Herbert Hoover

Unlike James Buchanan, Lyndon B. Johnson, or Millard Fillmore - among other such presidents - Herbert Hoover did not enter the White House at a time of great crisis. In fact, it was the complete opposite: When Hoover took the inaugural oath on March 4, 1929, the economy was doing extremely well, perhaps better than at any other moment in American history. A few years prior, Calvin Coolidge had granted citizenship to Native Americans, signifying some of the greatest social progress in the country's history. The country was recovering from the stress and chaos of WW1. At the same time that people were innovating their culture and treatment of one another, innovation in technology was also becoming ubiquitous. The era Hoover entered office in saw the advent of television and other such inventions. It was a great time to be alive. However, in only a few months, this joyous period of progress and pleasure would burst into a thousand pieces and the country would collapse into unrest and desperation. And Hoover would have to guide the country through the dawn of strife.

Because of how well the American economy was doing throughout the 1920s, the stock market was doing better than ever. This encouraged US citizens to purchase their own shares in companies. However, because of how well corporations were doing, these stocks were extremely expensive. As a result, most people, even with the economy's health in mind, couldn't afford these stocks. So, they borrowed money to make these investments. So, when spending started to decline in the 1920s, they were left in a difficult situation: Spending had slowed, so the companies they held shares in were making less money. This meant that they, the shareholders, were profiting less, leaving them with less money to pay off their debts. To resolve this, they began rescinding their stock purchases to re-gain the money and liquidate their debt. This caused the average value of stocks to further decline. This problem erupted into desolation on October 29, 1929, when the stock market crashed.

The stock market crash left many Americans worried that the banks they had made deposits in would collapse, which, at the time, meant they'd lose all of their money. So, throughout November and December of 1929, people flocked to their banks and withdrew their money en masse. This caused said banks to lose all of the money held within them, and so they actually did collapse. Consequently, the banking industry basically collapsed, crippling the economy. The Great Depression had begun.

Herbert Hoover is generally considered one of the worst presidents in American history for his response to the Great Depression. Many people are under the impression that Hoover literally sat back and did nothing to address the crisis. Hoover is viewed by a large number of people as a 20th-century Nero, fiddling as the nation he was supposed to protect burned to the ground. However, this portrayal is unfair and inaccurate. While Hoover's response to the Great Depression certainly wasn't adequate - he wasn't re-elected in 1932, after all - it was nowhere near as bad or neglectful as many people say. Almost immediately after the initial stock market crash in October of 1929, Hoover called a meeting of prominent American businessmen where he urged them not to fire their employees.

Furthermore, throughout the crisis, Hoover encouraged states to work with private charities to help those impacted by the depression. In fact, he even urged the rest of the federal government to commission public works projects to increase employment, an idea that would become a cornerstone of the New Deal, which actually did resolve the crisis. Of course, none of this is enough. Hoover shouldn't have merely asked others to do what was necessary. He should have done what Franklin D. Roosevelt did during his presidency and actively mandate such action. However, these decisions by Hoover are still worth mentioning, as they debunk the depiction of Hoover as a heartless ideologue with a mind too clouded by political beliefs and business interests to help those being eaten away at by the Great Depression.

Additionally, on June 17, 1930, Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, which raised import taxes by 20%. While I am a protectionist, I oppose this move. Instantly raising the tariff rate by 20% in a country dependent on foreign goods, especially when said country is being ravaged by its worst economic crisis ever, is extremely irresponsible. Its drastic and instantaneous nature gives the country no time to prepare for the change, and so it only serves to just reduce trade. And as expected, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff only managed to reduce trade, which in a country reliant on imports, means a reduction in spending. In summary, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, a bill signed by Hoover, worsened the Great Depression. Hoover's increase in taxes also hurt the economy. Both of these decisions were wrong and warrant criticism. However, Hoover's response to the Great Depression wasn't entirely ineffective/counterproductive.

