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Herbert Hoover and his Legacy: Federal Involvement in the American Economy A unit of study for social studies classes grades 9-12 |
Learning Goals: Students will examine data to:
Preparatory Set: As students walk in, hand them the following artifacts (instructions continued on page 9):
So Herbert Hoover, the quiet, plump little Secretary of Commerce, got the Fourth National Radio Conference together, as he did the previous ones. Hitherto the radio industry has kept rather well out of politics and away from legislative regulation. It has done so because of the success of the previous conferences in settling their problems. Mr. Herbert Hoover has been largely responsible for that.
It is amazing the number of pies in which he has his fingers. There are those who say he practically represents the brains of the Administration, although he and the other junior member, the Secretary of Labor, sit at the foot of the Cabinet table. There is no question of the multiplicity of his problems, not only of industry (standardization, etc.) and of trade (establishing connections abroad, etc.), which fall within his own Department, but in other Departments as well. Presidents Harding and Coolidge both have leaned upon him in solving some of their most onerous problems. He is called upon in labor troubles (in coal mining, etc.), in the settlement of War Debts (he is one of the Debt Funding Commission); he is Chairman of the St. Lawrence Waterway Commission; he is an expert on economic conditions in Europe and the Orient. The Bureau of Mines and the Patent Office were recently transferred to his control. He will probably have a controlling voice in Government policy towards commercial aviation. Last week a civil committee, appointed by him without anyone's urging and long before Colonel Mitchell stirred up the President's Air Craft Inquiry Board, reported on commercial aviation, recommending government encouragement but no subsidies.
These are some of the reasons why it has been said, "There is more Hoover in the Administration than any other one person."
From: Time Magazine, "The Quiet Fellow," November 16, 1925
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Who kept the Belgians' black bread buttered?
Who fed the world when millions muttered?
Who knows the needs of every nation?
Who keeps the keys of conservation?
Who fills the bins when mines aren't earning?
Who keeps the homefires banked and burning?
Who'll never win a presidential position?
For he isn't a practical politician?
Hoover--that's all!
From: Chicago Daily News, 1923
HEARST SAYS PEOPLE WANT HERBERT HOOVER; Declares in Editorial Article He Is Most Popular Candidate Republicans Can Name
Page 2-
William Randolph Hearst, owner and publisher of the Hearst newspapers in a signed editorial article appearing in the New York American today asserts that "Herbert Hoover is by far the best and most popular candidate that the Republican party can nominate."
From: New York American, June 8, 1928
Preparatory Set, continued.
Have the students read or look at the artifacts and write a two- or three-sentence summary describing the meaning of the artifact and what clues they found on the artifact that supports what they think.
Task 1: Because several students will have the same artifacts, have the students with the same artifacts get together, share their answers, and issue a joint statement to the rest of the class concerning their artifact and its meaning. Have the class come to a consensus concerning Hoover's popularity. Let them know that the question was not whether Hoover would win, but by how much. Hoover won by a landslide. The evidence:
Presidential Election |
EXTRA: Provide details about previous elections to understand the magnitude of Hoover's victory.
Task 2: Students read this excerpt from the Hoover Gallery:
The Commerce Department would prove to be a perfect training ground for Hoover's vision of a society always advancing through individual enterprise and warmhearted cooperation. In 1922 he published "American Individualism," a volume distilling his earlier experiences in Belgium, the Food Administration and the ARA. "We might as well talk of abolishing the sun's rays if we would secure our food," wrote Hoover, "as to talk of abolishing individualism as a basis of successful society."
Yet American individualism was unlike any other. Tempered by equality of opportunity and a sense of obligation to one's neighbors, "Its stimulus is competition. Its safeguard is education. Its greatest mentor is free speech and voluntary organization for the public good."
It wasn't difficult to trace the origin of his faith. Out of his Quaker background came Hoover's insistence on the spark of divinity within each person. His personal struggle for success had convinced him that "human leadership cannot be replenished by selection like queen bees, by divine right or bureaucracies." At the same time his humanitarian work had instilled a passionate belief in voluntary association for the common good. By the 1920s Hoover's unique brand of individualism—generous enough to promote social justice and self-confident enough to ward off the deadening hand of government dictation—was being applied throughout America. Red Crosses, Community Chests, YMCAs and settlement houses; here were the building blocks of what Hoover called the Individualizing State.
The Hoover Gallery Four: The Wonder Boy
Students identify and underline or highlight words from the reading that help them to decide whether Hoover was for or against governmental involvement. Students share the words and discuss what they mean. Students then answer the question, "Was Hoover for or against governmental involvement in the economy?" Create a list of reasons on the board as the reasons are provided by the students.
Assessment: Students write an exit paper (they hand it in as they leave, and in order to leave) summarizing the arguments and information they heard supporting the idea that Hoover believed in keeping government out of problems faced by the United States. They should use words from the readings and the artifacts in their writing.
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