How Did Hoover Respond To The Great Depression

It is the early 1920s and America’s economy is booming and there seems to be enough prosperity to go around. Cars cram the streets as Americans all around the country purchase this newest method of transportation. The cities are packed even more than ever as city populations soar higher from the lack of Americans wanting to live in rural areas. The cities are filled with noise from mass production methods in the factories that feed consumerism along with the sound of jazz music and radios. This time period was exciting for many Americans and the world seemed to be as bright as ever.

During this period something known as the New York Stock Exchange arose that allowed even the most common person to invest in the huge corporations that ruled America’s industries. This market seemed very promising to many people and was growing faster than anyone could have imagined. In 1925 the value of all stocks in the NYSE were at about 27$ billion, but in only 4

food administrator in World War I and Secretary of commerce. Initially he responded boldly but his belief in minimum federal intervention greatly limited his options. Starting with unemployment Hoover tried to respond to it as a local issue and not a national one. Advising state officials to create public-works projects to help soften the blow of unemployment and create much needed jobs for citizens. Following this on October 1930 he set up a program known as Emergency Committee for Employment that would help coordinate multiple voluntary relief efforts. By 1931 Hoover was able to convince the nation’s biggest bank to help smaller banks by creating a private lending agency. These attempts at stopping the downward spiral of the Great Depression proved to have little to no effect as they were being held back too much by Hoover’s economic stance of volunteerism and were not strong enough to deal with the global