Herbert Hoover and Great Depression (Essay Sample)

Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression
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Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression
Herbert Hoover is the 31st president of USA, who assumed office in 1929. Less than eight months since assuming office, the American stocks market came to a sounding crash on the Thursday of October 24 in 1929 CITATION His13 \l 1033 (History.com 2013). This crash indicated the start of the great depression. However, most technocrats who included the president thought that the crash was just a passing wind. The reality of the depression came to be realized slowly later as the year progressed. The president therefore led the country to make the greatly wrong assumption and plunged the country into a depression. Later he tried to engage into remedial acts which only cost him his reelection.
The president and the country’s reserve experts wrongfully thought of the crash as a part of a recession that was short term. However, the causes attributed to have been caused by a combination of an overrated market speculation and the global economic slowdown. The president, on realization that the speculations were wrong, sought to institute measures that were aimed at fixing the country’s economic situations. Hooper established several government funded agencies that would later become part of the USA federal systems. The focus was a long-term solution to the economy
The president decided to use non socialist approach to help the economy recover. The president encouraged volunteering from the citizens to raise monies ( Presidential Library and Museum). His government supported financial institutions to help rebuild the economy. The government then steered off the thought of controlling the markets through price fixations. Instead, the focus was directed to offering indirect reliefs received from the states in the union as well as the private business. This is reflected in the famous letter the president wrote to his then friend, the governor of Illinois. The letter emphasized on the need for states to support each other, volunteerism and an appeal for more funds from sources outside the government
Pressure continued to mount on the president to control business and deal with the currency. The president stood his ground and by the belief of demoralizing the citizens by giving direct aid to individual citizens. This led to the president being painted as a careless leader who didn’t mind the suffering of the common citizens. This is totally different from his well-known philanthropic status before assumption of office. The hardline stand became a stumbling bl...