re: #327 LeftyRambles2413 (HappyWarrior)

re: #325 Hecuba’s daughter

Hoover wasn’t a malignant clown with no public service, who publicly trashed anyone who disagreed with him. He spearheaded the famine relief program to save millions in Russia who would otherwise have died from starvation during the 1921-1923 famine. His biographers credited him with saving more lives than any person who has ever lived.

Oh come the hell on. It was the greatest economic disaster the country had ever faced. I’m not talking about Hoover the man but I’m trying to say that even presidents in dire political situations like Hoover have higher floors than they ought to. And you’re forgetting that Hoover for all the admirable work he did in Russia in the early 20’s showed an indifferent attitude about federal relief following the Stock Market crash.

I think Herbert Hoover’s reputation as the efficient, “get-er-done!” Great Engineer was what finally did him in, politically (President was actually his only elected office). I think the public expected a lot more from him, even if stuff like European famine relief, or the Mississippi Flood relief efforts in 1927 were worlds different from the general collapse of the national(/world) economy in the early 30s. As I recall, though: by 1932, Hoover had come (if somewhat belatedly) to the stark realization that federal action WAS vitally necessary: but that he was continually stymied by other Republicans in his Administration, and a Republican Congress - most of whom assumed the best way to deal with the Great Depression was to just ignore it and let it turn around on its own. Hoover basically responded by withdrawing into his shell: I think you’re right: needing a “higher floor”, Hoover went and hid in the basement.