The Election of 1932 Angela Brown

Chapter 22 Section 5

Hoover blamed depression on “world-wide economic conditions beyond our control” – not U.S. economy

• Hoover’s Limited Strategy• Leaders tried to maintain public

confidence in the economy.

http://www.historyplace.com/specials/calendar/docs-pix/h-hoover.jpg

Voluntary Action Fails

• Hoover believed voluntary controls by U.S. business the best way to end economic crisis.

• Got companies to promise to maintain wage rates. (by end of 1931 had to cut wages)

• People began to blame Hoover and Republicans.

The Government Acts

• To create jobs the government spent more on new public buildings (roads, parks, dams)

• Boulder Dam later Hoover Dam began in 1930

• President Emergency Committee on Employment advised local relief programs

• Hawley-Smoot tariff of 1930 – highest import tax in history (to protect domestic industry from foreign imports)

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• European countries raised tariffs – slowed down international trade

• Hoover suspended allies’ payments of war debts- Europe’s economies still grew weaker

• Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) – gave government credit to banks to extend loans (prosperity at top would help the economy as a whole)

• Hoover wanted state and local government to handle relief but their programs did not have enough money.

• Hoover believed in hard-work, self-reliance, balanced budget.

• Public works projects and direct aid were out of the question to Hoover.

Hoover’s Unpopularity Grows

• Hoover’s WWI relief work had made him the “Great Humanitarian”.

• His attitude toward the Depression made him seem cold and hard-hearted.

• Believed direct aid would destroy self-respect and create a large bureaucracy.

• Newspaper showed him feeding his dog on the White House lawn while people went hungry.

• Finally in 1932 Hoover let the RFC lend money to states for unemployment relief. – too little to late – private charities and local officials could not meet needs.

• Some economist believed theory of John Maynard Keynes, a British economist.

• Massive government spending could help a collapsing economy.

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Veterans March on Washington

• Bonus Army – 20,000 Jobless WWI veterans encamped in Washington D.C.

• Wanted immediate payment of a pension bonus promised for 1945

• House agreed – Senate said no• Most went home – a few stayed – • Mostly peaceful but a few violent

incidents promoted Hoover to call in Army.

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• Gen. Douglas MacArthur decided to use force to drive the marchers out.

• Marchers armed with stones, bricks• Army used guns, tanks, tear gas• Many injured.• Hoover was horrified but took

responsibility (images on ugly scene would help defeat him)

http://spartans.sstx.org/~wgoodman/grtdepbonusarmy.jpg

A “New Deal” for America

• “FDR” nicknamed by press – grad Harvard – lawyer – NY State Senate, Assist. Secretary of Navy

• 1920 ran for Vice-President – lost• Summer – Polio – never walked without

help again• Eleanor – TR’s niece – distant cousin of

FDR

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http://www.usconstitution.com/eleanor-2520roosevelt.jpg

• 1920s she worked for public housing legislation, state government reform, birth control, better conditions for working women.

• FDR Governor of NY (1929-1932) – he represented a spirit of optimism that the country needed ( broad, genile smile)

• FDR was ready to experiment with governmental roles.

1st Period Here

• Wealthy but had a genuine compassion for ordinary people – due to disability

• Moved by great gap between wealthy and poor

• As governor – set up unemployment commission, relief administration, first state agencies to aid poor during Depression – promised a “New Deal”

Turning Point: The Election of 1932

• It was a historic battle between those who believed the Federal Government could not and should not try to fix people’s problems, and those who felt that large-scale problems such as the Depression required the governments help.

• Any democrat could have beat Hoover in 1932 – even long term republicans deserted him

• He became grim, gave few speeches. (see timeline page 653)

• FDR won by 7 million popular votes. (urban workers, coal miners, immigrants of Catholic and Jewish descent – supported)

• Many voted against republicans more than for FDR.

• Many had to give up traditional beliefs and accept government help to survive – under FDR’s many new programs

• “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” FDR

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Roosevelt_inauguration_1932.jpg

http://workernews.org/billyorton/th_fdr_inaugural.jpg

Role of Image in Presidential Campaign

• In what ways is image unavoidable?• In what ways can image mask the truth?• Did Hoover’s image mask his real strengths?• What was FDR’s image? • Would a candidate with a disability be

elected today?• What about his image appealed to many

Americans?• What are the images of McCain? Obama?