Sparks Commentary: Herbert Hoover: More interventionist than he’s remembered

How much of the blame for the Great Depression belongs to Herbert Hoover?

Herbert Hoover had been president for only seven months, when the American stock market crashed in October of 1929. The Wall Street Crash of ‘29, sometimes called the “Great Crash,” is often marked as the beginning of the Great Depression. But this nation has had several other stock market crashes in its long history, and recovered much more quickly from most of these other crashes. Thus, I’m not entirely convinced that the 1929 Crash is what “caused” the Depression, although it was certainly a catastrophe of gargantuan proportions. Regardless, Herbert Hoover got the blame for the crash, and for the truly Great Depression that soon followed it. Many homeless Americans then lived in shanty towns that came to be called “Hoovervilles,” named (with some bitterness) after him. But how much of the blame does Herbert Hoover really deserve for this (and he does indeed deserve some)? What is the legacy of Herbert Hoover’s presidency? And just where did Mr. Hoover come from? These are the questions that this post will attempt to answer.

Herbert Hoover

Early life, including being a mining engineer, and organizing relief in World War One Europe

Herbert Clark Hoover was born in Iowa in 1874. His father was a blacksmith and farm implement store owner. But the father died when Herbert Hoover was six years old. The mother died when Herbert Hoover was about ten years old. Thus, Herbert Hoover and his siblings were cared for by one of his uncles. Later, the kids were cared for by another of their uncles, this time in faraway Oregon. Herbert Hoover did not graduate from high school, but he did go to Stanford University. Specifically, he got a degree in geology while he was there. Hoover became wealthy as a mining engineer, and even became the sole proprietor of a mine. Thus, he had a kind of “rags-to-riches” story – unlike his future opponent Franklin Roosevelt, who was born into a wealthy family. Herbert Hoover married his only wife Lou Henry in 1899. Incidentally, Hoover was then a political independent. When World War One broke out in 1914, Herbert Hoover began working for the Democratic president Woodrow Wilson. Specifically, Hoover was appointed the Chairman of the Commission for Relief in Belgium. Herbert Hoover’s private-sector career was over. His public-sector career was about to begin. In 1917, Hoover switched to being Wilson’s Director of the United States Food Administration. However, Hoover later resigned from that position in 1918. Instead, he led the American Relief Administration, which provided food to starving millions in Central and Eastern Europe – including Soviet Russia. In 1920, Herbert Hoover became a Republican, just in time to run for the presidency that year. The Democratic president Woodrow Wilson was then in ill health, so Wilson was thus unable to run for re-election that year. The Democrats instead nominated James M. Cox as their candidate, with the future president Franklin Delano Roosevelt as his running mate. But Herbert Hoover failed to gain the Republican nomination that year. Instead, the Republicans nominated Warren G. Harding in 1920. Thus, Warren G. Harding was elected the next president that year, with Calvin Coolidge as his vice president. Both of these men would create great opportunities for Herbert Hoover.

Herbert Hoover in 1917, while a mining engineer

Herbert Hoover serves as Secretary of Commerce, and is elected president in 1928

When President Harding entered office in 1921, he appointed Hoover (a fellow Republican) as his new Secretary of Commerce. Herbert Hoover was a highly visible Cabinet member. He was involved in the regulation of the new medium of radio, and also regulated the still-fairly-new air travel as well. But in 1923, President Harding died of a heart attack while in office. Thus, Calvin Coolidge (Harding’s vice president) became the 30th President of the United States. Some might have expected President Coolidge to fire some of his predecessor’s Cabinet members. But Hoover was fortunate that Coolidge retained Hoover as Secretary of Commerce. Thus, Herbert Hoover later organized a response to the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. In 1928, President Coolidge was popular enough to run for another term. But Coolidge declared that ten years as president would be “longer than any other man has had it—too long!” Thus, Coolidge decided not to run for re-election in 1928. This left the field open to other Republican candidates, including Herbert Hoover. But Hoover received a large majority of the vote at the Republican National Convention. In that same year, the Democrats nominated Al Smith, the Governor of New York, on the first ballot. Al Smith won 40.8% of the popular vote in 1928, but only received 16.4% of the electoral vote that year. Herbert Hoover won 58.2% of the popular vote (an actual majority), and 83.6% of the electoral vote. Thus, Herbert Hoover had just been elected the 31st President of the United States.

Herbert Hoover listening to a radio receiver, 1925

The Wall Street crash of 1929, with President Hoover raising taxes across the board

When Herbert Hoover took office, he inherited a booming economy from his predecessor Calvin Coolidge. But, in October of 1929, the stock market crashed. Again, Hoover had been president for just seven months. As Wikipedia puts it, “Hoover's response to the depression was widely seen as lackluster and he scapegoated Mexican Americans for the economic crisis. Approximately 1.5-2 million Mexican Americans were forcibly ‘repatriated’ to Mexico in a forced migration campaign known as the Mexican Repatriation — a majority of them were born in the United States.” (Source: Their page on “Herbert Hoover”) President Hoover also raised taxes across the board, especially on the wealthiest Americans. Thus, I have a hard time identifying Herbert Hoover with a truly free-market approach. Many paint Herbert Hoover as a “laissez-faire” president, like his predecessor Calvin Coolidge. Thus, they put the blame for the Great Depression’s onset on Hoover’s supposedly “hands-off” approach. But later economists, like Amity Shlaes, have challenged this view. They agree that Herbert Hoover was to blame, but note that the increased taxes had the effect of stifling economic productivity – and thus, arguably, economic recovery. Thus, the blame goes on the big-government side of Herbert Hoover, not on his “laissez-faire” side. Herbert Hoover’s vice president was part Native American, the first vice president with significant amounts of non-European ancestry – and the only one until Kamala Harris, in the twenty-first century. Hoover’s record on African American civil rights is more mixed. Hoover was a fan of Prohibition, and opposed having it repealed. But it was repealed anyway in 1933, the year that Hoover left the White House. Herbert Hoover quickly got the blame for the Great Depression, and for the aforementioned “Hoovervilles.” This would hurt him in his bid for re-election in 1932.

Herbert Hoover with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933

Hoover is defeated by FDR in 1932, but becomes more conservative in retirement

In the 1932 elections, Herbert Hoover faced little opposition at the Republican National Convention. On the Democratic side, the Democrats nominated Franklin Delano Roosevelt, then the Governor of New York. Hoover then won 39.6% of the popular vote, and 11.1% of the electoral vote. Franklin Roosevelt won 57.4% of the popular vote (an actual majority), and 88.9% of the electoral vote. Thus, Herbert Hoover had been voted out, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt then succeeded him as president. To his credit, Herbert Hoover continued to speak out against Roosevelt’s “New Deal” policies, and was more free-market than his famous rival. But it was the interventionist side of Herbert Hoover that had gotten the Depression started. And FDR was far more of an interventionist, and went on to make the Depression even worse. To me, FDR is far more culpable on this score than Hoover, although Hoover does still deserve some of the blame. Hoover became more conservative in retirement, and worked for Presidents Truman and Eisenhower. Among other things, this involved chairing the influential “Hoover Commission.” Eventually, Herbert Hoover died in 1964, at the age of 90. Thus, he had a much longer post-presidency life than most presidents have had. To me, the legacy of Herbert Hoover is somewhat mixed. He is usually ranked as a significantly below-average president. Hoover may be somewhat better than he is remembered, but I would likewise put him somewhere below the average. Regardless of one’s verdict on him, though, his presidency certainly left its mark upon American history.