Did Herbert Hoover help America recover from the Great Depression?

Answer 1

To some extent yes. It can be argued that without him and the New Deal America may not have recovered from the Depression.

Now before Roosevelt, Hoover was in power, he believed in 'rugged individualism' and refused to help the people as he felt they neeeded to sort it out for themselves. However, it was then that Roosevelt was elected as President.

He set up a number of schemes to help people including the alphabet agencies. These included:

1. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) - responsible for flood control, building dams and constructing new towns.
2. The National Recovery Administration (NRA) - this agency negotiated with the major industries to create fair prices, wages and working hours.
3. The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) - aimed at reducing farm production and boosting farm prices.
4. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) - offered short-term work to young men on conservation projects.
5. The Public Works Administration (PWA) - constructed schools, hospitals and other public buildings.

Alot of people argued that sometimes the jobs he was paying people to do were uneccessary but the point was he was giving people jobs, he was giving them a reason not to give up hope, he was giving them money for their family ot survive on.

He also helped restore belief in the American people and their faith in the government, with his 'Fireside chats' he would address the nation with his friendly, comforting speeches.

He also stabalised the banking situation, he closed down all banks for the day and then the Emergency Banking Relief Bill brought all banks under government control. If the banks were considered to be good and not corrupt they could then reopen. He helped here because he had stopped all the panic and had solved the banking crisis. He told the American people:

I can assure you that it is safer to keep your money in a reopened bank than under the mattress

The only problem with Roosevelts solution was that is constantly needed money pumping into it and some people thought this was doing less good than the depression. Therefore it can be argued that without the second worl war America probably still wouldn't have recovered from the Depression even with Roosevelt.

However, others believe if he hadn't done all the things he had done and restored faith in the American people then there would have been no hope of recovery.

Really it's up to the individual to make their mind up.

Answer 2

FDR tried a number of things to end the Depression. He was willing to try just about anything. This was a radical departure from all previous presidents. Up until FDR people in general believed the government ought to keep out of economic affairs. Previous depressions (usually called "panics") had eventually resolved themselves through the natural operation of the business cycle.

Probably two of the most effective things FDR created were the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps. Both of these gave people jobs - real jobs, doing real things. Unemployment was 25% of the work force when FDR took office. In that era few women worked outside the home, so just about every person counted in this number was a man, most of whom had families to feed, clothe and house. Both the WPA and the CCC put men to work on all sorts of public projects. In my area of the country, for instance, the WPA built a City Auditorium and the CCC built the Blue Ridge Parkway. Roads, bridges, airports, and numerous other types of projects were funded through these programs.

When FDR took office one of the first things he did was to declare a "bank holiday". All banks in the country closed for weeks, until bank examiners could check their books and see that they were solvent. People had lost confidence in all banks, and all depositors would rush to the bank trying to withdraw their money. The banks would pay out until they ran out of cash, then close, with people at the back of the line getting nothing. This was called a "run on the bank". My grandfather had just put his paycheck in the bank on Friday, and the next Monday morning there was a run on his bank which closed, never to reopen. Years later, after the bank's bankruptcy case dragged through the courts, he finally got ten cents on the dollar for the money he had in the bank. FDR created the FDIC - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. This insured bank depositors that the Federal government would insure their money in the bank, so if the bank failed, the government would pay back the money they had in the bank. This made people confident enough to put money in banks again.

FDR also had Congress pass the Glass-Steagall Banking Act. This regulated the types of things banks could do. Republicans hated FDR at the time, and have since, and have tried to undo everything FDR did. The Republican controlled Congress in the late 1990s finally repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, which allowed banks to run rampant, and led DIRECTLY to the current financial crisis.

FDR created the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate the Stock Market. Low margin requirements had led directly to the stock market crash of 1929. FDR's new SEC raised margin requirements to where they remain today, and we have not had another crash like the one of 1929.

