Chapter 9 Section 3
Hoover Responds"
Pages 483-487"
Things to think about:"
n  Federal
Gov- Very small (5.9% vs 16%
deficit spending) "
n  Everyone- misunderstood and
underestimated depth and severity. "
n  Hoover never goes far enough. Can’t
think outside the box. "
Promoting Recovery
n  #1:
n  Hoovern  STAY
downplay the public’s fears
CALM!
n  Hoover
n  As
is positive/hopes economy is fine.
things go continue to spiral down, people
doubt Hoover’s ability. "
Promoting Recovery cont…
n  Voluntary
n  Reality=
Efforts and Public Works
Hoover actually worried:
n  #2):
Business agree to keep prices/salary up
artificially (Lasts 1 year)
#3)
n  Increases public works= government-financed
building projects.
n 
Promoting Recovery cont…
n 
How Public Works work (make sense?):
n  Lost jobs from private sector replaced by the
public sector or government sponsored jobs…..
n  Doesn’t go far enough…and Hoover wouldn’t
increase Gov spending to continue it.
n  Also……he won’t:
•  Won’t raise New Taxes
n  Afraid
….Deficit spending=Gov had to take
loans from banks
•  Increases Credit Crunch.
Hoover Dam
=Public Works"
-1931-1936
-Nevada/Arizona Border
-3000 workers (112 die)
-Creates Lake Mead
Promoting Recovery cont…
n  The
Midterm Election- Americans Upset and
want action and relief of some sort.
n  1930,
Republicans begin to take a hit and lose
many seats
n  When times were good, the Republicans stayed in
power……now they are bad…….they get the
blame
Pumping Money into the Economy
n  Hoover’s
main goal= End the Credit Crunch
n  Banks need $$ to issue loans.
n  #4)
n  Rescue the Banks
n  Asks
Federal Reserve Board to put more money
into circulation, but they refused (Mistake)
n  In 1931-National Credit Corporation (NCC), =
created $ for banks (So they could lend) "
Pumping Money into the Economy cont…
n 
Trying to Rescue the Banks cont…
n  In 1932 =Reconstruction Finance Corporation,
=federal money to banks, railroads, and
agriculture. (RFC)
n  By 1932 =RFC lent over $238 million.
n  The RFC was too cautious. Not enough $$
loaned.
Pumping Money into the Economy cont…
n  #5)
Direct Help for Citizens
n  Hoover
disagreed w/ DIRECT Gov relief ($ to
people in need)
•  Job of state and local gov to distribute relief.
•  Wants to encourage rugged individualism instead
n  Spring
of 1932 no $ left to give (GOV IS
BROKE)
n  HOOVER= FAILS TO STOP the SPIRAL
In an Angry Mood
n  Hunger
Marches
n  Hungry
Americans began to march and loot.
n  In January of 1931 around 500 hungry, jobless
people in Oklahoma City broke into a grocery
store and looted it.
n  The American Communist Party sees opportunity."
In an Angry Mood cont…
n 
Farmers Revolt
n  Farmers owe large loans from WWI…now
can’t repay.
n  1930-1934 creditors foreclosed on nearly 1
million farms.
n  Farmers =destroy their crops/livestock
•  Drop Supply= Increase in Price
n  In
Iowa- Vegetables Georgia- Milk
destroyed.
Farmers dumping milk- 1931"
In an Angry Mood cont…
n  The
Bonus Marchers
n  WWI
veterans granted $1,000 bonus to be
distributed in 1945.
n  In 1931 want date moved up. Senate defeats
bill.
n  May, 1931 200-300 Portland, Oregon veterans set
off to march to DC to lobby Congress to pass the
bill.
n  Others join, 1000 men walk along highways and
road the rails to Washington DC.
n  Press calls them Bonus Army.
In an Angry Mood cont…
n 
The Bonus Marchers cont…
n  Numbers swell to 15,000.
n  Most stayed in Hoovervilles or abandoned
buildings.
n  Eyesore/Dangerous squatters in D.C.
•  Hoover= GO HOME! (Bus Tickets)
n  Army
sent in to clear the veterans out
•  ugly picture for Hoover’s reelection campaign.
•  Douglas MacArthur
• Bonus Army March
in the summer of
1932 over 20,000
veterans from WWI
marched on
Washington, DC.
• Demanded their
Bonus promised to
them by the
government for
fighting in WWI.
• They were out of
work and wanted to
feed their families.
Battle of Washington
• July 28, 1932
• President Hoover orders the
army to remove Bonus Army
from Washington, D.C.
• General Douglas MacArthur,
later a WWII hero, was part of
removing the Bonus Veterans.
• August 28, 1932, Battle of Washington, D.C., US troops
supplied with tanks fought skirmishes, made arrests and
burnt down the camps of the Bonus veterans.
• The American people were appalled how President Hoover
solved the problem. People felt Hoover had no compassion
and would blame him for the Depression. He would not be
Bonus March on Capitol Steps"
Police Attack Bonus Marcher
Camp"
Hoover’s Legacy
n 
n 
Hoover failed to solve the problems of the
Depression
He expanded the economic role of the federal
government. Just not enough!
n 
n 
n 
Too little, too late (baby steps)
Not creative enough (inside the box)
The declining economy and Bonus Marchers
overshadowed Hoover’s successes.
n 
HE IS IN TROUBLE=ELECTION OF 1932"