1932 Presidential Election

The 1932 Presidential Election

How Useless was Hoover?

I get annoyed with pupils who call people in History ‘stupid’ or ‘useless’.

Herbert Hoover was an orphan who became a mining engineer and multi-millionaire. After WWI he ran the aid programme that saved Belgians from starvation. Going into politics, he won the 1928 presidential election with a landslide, proclaiming ‘triumph over poverty’ and promising Americans ‘a chicken in every pot and a car in every backyard'.

It is undeniable that Hoover failed to end the Depression. It is also undeniable that Americans blamed Hoover for failing to end the Depression. They called the shanty towns of homeless people 'Hoovervilles', and talked of ‘Hoover leather’ (cardboard soles for shoes), ‘Hoover blankets’ (newspapers that people slept in) and 'Hoover flags' (empty pockets).

But were the accusations fair? Did Hoover fail to address the depression?

Going Deeper

The following links will help you widen your knowledge:

Basic accounts from BBC Bitesize

Essay: Why did Roosevelt win the 1932 Presidential election?

BBC Witness History - the Bonus Army

YouTube

The 1932 Election

AQA-suggested Interpretation of the Great Depression and 1932 Election:

Herbert Hoover, Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Great Depression

YES HE DID FAIL

Hoover believed in ‘rugged individualism’ (that looking after yourself is your job) and in ‘laissez faire’ (that government should not interfere with business).
He believed that charity was your neighbour’s job, not the government’s, and that neither was it the government’s job to save failing businesses.
Trying to protect American industry, he passed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff (1930) – the highest duties on foreign imports in America’s history. This stopped imports – but retaliatory tariffs by 60 other countries ruined America’s exports.
When the ‘Bonus Army’ of WWI veterans set up a Hooverville in Washington, Hoover sent in the army to clear and burn it at bayonet-point.
To protect Americans’ jobs, tens of thousands of Mexican-Americans were deported under the Mexican Repatriation Programme, 1929(-37).

NO HE DID MUCH TO ADDRESS IT

The Davis-Bacon Act (1931) encouraged firms to maintain high wages by requiring union wages to be paid on federal construction contracts.
A Committee for Unemployment Relief was set up (1931) to advise charities how to help the unemployed.
The Emergency Relief Act (1932) provided $300 million for unemployment pay.
$4 billion was allocated for public works schemes (including the Hoover Dam).
The Reconstruction Finance Corporation (1932) gave $1.5 billion in loans to businesses and state governments.
The Norris-La Guardia Act (1932) banned yellow dog contracts (which forbade workers to join a Union) and protected the right to strike peacefully.
The Banking Act (1932) allowed the Federal Reserve to offer loans to banks that were facing difficulties.

All this is usually either not mentioned at all, or dismissed as ‘too little, too late’. In fact, it was exactly what the ‘New Deal’ was later to copy.

Why did Hoover lose the 1932 Presidential Election?

In the 1932 Presidential election Hoover (of the Republican Party) faced the Democratic candidate Franklin D Roosevelt.

In a landslide defeat, Hoover won only 6 of the 48 states of the USA – the worst defeat ever in a Presidential election.

HOOVER'S CAMPAIGN

To pay for his anti-recession programme, Hoover raised income tax on the highest incomes from 25% to 63%.
People blamed Hoover for the Depression: ‘In Hoover we trusted, now we are busted’.
People could see that his policies were not ending the Depression.
Attacking the Bonus Army was seen as a wicked attack on war heroes.
The Black vote switched from the Republicans to FDR’s Democrats.
He was a poor public speaker and made only 9 radio speeches.
He offered only the hope that the USA would soon ‘turn the corner’ back towards prosperity.
Cinemas did not show his picture because people booed, his campaign train was pelted with eggs and rotten fruit, and in one city he met banners reading: ‘Hang Hoover’.
The Secret Service stopped many attempts to assassinate the president, including a suicide bomber.

ROOSEVELT'S CAMPAIGN

Roosevelt, as Governor of New York, had spent $20million on measures to help people.
Was married to Eleanor Roosevelt, a noted campaigner to help the poor.
Was a wheelchair-user; this made him look like a victor over adversity … which was what the country needed.
Promised the 3Rs (Relief, Recovery, Reform) and a ‘New Deal’ – including public works programmes, welfare, support for industry and agriculture and banking reform.
Ran a vigorous campaign, making up to 15 speeches a day.
Was upbeat – his campaign song was ‘Happy Days are Here Again’.
Declared the election a ‘crusade to restore America to its own people’ (i.e. appeared to blame the bankers and the rich).
Promised to end Prohibition.

Political cartoons from the 1932 election.

Consider:

1. In my 2009 textbook I wrote: “Hoover failed to do enough, not to act”. Maybe now I would say that he was perceived not to have acted. What do YOU think: Is Hoover fairly blamed for failing to address the Depression?

2. Look at election cartoons A-C. For each, decide whom it is supporting, and what is its message to electors.

3. One of Studs Terkel's interviewees commented that "in 1932, a monkey could have been elected against [Hoover]". How much was Roosevelt's election because of Roosevelt, and how much because of Hoover?"

AQA Exam-style Questions