#31 Herbert Hoover- The Great Depression President

#31 Herbert Hoover- The Great Depression President

 Hoover spent most of his career as a mining and civil engineer, businessman and humanitarian. He is one of only two Presidents (The other being Taft) to win a presidency without electoral experience or a high military rank. He did however, serve as Secretary of Commerce (1921-1928)

 1929;

• Hoover becomes the 31st President of the United States at the age of 54. Charles Curtis is elected as his V.P.
• The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the use of the pocket veto by the President for the purpose of blocking legislation
• Former President Coolidge is laid to rest in Plymouth Notch, VT

• Hoover signs the Agricultural Marketing Act to revitalize the increasingly poor market for farm products
• New York Stock Exchange experiences a collapse in stock prices as 13 million shares are sold. This becomes, what is known as “Black Thursday”, a week later the New York Stock Exchange experiences a record 16.4 million shares of stock traded as large blocks of equity are sold at extremely low prices, this becomes what is known as “Black Tuesday”

• The New York Stock Exchange was the start of the Great Depression era

GREAT DEPRESSION ERA

• Secretary of State Henry Stimson invokes the Kellogg-Briand Pact, ratified earlier that year, in an effort to prevent a Sino-Soviet war.

1930;

• The U.S. Census reports a population of nearly 123 million, illiteracy hitting a new low of 4.3 percent of the population–down 1.7 percent from 1920–with about one in five Americans owning an automobile
• Empire State Building construction starts

• A major bootlegging operation in Chicago’s organized crime era of Prohibition, is shut down with the arrest of 158 people from 31 organizations
• Former President Taft is laid to rest in Arlington, VA

WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT GRAVE

• London Naval Conference takes place in London where the United States, Britain, and Japan, sign the treaty.
• Hoover signs the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, raising duties high on many imports.
• Hoover signs the Veterans Administration Act to consolidate handling benefits for former servicemen into a single department
• A bank panic begins as over 800 banks across the country close down.
• Construction of the Hoover Dam begins

HOOVER DAM CONSTRUCTION

• Japanese Premier, Hamaguchi Yuko, is assassinated by a military fanatic, he had supported the London Naval Treaty signed in April, and his death opens the government to the increasing influence of military groups
• Memorial is dedicated to James Buchanan in Washington D.C.

BUCHANAN MEMORIAL

• Congress complies with Hoover’s request of funding for public works projects in order to supply jobs to help some of the 4.5 million people that are unemployed
• Economic depression worsens as bank closures rises to over 1,300. The Bank of the United States in New York City, with 60 branches and 400K depositors being the largest.

1931;

• The President’s Emergency Committee reports that the number of unemployed has reached nearly 5 million
• Empire State Building is completed and opens to the public

EMPIRE STATE BUILDING 1931

• Over Hoover’s veto, Congress passes the Bonus Loan Bill. The act allows veterans to obtain cash loans of up to 50 percent of their bonus certificates issued in 1924
• The “Star Spangled Banner” officially becomes the national anthem

• In an effort to ease the worldwide depression, Hoover proposes a one-year moratorium on debt payments owed America in return for Europe returning the favor on U.S. debts
• The Japanese military stages an incident in the Manchurian town of Mukden, creating a pretext for the Japanese invasion of the region. The action is in direct violation of the Kellogg-Briand Pact signed in 1928
• Britain goes off the gold standard in an effort to solve the continuing economic crisis. Americans, fearing that the United States will soon do the same, begin to withdraw their money from banks and hoard gold which causes another 800 banks to close their doors
• The notorious gangster Al Capone is busted by Eliot Ness and is convicted of income tax evasion and sentenced to 11 years in prison and a $50,000 fine

• In response to the Great Depression, hundreds of hunger marchers descend on the nation’s capital in an unsuccessful attempt to present a petition to Hoover asking for jobs.
• In Japan, Hamaguchi’s replacement, Ki Inukai, is also assassinated by a military fanatic.
• After more than a decade of using the military to remain in power, King Alfonso XIII of Spain fled the country due to the international depression producing mutinies in the army. Spain adopts a Republican constitution, abolishing its monarchy.

1932;

• Secretary of State Stimson delivers a diplomatic note to Japan, condemning its actions in Manchuria. The “Stimson Doctrine” indicates America’s refusal to recognize territory seized by force of arms
• Roosevelt Island is created in honor of Theodore Roosevelt

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

• 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. After paying a $50,000 ransom, the boy is found dead on May 12. The public outcry against the crime will help to make kidnapping a federal crime punishable by death.

• Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to complete a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean

AMELIA EARHART

• Nearly 20,000 veterans arrive in Washington, D.C., hoping to pressure Congress into granting them the full value of their bonus certificates, which were not to mature until 1944. The “Bonus Army” fails though, as Hoover has them forced out of the city by the U.S. Army.
• Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is completed

TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER

The stock market crashed a few months into Hoover’s term and The Great Depression that followed was widely and some say unfairly, blamed on Hoover which cost him re-election. He went on to stay in politics and deal in foreign relations like organizing relief efforts in Europe after both World Wars before dying in 1964.

Famous quotes;

“Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die.”

“Words without actions are the assassins of idealism.“

“Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity.”