Promising to bring continued peace and prosperity to the nation, he carried 40 states and defeated Democratic candidate Alfred E. Smith , the governor of New York , by a record margin of electoral votes.
On October 24, —only seven months after Hoover took office—a precipitous drop in the value of the U. Banks and businesses failed across the country. Nationwide unemployment rates rose from 3 percent in to 23 percent in Millions of Americans lost their jobs, homes and savings. Many people were forced to wait in bread lines for food and to live in squalid shantytowns known derisively as Hoovervilles. Hoover undertook various measures designed to stimulate the economy, and a few of the programs he introduced became key components of later relief efforts.
He believed in a limited role for government and worried that excessive federal intervention posed a threat to capitalism and individualism. He felt that assistance should be handled on a local, voluntary basis. Accordingly, Hoover vetoed several bills that would have provided direct relief to struggling Americans. By the time of the presidential election, Hoover had become a deeply unpopular—even reviled—figure across much of the country.
Carrying only six states, he was soundly defeated by Democratic candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt , the governor of New York, who promised to enact a slate of progressive reforms and economic relief programs that he described as a New Deal for the American people.
He wrote articles and books outlining his conservative political views and warning about the dangers of investing too much power in the federal government. Hoover returned to public service in the s, serving on commissions aimed at increasing government efficiency for presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower By the time Hoover died at age 90 on October 20, , in New York City , assessments of his legacy had grown more favorable.
Start your free trial today. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Lou Hoover was an American first lady and the wife of Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the United States. As a child, Lou developed an interest in nature and the outdoors, a passion she would follow to Stanford University, where she became one of the Hoover was the first president born west of the Mississippi River.
Herbert Clark Hoover was born on August 10, , in a two-room, whitewashed cottage built by his father in West Branch, Iowa, a small prairie town of just people. They are turned away at the White House, however, unsuccessful in their attempt to present a petition to Hoover asking for jobs. After more than a decade of military dictatorship, Spain adopts a Republican constitution, abolishing its monarchy.
King Alfonso XIII had used the military to remain in power, but the international depression produced mutinies within the army and he had been forced to flee the country that April. Secretary of State Stimson delivers a diplomatic note to Japan, condemning its actions in Manchuria.
Hoover establishes the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, an agency designed to lend money to banks, insurance companies, and other institutions to stimulate the economy. In one of the most publicized crimes of the century, the twenty-month-old son of Charles Lindbergh is kidnapped.
The public outcry against the crime will help to make kidnapping a federal crime punishable by death. The first of nearly 20, veterans arrive in Washington, D. They hope to pressure Congress into granting them the full value of their bonus certificates, which were not to mature until Army troops in late July.
The troops and the veterans clashed in a violent confrontation. The aggressive removal of the Bonus Army marchers damaged Hoover's popularity as he began a difficult reelection campaign.
During his administration, Hoover had provided significant programs in support of veterans. He established the Veterans Administration, providing an agency focused on veterans' issues. He supported significant benefits for housing and hospitalization, as well as support for the disabled. Hoover, however, refused to increase relief to able-bodied Americans, including veterans, as the Great Depression began. Although Congress had passed a bill in to pay a bonus to World War I veterans, the bonus was not due to be paid out until In , Congress passed a Bonus Loan bill, which allowed veterans to receive an advance on their bonus.
Hoover vetoed the bill but Congress passed it over his veto. In , as the Great Depression deepened, veterans' organizations began to lobby for an additional loan on the bonus. In , Hoover again refused to support the bonus. However, Congress refused to authorize a second bonus loan. Some chose to remain in Washington, blocking demolition of the federal buildings where they now resided. The District of Columbia police, unable to evict the marchers from the buildings, looked to the federal government for aid.
Hoover chose not to declare martial law over the city, but he did instruct Secretary of War Patrick Hurley to remove the marchers. MacArthur, with Major Dwight D. Eisenhower as his second in command, took control of the operation using troops, guns, and tear gas to drive the marchers from Washington.
MacArthur exceeded his orders when he ordered the troops to cross the Anacostia River and drive the marchers from their main encampment. A fire broke out at the encampment, which was destroyed.
While the President clearly did not want brute force used against the marchers, he took full blame for the incident. The image of the Army attacking innocent bonus marchers haunted Hoover's reelection bid. Franklin D. Roosevelt wins the presidential election over Hoover in dramatic fashion. Roosevelt wins electoral votes The election illustrates the widespread public opinion that Hoover is largely to blame for the continuing economic crisis.
Grant Rutherford B. Hayes James A. Garfield Chester A. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Bush Bill Clinton George W. Help inform the discussion Support the Miller Center. University of Virginia Miller Center. Breadcrumb U. March 4, Herbert Hoover inaugurated. Herbert Hoover is inaugurated as the thirty-first President of the United States. March 5, Stimson appointed Secretary of State. Hoover appoints Henry L. Stimson Secretary of State.
March 28, Hoover became a leading voice among a group of influential Republican conservatives, including Senate majority leader Robert Taft of Ohio, who advocated building American naval and air power and basing American military strategy on a defense of the Western Hemisphere. Hoover supported such a position because he feared that massive land wars in Europe and Asia would cost millions of American lives, because he believed that Europeans could do more to defend themselves against the Soviets, and because he thought that the cost of maintaining the global commitments outlined by the Truman administration would bankrupt the United States.
Hoover and Taft, of course, ended up on the losing side of what came to be known as "The Great Debate" concerning America's Cold War foreign policy. Hoover remained active in party politics as well.
He supported the candidacies of Robert Taft in and , and of Dwight D. Eisenhower in He was less enthusiastic about Vice President Richard Nixon's run for the presidency in In , shortly before his death, Hoover endorsed Senator Barry Goldwater for President, telling his associates that the conservative Arizona Republican closely mirrored his own views on the need for limiting federal authority over everyday life and the American economy.
Herbert Hoover died in , at the age of ninety, from colon cancer. He was laid to rest in West Branch, Iowa, beside his wife Lou, who passed away in Grant Rutherford B. Hayes James A. Garfield Chester A. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman Dwight D.
Eisenhower John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Bush Bill Clinton George W.
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