Outlines Hoover's failures to address the Great Depression & the rise of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

1. +
15.4:
The Election of 1932
pp. 524-529

2. +
15.4:
The Election of 1932
 Key Terms:
 Hawley-Smoot Tariff
 Bonus Army
 Key Questions:
 #1) How did Hoover attempt to end the Depression & its hardships?
 #2) Describe FDR’s appeal to voters in 1932.
 #3) Why was the election of 1932 a significant turning point in American
politics?

3. +
1932 Campaign Songs
 Roosevelt—”Happy Days Are
Here Again!”
“Happy days are here again,
The skies above are clear again
Let us sing a song of cheer again
Happy days are her again.”
 Hoover—”Brother Can You
Spare a Dime?”
“Once I built a railroad
I made it run
Made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad
Now it’s done
Brother, can you spare a dime?”

4. +
Hoover’s Limited Strategy
 The key to recovery was confidence
 Depression was due to problems “beyond our control” &
conditions would improve soon
 Hoover banked on voluntary action
 Republicans took a beating in 1930 mid-term elections
 By 1931 many companies were cutting wages
 People started to blame Hoover for misery
 Hoover was forced to take action

5. +
The Government Acts
 Funded dams, roads, buildings, parks, etc.
 Construction began on Boulder Dam (later Hoover Dam) in 1930
 Congress passed Hawley-Smoot tariff in 1930
 Highest import tax in history
 Hoped to protect domestic industries from imports, but backfired as
European countries also raised their tariffs
 International trade stalled & European economies weakened
 Est. Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) in 1932
 Gave gov’t credit to industries, RRs, insurance companies, banks, etc.
 Idea was that prosperity at the top would help the economy as a
whole
 Resented b/c seemed like gov’t helped bankers & big business
leaders while others were hungry

6. Hoover Dam today

7. +
Hoover’s Unpopularity Grows
 Hoover insisted that state & local gov’ts could
handle relief
 Didn’t want too much gov’t bureaucracy
 Seemed cold-hearted
 People went hungry as newspapers showed
Hoover feeding his dog
 More Americans started buying into ideas of
John Maynard Keynes (Brit. economist) ideas
 Massive gov’t spending would help collapsing
economy & encourage more private spending

8. +
Veterans March on Washington
 Hoover’s low point
 Jobless WWI vets & families camped out in Washington, DC;
40K+ in #
 Nicknamed Bonus Army
 Wanted immediate payment of pension bonus (not supposed to
get it until 1945)
 Rejected by Senate (controlled by GOP)
 Thousands of the of the Bonus campers stayed put in their
shacks
 Hoover called in the army
 Led by Douglas MacArthur to clear out Pennsylvania Ave
 MacArthur used tanks & guns against bricks & stones
 1K+ inured, 4 killed; Bonus Army shoved out of Washington

10. +
A “New Deal”
 “I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people.”—FDR @
Democratic National Convention in Chicago in July 1932
 FDR’s Bio
 Born in 1882
 Graduated from Harvard
 NY State Senate
 Assistant Secretary of the Navy under Wilson
 Ran as VP in ’20, but lost
 Struck w/ polio in ’21; spent much of ‘20s recovering @ Warm Springs, GA
 Governor of NY, 1929-1932
 Wealthy background, but concern for ordinary people
 Eleanor’s bio
 Niece of TR & distant cousin to FDR
 Very active politically—gov’t reform, birth control, better work conditions for women

12. +
The Election of 1932
 “This campaign is more than a
contest between two men…It
is a contest between two
philosophies of
government.”—Hoover,
October 1932
 Hoover on the Democratic
platform if its ideas were
adopted, “this will not be the
America which we have known
in the past.”
 *See sidebar on p. 528
 FDR called for a “reappraisal
of values” and controls on big
business
 Contrast of ideologies
 Gov’t should NOT fix people’s
problems vs. large-scale
problems, like the Depression,
required gov’t help

13. +
Election of 1932
 Roosevelt wins easily
 Wins by 7 million popular
votes & 400+ electoral votes
 Supporters: urban workers,
coal miners, immigrants of
Catholic & Jewish descent
 Roosevelt on inauguration day,
“This nation asks for action
and action now.”
 Sweeping changes would soon
come
 “So first of all let me assert my
firm belief that the only thing
we have to fear is fear itself.”

15. +
15.4:
The Election of 1932
 Key Terms:
 Hawley-Smoot Tariff
 Bonus Army
 Key Questions:
 #1) How did Hoover attempt to end the Depression & its hardships?
 #2) Describe FDR’s appeal to voters in 1932.
 #3) Why was the election of 1932 a significant turning point in American
politics?