What did Herbert Hoover do in response to the stock market crash in 1929?

Answer 1

At first President Poover tried to organize national optimism by summoning business execs to DC to declare that conditions were sound and that there would not be wage cutting. When that did not work (stop the depression), he became inactive for a while, trusting to the idea that it all would self-correct. When that did not work, he organized an international moratorium in war debts and reparations. This actually did help stem the slide further into depression, but only briefly. Then he set up the Reconstruction Finance Corp. to bring federal aid to hard pressed banks and businesses. Just as it seemed that this might work and that recovery was at hand, in the winter of 1932-33 the banking system in America went into a tailspin. On March 4, 1933, the American banking system ground to a complete halt. Hoover was an able and intelligent president who attempted orthodox economic ideas, but became a victim to the collapse of the system.