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The great crash occurred on October 29, 1929, early in Hoover's lone term. The so-called “depth” of the depression was in 1932 when he was up for re-election. No doubt he was doomed. But the question is, was his lack of action, hoping the economy would fix itself, worse for the country than an activist intervention of the sort of Roosevelt's New Deal?I'm not sure, and I'm not criticizing either, but remember, we really didn't pull out of the depression fully until we revved up the war economy during the second world war, almost a decade later.
I think that with FDR you were seeing the beginning of involvement by big government. At the time, I wonder if the average person knew that it was the beginning of things to come. If this question goes to the issue of whether or not FDR's involvement was bad for the country long-term, I would say “yes” because government has grown to the size not originally envisioned by the country's founders. On the other side of the coin, it was likely a boon to short-term morale (I question how much it helped the economy, since the market is driver of the economy, not the government).
Most of my study and reading deals with things before 1900. Twentieth century is more of a minor intrest to me. But I have to say I never really thought in terms of how FDR's terms in office changed the federal government, but your right it did take on a different personality after FDR. Do you think it was his policys alone, or the depression and the war afterwards that caused the change?
Most of my study and reading deals with things before 1900. Twentieth century is more of a minor intrest to me. But I have to say I never really thought in terms of how FDR's terms in office changed the federal government, but your right it did take on a different personality after FDR. Do you think it was his policys alone, or the depression and the war afterwards that caused the change?
It was a combination. The expansion of government was going to happen, it was a question of when. As people bought cars they were going to demand highways. As medicine got better and people lived longer, they were going to demand some kind of government pensions, and for the government to step in and pay for health care for the elderly (at least). On and on.Our willingness to get involved in overseas adventures clearly changed as a result of the war. We were now the most powerful nation on Earth and the only ones (at the time) to possess nuclear weapons. We had no choice. but to maintain that position, which called for always maintaining defense spending. Then, once you have a large military, using it is always an option.
I think Hoover was right in his economic assessments but I don't think people wanted to hear it. So his public relations strategy is what doomed him. Had he been more pro-active in finding ways to get money back into the economy away from the government coffers, he might have survived for another term. He wasn't an idiot, he just made himself look like he was out of touch with the common folk.
