'Why Did The Policies Of President Hoover Fail To Combat The Great Depression Effectively?\r'

'In October 1929, the the States was plunged into the sharpest recession to take place in American history. The period it lasted for became known as the Great imprint. drastic action was needed to fix the situation, and the first somebody quite a little looked to was President vacuum, who had unluckily likewisek up government viii months before the Wall Street Crash.\r\nHowever, vacuum is known for his inability to sue federal official powers to dominate the printing quickly and effectively. Some recent historians lease been to a greater extent sympathetic to wards Hoover because they take he was a victim of both his own mental capacity and of one of the most difficult to solve crises in American history.\r\nBut most believe it was his semi semipolitical public opinions and policies that stopped him agitate the Depression successfully.\r\nHoovers main vexation was that he was non willing for direct government to take place. His two central policies were self- wait on and unforced co-operation. His go a broad spirit in these represented his stay putd belief that the economy had to right itself and that changes he do would non jockstrap †â€Å"Economic clinical depression cannot be recovered(p) by legislative action or exe archive pronouncement”.\r\nIndeed, Hoover knew that the government was urgently required to take action notwithstanding the action he was willing to take was not nearly abounding to deal with the depth of the Depression, as shown through eight different areas of the Depression federal government policies were made on. These were agriculture, tariffs, repudiation of war debts, voluntarism, unemployment substitute, national Home contri only whene Bank Act, Reconstruction Finance corp (RFC) and war veterans and the ‘B warhead Army. The legislation passed in all of these areas was a failure, which lost Hoover all credibility.\r\nThe Agricultural merchandising Act was passed in 1929, creating a nin e-person Federal turn Board with funds of $500 billion to have ‘stabilisation corps, and the crops created were stock- remedytually bought back at high prices. The agricultural policy failed for two reasons: firstly because it paying US farmers artificially high prices and could not continue in the long term; secondly because it enured agriculture as a domestic, not foreign, issue. insolent foreign imports became a problem, and the answer appeared to be even higher tariffs.\r\nIn June 1930, the Hawley-Smoot tariff was enforced †and was the highest in US history. Its result was most European nations abandoning unornamented trade. Hoover could have vetoed the bill hardly chose not to.\r\nIn the repudiation of war debts, Hoover diabolical the Depression on Europe, though the situation was in fact vice versa. Europe could not move over to pay back war debts, and international trades decreased. Countries world(a) were in a more depressed state, once more a negative result.\r\nHoover placed the onus of improving the situation onto the businesses rather than the government. He told business community not to cut their workforces or hire but to maintain output and encourage buying. As the depression worsened, however, they could not afford to do this. Workers were fired and wages reduced, raising unemployment levels.\r\nSo, Hoover then secured $500 billion in 1932 from Congress to use as unemployment relief, but the amount simply wasnt enough. He also station up the Presidents Emergency Committee for Employment to help agencies organise stews, but still refused to help nowadays because of his self-help policies.\r\nAn example of this is during the 1930-31 drought, which was so severe it led to to the highest degree starvation in the South. Congress gave $47 million to be offered as loans, but Hoover still didnt want to give direct relief. He didnt believe in giving out benefits.\r\nSo unemployment relief was another failed attempt by Hoove r to fight the Depression.\r\nThe Federal Home Lon Bank Act was passed in July 1932, and was Hoovers attempt to save mortgages. A series of Federal Home Loan banks were couch up to help loan associations providing mortgages. However, they only lent 50% of the attribute value. The Act failed and was largely ineffective, and homes were repossessed.\r\nThe Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) was Hoovers most radical measure to overcome the Depression and the precursor to the New Deal initiatives of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.\r\nThe RFC was established in January 1932 and could lend up to $2 billion to beef up banks, insurance companies, railroads and construction companies that were suffering. It was a measure taken to restore confidence. The loans, however, were given mainly to big banks and larger companies. The RFC eventually failed because it was giving too little too late.\r\nBy this time, Hoovers credibility was severely damaged, but the halt in the coffin was yet to co me †the sermon of the Bonus Army, which portrayed him as cold and cruel.\r\nIn 1925, Congress agreed to give veterans of WW1a ‘bonus to be pay in 1945. In June 1932, 20,000 war veterans marched to Washington to take their bonus early in order to stick up the Depression. They were told that the government could not afford to pay them, but Hoover would pay for their trip home. Feeling betrayed, the veterans set up camp. Hoover feared violence, to the extent of revolution, and called in the military. Tanks, metrical unit and tear gas destroyed the camp and drove absent the veterans. These men who had served their country were called â€Å"tramps and hoodlums with a bountiful sprinkling of Communist agitators”. Hoover was solely goddam for the dispersal of the Bonus Army, which was a major political blunder.\r\nBy now, the people of America had turned away from Hoover and were looking for answers elsewhere †Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Already frequent as Governor of New York State, Roosevelt appealed to the US people because he proposed to take the action that Hoover would not and showed flexibility. Through his time as Governor, Roosevelt showed his willingness to listen to others ideas and his belief that direct government intervention was necessary. An example of his flexibility is the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration, set up in 1932. Though it was temporary, it was the first state-run relief effort in the nation.\r\nIn comparison, Hoover refused to hear ideas remotely associated with government intervention. However, some historians argue that Hoover did in fact involve the government in more areas of life than ever before, for example the expansion of federal lending and the encouragement of public works schemes. Hoover had a personal concern for those suffering the Depression. He cut his own and state officials salaries by 20% and had long working hours. On the other hand, he showed optimism in public, which led peo ple to accuse him of losing touch with reality. Although Hoover worked tirelessly to fight the Depression, his refusal to abandon his policies of self-help and voluntary co-operation prevented him from doing so successfully.\r\nIn conclusion, President Hoovers policies failed to combat the Great Depression effectively because the help they provided were very limited in the extent the Depression had gone to. Because of his beliefs in self-help and voluntary co-operation he blocked direct government intervention from his policies, driving away supporters towards Roosevelt, who won the elections of 1932 and began his ‘New deal.\r\n'