Essay About Great Depression And President Herbert C. Hoover

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Roosevelt and Hoover
President Franklin D. Roosevelt is commonly thought of as a
liberal and
President Herbert C. Hoover as a conservative. The validity of
these accusations,
however, is uncertain.
Before classifying each president in the categories of
“liberal” and
“conservative,” it must first be understood what is meant by each
term. During the time
of the Great Depression, a liberal was usually associated with
“political equality, free
speech, free assembly, free press, and equality of opportunity.” It
was directly derived
from the word “liberty” which meant freedom. Today, the definition
changes drastically.
A liberal is someone who thinks government can solve problems, and
someone who
trusts government. They believe in more government spending (such as
in social
plans) and are not turned off because of raised taxes, knowing full
well the money taken
away will do the country good. Frankly, liberals believe in more
government in the daily
lives of people. Conservatives believe in directly the opposite of
what liberals do.
They believe heavily in the free enterprise system (private
ownership). Their
economics rely on the theory of supply and demand and profit motive.
Their
lassiez-faire policy was introduced in a book The Wealth of Nations
by Adam Smith.
This economic policy can be seen directly in the rest of what
conservatives believe in.
They are resistant to change, being strong believers of traditional
values. They thought
money should be spent on defense, not social programs. In a nutshell,
they want
government to stay out of peoples lives. The modern definitions of
each term will be
used in categorizing Roosevelt and Hoover.
President Hoover, a strong believer in traditional values,
can definitely be
described as a conservative. His initial “hands-off” policy in
dealing with the Great
Depression show this well. He believed in the business cycle and
that the country
would pull its self out of the depression. He did not want to use
government power in
dealing with this catastrophe, mainly because of his predecessors
tradition of
lassiez-faire. Hoover stated in an election speech, “Every step of
bureaucratizing of
the business of our country poisons the very roots of liberalism (old
definition).” As
government gets bigger, there are needed more offices, agencies and
bureaus to
handle affairs. This bureaucracy, he said, would take the American
peoples freedom
right from them. He felt a great need to take government out of
peoples lives more
then ever. Even after the depression hit, Hoover was convinced that
government could
do nothing to help the country out this cataclysm. He said in 1930,
“Economic
depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive
pronouncement.” He felt
that no matter what happens, government actions can do no good for
the economy,
and that only the people can pull themselves out.
As the depression worsened, Hoover began to think he should
not sit back and
watch the depression thorough, but help out as much as he can to
quicken the arrival of
prosperity in the business cycle. While this government action was
one of liberal
proportions, Hoover is still classifies as a conservative because of
his long terms goals
having conservatism written all over them. Drastic times call for
drastic measures, and
he felt the only way to preserve tradition was help out the people.
He first started
helping out by merely encouraging voluntary groups in the community
to help out the
less fortunate. He felt that “government -national, state and local-
can join with the
community in such programs and do its part.”