Through the Department of Agriculture FDR set up a system of crop subsidies. This established a bottom price a farmer could get for his crops. Up to that time in history, most Americans were farmers. In 1900 90% of the people of the US were rural, mostly farmers. In good years they grew good crops, but so did everybody else, and the price was low, because there was plenty. In bad years they grew little or nothing, and the price was high, but they had little or nothing to sell. This meant a continuing cycle of very, very hard times on the farm. FDR's crop subsidies insured that a farmer could at least make enough to live on from his work. Again, the Republican Congress of the 1990s largely did away with the crop subsidy program, and replaced it with something they called "Freedom to Farm", which again allows farmers to go broke, no matter how hard they work.

FDR also obtained from Congress the Social Security Administration. This has been one of the most important things he did. This gave a monthly check to old and disabled people, who, before, if they had not worked at a job which gave them a pension, had no money at all and had to get along the best they could.

One of the worst things FDR did was to take the US off the gold standard. Now, the "experts" act like you're an idiot when you get to talking about the gold standard, like they ought to come catch you with a butterfly net. But, the fact remains, that when the value of the dollar was directly related to gold, this kept the politicians in Congress from ruining the value of the dollar. A dollar in 1930 was worth the same as it was in 1800. It was a day's pay for an adult man, and on that, he could have a home and support a family. New cars cost a few hundred dollars and houses only a few thousand. Since FDR took the nation off the gold standard, for every year but two, I think, since 1933, Congress has spent more money than the government has. They make up the difference by creating money out of thin air ("the deficit"). This puts more dollars out there to represent the same amount of wealth, WHICH MAKES EACH AND EVERY DOLLAR WORTH LESS. If you do this every year, soon the dollar becomes worth much less than it used to be, which is exactly what has happened. This amounts to a hidden tax on anybody who has any of these dollars - basically every person in the country. Politicians LOVE this state of affairs because it lets them spend money so they can get reelected and keep their snouts in the public trough, and to hell with the people and their pitiful little savings. You're an idiot to put money in a savings account at the bank, because the bank is paying a little bit of piddly interest but the government is RELENTLESSLY making each of these dollars worth less. If you put money in the bank and don't touch it for thirty years , you will be LUCKY if it has the same buying power after thirty years as when you put it away. People used to understand this, those who were old enough to remember how things used to be. When something was good, solid, reliable, you could count on it, an old saying was that it was "sound as a dollar". A dollar today is worth maybe 1/100th what is was in 1930, the cumulative effect of the last eighty years of Congressional irresponsibility. At the time FDR did this it allowed him to spend money the government did not have to "prime the pump" and get the economy moving again. Fund all these programs, like the WPA, CCC and Social Security. Perhaps he believed that once the crisis had passed, Congress would be responsible and NOT spend money it did not have. The history of all governments in all countries in all times is that people will not do this. If you do not FORCE those in control of the money to live within their means, by tying the value of the money to some recognizable standard, such as gold, they will print the stuff until it becomes worthless, just like we have done.

All of the things FDR did helped some, but none of them truly ended the Depression. The real end did not come until WWII forced even more massive spending and created millions of new jobs in defense plants, building things for the war effort.

Answer 3

The conventional wisdom is that Franklin Roosevelt worked tirelessly and effectively to end the Great Depression in the U.S.A. Information about that view is easy to find. What is less popularly known, though long-standing, is the opinion that FDR's policies actually prolonged the depression. For that argument and analysis, see Jim Powell, FDR's Folly: How Roosevelt and his New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression (2004).

You will find a summary, discussion, and criticism of that book, online, at http://eh.net/bookreviews/library/0757

FDR created the New Deal which was a program of small programs to help the nation back on its feet. This program included the SSA, the CCC etc.

Answer 4

no, america ultimately recovered with the help of manufacturing and farming during world war two, despite the popular belief that FDR and the new deal fixed it.

Answer 5

It didn't; U.S. participation in World War II did.