On this day in 1929, President Herbert Hoover delivered his first State of the Union message to Congress. Hoover hated public speaking so he sent his report in the form of a written message. This annual message from the president is a requirement of the Constitution. Every previous president up to Woodrow Wilson in 1913 had also sent a written message. Wilson, a former university professor, was comfortable giving speeches and saw it as a way to rally support for his agenda.
Franklin Roosevelt was also comfortable with public speaking, and thanks to the radio he could address the entire nation. By then, the nation was in the depths of Hoover's depression and Roosevelt needed to sell some hard medicine to the people.
Hoover wasn't actually responsible for the Great Depression. That has been blamed on the speculators who had blown up an enormous bubble, which when it broke took down the banks and the whole economy, requiring more than a decade and a world war to put things to rights again.
Hoover's predecessors, Harding and Coolidge, also deserve some of the blame for failing to put the brakes on the speculators. They also did little to solve the farm crisis that was going on during their watch. When Hoover sent off his message to Congress a few weeks after the Wall Street Crash, he though the downturn was just a bump in the road
Hoover seemed like the right man to get the country through its economic crisis. He had been Secretary of Commerce through the Roaring Twenties. He helped develop air travel and radio during that time. He led the response to the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. When he had graduated from Stanford in 1895, he had trouble finding a job because the country was in the middle of another depression. So he knew what it was like to suffer.
But he didn't suffer very much. He was a mining engineer and when he finally found work he did very well. By 1914 he was a multi-millionaire by today's standards. On the other hand, he had some progressive ideas. He worked for the eight hour work day and was in favor of labor unions. At the end of WWI he was put in charge of bringing food to millions of people in Europe on the verge of starvation. In the face of Senate opposition, he provided aid to the defeated Germans and the Bolshevist Russians.
He should have known how to handle a crisis, but he had one big handicap: he believed that government should not get involved in the daily life of Americans. He thought it would damage the American ideals of individualism and self-reliance. As the economy started to slow after the Wall Street crash, Hoover encouraged public-private cooperation. He believed local governments and private giving should help those in need.
Hoover did work to fix the farm crisis and save factory jobs. He was unable to stop Congress from imposing tariffs on goods coming in from the rest of the world. The rest of the world retaliated with tariffs against American goods and the Great Worldwide Depression kicked into high gear. Meanwhile over in Munich, a fellow named Adolph bought another round for the boys in the beer hall.
Hoover was reluctant to put people on the dole. He believe it would ruin their moral fiber. Besides, he thought care for the needy was the responsibility of local government. Governor Roosevelt of New York was doing just that. Finally in 1932 Hoover began to intervene directly, but it was too little too late and he was swept away in the Roosevelt landslide.
Hoover lived another thirty-one years after his loss. He tried twice later for the Republican nomination, but he was still too unpopular. After WWII he got involved with refugee relief in Europe. He became involved in government work again which restored his reputation. He reminds me a bit of Jimmy Carter, a decent and intelligent man who found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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The first State of the Union address. |
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Interesting stuff.
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