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Important Event
America's Crisis ( When Hoover was Secretary of Commerce ) After just eight months in office, on October 29, 1929, the stock market had crashed. Fueling a growing depression that became the most severe economic crisis the United States had ever known to have, and the second only to the Civil War as the greatest domestic crisis in the nation's history. Even though Hoover had been blamed for the stock market crash, he in fact, had warned President Coolidge in 1925 about the dangers of excessive stock market speculation. He had been concerned while running for president in 1928. After the crash, Hoover ordered federal departments to speed up construction projects, cut $160 million in taxes, AND even doubled the amount spent on public works. By 1933, one-fourth of the nation's workers were unemployed. A President that had been Rejected Perhaps the most politically damaging event of Hoover's presidency was the Bonus March, staged by World War I veterans in 1932. Several years earlier, Congress had passed the Soldiers' Bonus Act, which granted veterans Adjusted Compensation Certificates, payable in 1945. In May 1932, the "Bonus Army" converged on the capitol to urge early redemption for the certificates. More than 17,000 desperate veterans gathered in Washington to force passage of the bill. Hoover had already made generous provisions for veterans and felt that the bill was a huge expense that wouldn't help the country's most needy. In July, the Bonus Bill was defeated in the Senate, although the government offered to pay the fare home for each veteran. Hoover was defeated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in the Election of 1932. Only six of the 48 states voted for Hoover. Hoover and Roosevelt did not get along. Hoover strongly opposed Roosevelt's New Deal legislation, in which the federal government assumed responsibility for the welfare of the nation by maintaining a high level of economic activity - providing for the unemployed and elderly, prohibiting anti-social business practices, protecting natural resources, and developing the Tennessee Valley and other largely undeveloped regions. Roosevelt never consulted Hoover, nor did he involve him in government in any way during his presidential term. For all of his humanitarian efforts, Hoover is still seen by many as the most unpopular president in American history. The public, and especially the Democratic party, blamed Hoover for the Great Depression. He was so unpopular in fact, that 1936 presidential nominee Alfred M. Landon did not even want Hoover to give speeches in his behalf. Few Republicans wanted Hoover involved in party politics because of his negative image in the popular mind. | |