The Hoover Administration Well-meaning but Ineffective
Relief for the Poor President Herbert Hoover, a Quaker, believed in private charity to relieve the suffering of the poor. This belief led him to oppose government relief programs. However, when the number of needy and homeless people became overwhelming, Hoover realized that he had to take action. He set up the public works program, which hired workers to construct schools, build dams, and pave big highways. This program was not ambitious enough, however, to reverse the economic downturn.	Relief for Business Hoover tried to restore people's confidence in the economy by predicting better times in the near future. Such reassurances, unfortunately, did not put food on the table. The economic depression continued to spread, businesses continued to fail, and more people became jobless. Because of his conservative view of government intervention, Hoover opposed direct aid for the business decline following the stock market crash. He thought it would be best if the businesses tried to help each other out of the Depression. But as time passed the situation did not improve. So Hoover formed the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. This agency loaned money to railroads, banks and insurance companies to keep them in business. By doing this, Hoover hoped to keep workers on their jobs, but it was too little too late.
The Bonus Army During the Great Depression many people were jobless and starving. The veterans of World War I were also jobless. These veterans had been promised a bonus that would be paid to them in 1945. Since these 20,000 veterans were jobless, they wanted their bonus now. The government wouldn't give it to them. In 1932, these men marched to Washington, D.C., to stage a protest in order to get their bonus. This "Bonus Army" lived in makeshift houses they built out of scraps; the veterans sarcastically dubbed these communities Hoovervilles. After awhile President Hoover became impatient with the problems these encampments caused and told General Douglas MacArthur to use military force to remove them from the area near the White House. MacArthur, going beyond the intent of the President, burnt the Hoovervilles and disbanded the Bonus Army who never got their bonus from Congress. Hoover was blamed for the incident and lost much of his political support for attacking the veterans.	Hoovervilles "Hoovervilles" sprang up across America in the 1930s. They took their name from President Herbert Hoover who was in office when the Great Depression began. "Hoovervilles" were clusters of shacks where destitute people had to live. They were made up of packing crates, abandoned cars, and other cast off scrap. They were shanty towns that were located outside of major cities. Drawing by Josh Larocque