Ch+25+Presidents+of+the+Depression

= Herbert Hoover =
 * began presidency in March of 1929 and by 1931 was already declining in popularity
 * tried to restore confidence in banks
 * failure of voluntarism (urged leaders of business, labor, agriculture to adopt program of voluntary cooperation for recovery)
 * tried to use govt. spending to fight Depression
 * increase of $432 million in public works programs
 * 1932 propose tax increase to keep govt. out of deficit
 * passed the Agricultural Marketing Act in 1929
 * established first major govt. program for farmers to maintain prices
 * Farm Board made loans to marketing cooperatives or establish corporations to buy surplus and raise prices
 * Reconstrution Finance Corporation ( [|RFC] )
 * to give emergency loans to help stabilize businesses (railroads, banks, life insurance companies)
 * "trickle down" theory (the benefits of this would trickle down to small businesses)
 * Hawley-Smoot Tariff [[image:hooverville_Seattle.jpg width="389" height="236" align="right"]]
 * tax increases on foreign imports
 * to reduce trade for all countries (national and international economies went further into depression)
 * Debt moratorium
 * suspension of payment of international debt
 * Dawes Plan for paying war debts couldn't continue in 1931
 * [|Hoovervilles]
 * shantytowns on outskirts of cities created by unemployed
 * held [|Hoover] personally responsible for the Depression
 * protest on farms
 * Farm Holiday Association tried to reverse drop of prices by stopping whole grain crop of 1932
 * uneffective because collapsed with violence
 * Bonus March of 1932
 * a thousand unemployed WWI veterans marched to DC
 * demanded immediate payment of bonuses promised to them (to be received in 1945)
 * Hoover sent army to break this up
 * publicly regarded as heartless and uncaring



Election of 1932

 * Hoover was renominated by Republicans
 * Franklin D. Roosevelt nominated by Democrats
 * pledged a "new deal", repeal Prohibition, aid unemployed , and cut govt. spending
 * FDR won along with both houses of Congress having a Democratic majority
 * During the 4 months between the election to inauguration (March 1933), Hoover was a "lame-duck"
 * Twentieth Amendment passed in Feb. 1933 shortens time between election and inauguration (new inauguration date is Jan. 20)

= Franklin D. Roosevelt  = = Sources/More Info: =
 * cousin of Teddy Roosevelt and became one of the most influential world leaders of the 20th century
 * created the New Deal programs including:
 * financial recovery programs and public works programs
 * wife Eleanor was the most active first lady (wrote newspaper columns, gave speeches, and traveled)

Textbook AMSCO [|White House Site]