Research Paper

Nicole Golden
Section: 1
American Studies: Herbert Hoover
Research Paper

Although many people may argue that president Herbert Hoover was a bad president because he waited too long to respond to the major crisis, The Great Depression, I believe that Herbert Hoover served as an excellent president because he proved earlier that in the event of a major crisis that he could still rise to the occasion and resolve any matter.
For example, according to The American Presidents book, way before he was even considered as a presidential candidate, “he served as the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and later was appointed as United States food administrator by President Woodrow Wilson, where he got several tourist and businessmen to contribute to a charitable cause benefitting starving Belgians and Frenchmen who were in desperate need of food, clothing, and etc. So in other words, if he hadn’t have acted at all then our economy would’ve been in far more turmoil then it is now thanks to President Hoover’s stride or attempts to fix the troubled economy, but let’s further examine Mr. Hoover.
Well, first off he was born August 10, 1874 in Iowa. He was also the second of three children and his parents were Quakers. However, at the age of nine, Hoover became an orphan. He grew up to become a successful mining engineer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Hoover) and businessmen.
The Great Depression started because the stock market in New York had crashed and wiped out many investors. Now here’s the interesting part, as I stated in my thesis, many people blame Hoover for the Great Depression but in fact he did try to help by resorting to other methods such as urging businesses to stay open and hire the unemployed, and providing them with food as well.(The American Presidents,pg.146)
But even with all off the many methods that President Hoover tried, the Depression got so bad that in reached Europe. So in 1931, he proposed a plan that allowed European nations to delay on payments for one year so that they would be able to address their economic problems and the U.S. could do the same.
According to the (Merriam- Webster Collegiate Encyclopedia) "President Hoover vetoed many bills to implement and fund public works projects." This is true, and it happened because President Hoover believed and had faith that the Great Depression would soon end, but as I stated previously, he still did try to help by urging businesses to hire people and to offer food to starving unemployed people when he realized that that wasn’t working, he decided to in 1932, allow relief through the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. This helped provide work for the unemployed by giving loans to banks, businesses, and money was given to the states for relief as well. (The American Presidents pg.146.)(Schiff, Peter"Can someone spare $10 Grand?")
The reason why this is so important isn’t just because we are now in somewhat of a depression, but because a lot of people really don’t understand Herbert Hoover’s actions and only saw one aspect of his decision and not the bigger picture. And how he constantly tried to help but always came back with failed attempts.
Another thing that Herbert Hoover did during the Great Depression was the Agricultural Marketing Act which helped farmers that suffered from low income. This was written right after he came into office.
So in conclusion, these are the many reasons and more that support my thesis on why Herbert Hoover was an excellent President even though he wasn’t re-elected, he showed great leadership qualities, he proved that he could rise to the occasion and step up to the plate to protect all the citizens in America.

Revised Thesis Statement

Even though, many people may argue that President Herbert Hoover was a bad president because he waited too long to respond to the major crisis, The Great Depression, I feel that Herbert Hoover served as an excellent president because he proved that in the event of a major crisis that he could still rise to the occasion and resolve any matter. For example, way before he was even considered as a presidential candidate, he served as the United States Secretary of Commerce where he got tourist and other businessmen to contribute to a charitable cause that started in the beginning of WW1 where he and other volunteers handed out food, clothing, and etc. to help the victims that lost everything and needed food. So in conclusion, if he hadn’t acted at all then our economy would’ve been in far more turmoil then it is in now thanks to President Hoover’s stride or attempts to fix the troubled economy.

Fifth Annotation

Schiff , Peter. "Brother Can You Spare $10 Grand?." The Market Oracle. Apr 11, 2008 - 01:37 PM. Market Oracle Ltd . 6 Nov 2008.

This site featured a picture that showed people who were unemployed and lined up outside of a coffee and donut shop

Fourth Annotation

KENNEDY, DAVID M.. "A Historian on the Lessons of the Depression." Time Magazine. Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008. CNN. 4 Nov 2008 .


This article was a primary source that provided vivid information on the Great Depression and the causes of it as well as the connection to the other events that occurred during that time.

I believe that it will be extremely helpful because Time Magazine has been around for a long time and it has proven to be very trusting and it gave me a better understanding of the Great Depression.