1 Boring Old Man

^{…he organized a number of voluntary measures with businesses, encouraged state and local government responses, and accelerated federal building projects. Only toward the end of his term did he support a series of legislative solutions.}

^{In 1929, President Hoover authorized the Mexican Repatriation program. To combat rampant unemployment, the burden on municipal aid services, and remove people seen as usurpers of American jobs, the program was largely a forced migration of an estimated 500,000 Mexicans and Mexican Americans to Mexico. The program continued through 1937.}

^{Congress approved the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act in 1930. The legislation, which raised tariffs on thousands of imported items, was signed into law by President Hoover in June of 1930. The intent of the Act was to encourage the purchase of American-made products by increasing the cost of imported goods, while raising revenue for the federal government and protecting farmers. However, economic depression now spread through much of the world, and other nations increased tariffs on American-made goods in retaliation, reducing international trade, and worsening the Depression.}

^{In 1931, Hoover issued the Hoover Moratorium, calling for a one-year halt in reparation payments by Germany to France and in the payment of Allied war debts to the United States. The plan was met with much opposition, especially from France, who saw significant losses to Germany during World War I. The Moratorium did little to ease economic declines…}

^{President Hoover, in 1931, urged the major banks in the country to form a consortium known as the National Credit Corporation (NCC). The NCC was an excellent example of Hoover’s belief in volunteerism as a mechanism in aiding the economy. Hoover encouraged the member banks of the NCC to provide loans to smaller banks in order to prevent them from collapsing. Unfortunately, the banks within the NCC were often reluctant to provide loans, usually requiring banks to provide their largest assets as collateral. It quickly became apparent that the NCC would be incapable of fixing the problems it was designed to solve, and it was abandoned in favor of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.}

^{By 1932, the Great Depression had spread across the globe. In the U.S., unemployment had reached 24.9%, a drought persisted in the agricultural heartland, businesses and families defaulted on record numbers of loans, and more than 5,000 banks had failed. Tens-of-thousands of Americans found themselves homeless and they began congregating in the numerous Hoovervilles (also known as shanty towns or tent cities) that had begun to appear across the country. The name ‘Hooverville’ was coined by their residents as a sign of their disappointment and frustration with the perceived lack of assistance from the federal government. In response, President Hoover and Congress approved the Federal Home Loan Bank Act, to spur new home construction, and reduce foreclosures. The plan seemed to work, as foreclosures dropped, but it was seen as too little, too late.}

• Relief: His initial relief plans were built on souped up versions of those started by Hoover towards the end of his term under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. which spawned his "alphabet agencies" to hire the unemployed such as the Civilian Conservation Corps [CCC]. The Federal Trade Commission got the power to provide mortgage relief to farmers and homeowners. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation provided financing to railroads and industry. And the Agricultural Adjustment Agency paid farmers to control production to stabilize prices.
• Reform: The National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 imposed strict regulations on Industry, fixing prices and wages, controlling competition, strengthening unions, and suspending anti-trust laws. This intrusion of government control into private industry was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1935. Major Banking regulation came through the Glass-Steagall Act passed in 1933 [creating the F.D.I.C.]. And in 1934, the Securities and Exchange Commission was formed to regulate the Stock Market.
• Recovery: The government spent money "priming the pump" of industry though the NIRA before it was repealed. Prohibition was repealed, bringing in a new source of revenue. And the government created the Tennessee Valley Authority [T.V.A.] creating jobs and assets in the impoverished Tennessee Valley.

• The Works Progress Administration [WPA] which set up a national relief agency that employed two million family heads.
• The Social Security Act that promised economic security for the elderly, the poor and the sick.
• The National Labor Relations Act established the federal rights of workers to organize unions, to engage in collective bargaining, and to take part in strikes.

These latter broad social programs were widely criticized as "communist" or "socialist" [and are still opposed by many conservatives in spite of their wide success]. The W.P.A. [see the Depression I] endured until World War II, and the other two are still in place.

By the end of his term, Hoover had changed his tune. His volunteerism hadn’t worked, so he had started trying direct government intervention, founding many of the programs F.D.R. used early on. By that time, however, Hoover was unpopular and a scapegoat for the Depression itself. Roosevelt, on the other hand, hit the ground running. He didn’t give away Federal money to existing entities. He set up controlling governmental agencies that directly administered relief, and he dealt with the unemployed by putting them to work, again under control of governmental agencies. He moved quickly to heavily regulate the both the Stock Market and the Banks. And he infused money into the economy, again with heavy governmental control and regulation.

His critics, then and now, saw him as a heavy handed socialist – a hatred developing that persists even today. His supporters saw [and see] him as a genius who turned the biggest economic disaster of our history into a time of great social change. In their eyes, his programs were short term solutions that also kept an eye on their long term consequences.