the federal government in the lives of Americans. Re-elected by comfortable margins in 1936, 1940 and 1944, FDR led the United States from isolationism to victory over Nazi Germany and its allies in World War II. He spearheaded the successful wartime alliance between Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States and helped lay the groundwork for the post-war peace organization that would become the United Nations. The only American president in history to be elected four times, Roosevelt died in office in April 1945.” (History.com staff.) By 1939, the new deal had run it’s course. Short term wise, the new deal helped improves the lives of the people that had been suffering. In the long run of things, it set a precedent for the federal government to play a role in the economics
and social affairs of the nation.
The Great Depression was a huge event that was a huge crisis. America had never been in such a low point and hopefully we never will be again. People were struggling with making ends meet, and everyone was affected. Hoover had been president and he thought it would be best to wait and see how it turns out. But the depression was getting worse. Roosevelt then won the election and proposed the “New Deal”. He tried and did help. Most people would say that the Depression officially ended with the beginning of World War 2. The Great depression is something that will forever contribute in shaping our country.