In 1931, Hoover successfully convinced a group of banks to come together and establish the National Credit Corporation. The NCC used money from a $500,000,000 reserve to assist struggling banks. Now, the organization did fail, as the bankers in control of it didn't want to just give away money, especially during an economic crisis. So, on January 22, 1932, Hoover founded the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. The RFC and NCC were essentially the same thing, but the former was an actual government agency. This made it far more effective, and so it actually did improve the economy.

Even with all these facts in mind, though, it is an undeniable truth that Hoover's response to the Great Depression was faulty and inadequate. While the RFC and, to a lesser extent, NCC were both good things, Hoover also damaged the economy by signing the Smoot-Hawley Tariff and raising taxes. And even many of the good elements of Hoover's effort to take on the crisis were subpar, as they amounted to nothing more than lip service to what was needed. Hoover's reaction to the Great Depression, while definitely better than pop culture describes, was terrible and is what keeps him from being higher up on my list. Although, outside of his poor response to the Great Depression, Hoover was an amazing president.

During the first few months of his presidency - that blissful period right before the stock market crash ripped the Roaring 20s to shreds - Hoover accomplished various great things. One of his first moves as president was to place 2,000,000 acres of land under conservation. Around this time, he commissioned the famous Hoover Dam. He also set up a series of commissions to study and provide critical information about social issues such as poor health in children and corruption in the judicial system. On June 15, 1929, he founded the Federal Farm Board, which existed to give out loans to America's struggling farmers.

Hoover, very impressively, continued to accomplish great things even as the Great Depression dragged America into the pits of despair and potential collapse. In terms of foreign policy, he convinced the British and Japanese militaries to downsize. Hoover also initiated the Good Neighbor Policy, in which he reduced Washington DC's influence across Latin America.

On September 18, 1931, Japanese troops detonated a false-flag explosion near a railroad located in China and owned by a Japanese corporation. The Japanese government then used this incident, dubbed "the Mukden Incident" to invade Manchuria, the northeastern quarter of the Chinese nation. Throughout this attack, Hoover routinely worked to quell the tensions between the two countries and to get them to work out their differences diplomatically. While he obviously failed in this endeavor and deserves criticism for said failure, I believe that he also deserves credit for the attempt.

Returning to his domestic policy, Hoover was a very pro-indigenous president. His vice president, Charles Curtis, was actually a Native American man. More substantially, Hoover dramatically increased spending on indigenous affairs, drastically improving living conditions for Native Americans in the process. The Hoover Administration also effectively resolved overcrowding in prisons by commissioning new facilities to better space out the inmates.

Aside from his atrocious response to the Great Depression, Hoover also receives criticism for his handling of the Bonus Army. In 1924, Congress passed, over the veto of then-President Calvin Coolidge, a bill that granted a pension to WW1 veterans, a pension that would be gradually paid off by the beginning of 1945. However, the Great Depression caused these veterans to demand the entirety of the pensions then and there, so that they would have more money to help them deal with the state of the economy. In the spring of 1932, they began protesting in the streets of Washington DC to pressure the federal government into appeasing their demands. In June of that year, the House of Representatives drafted and approved a bill that would have done just that. Unfortunately, however, it was shot down in the Senate. Outraged, the protesting veterans, dubbed "the Bonus Army", began rioting.

Wanting to suppress the riots, Hoover sent the military in to address the situation. However, the troops stationed in Washington DC ultimately resorted to using tear gas against the Bonus Army on July 28, 1932. While I disagree with Hoover's use of the military to quell the affair, Hoover gets too much criticism for this. I say this for two reasons: One, Hoover never ordered the use of tear gas. Again, I still denounce the use of military force, but the military was acting on its accord when it decided to use tear gas. Two, after the dissolution of the Bonus Army in July, Hoover did sign a bill the pensions WW1 veterans received by $100,000. Yes, he only did it because of public pressure. But he still did it.

No, Herbert Hoover was not a great president. His responses to the Great Depression and Bonus Army, while flawed, were both far less despicable than many claim. And outside of these two issues, Hoover was an accomplished, competent leader. His score as president is obviously weighed down by his flaws, but the Hoover Administration contains numerous highlights that have unfortunately been forgotten by historians.