Hoover and depression
“We in America today are nearer to the final, triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land”.
Hoover
Birth- West Branch, Lowa in 1874 lost his parents at the age of 10 he was brought up by his uncle
Studies- mining engineering from Levland Stanford University
When the first world war took place Hoover worked as a relief worker in London. He was the chairman of American relief Commission.
1915 – He was appointed as the chairman of the commission for relief.
1917- Wilson entrusted him with food administration.
After World War 1 he worked for economic Restoration of Europe
1920- he declared he had always been a republican. He was also appointed as the secretary of Commerce under Harding
1928- He was nominated by the Republican party for Presidency and also he won
Hoover was essentially a businessman and had very little experience of politics and also it was at his time the country faced depression
Economic Depression
This was the time when all the citizens in United States dealt with hard times
Soon after Hoover came into power it was one of the greatest depressions that the U.S. faced. The prosperity of the country in 1920 benefit to a small group of people who are very rich and also gained huge profits. There were also hundreds and thousands of stock owner’s who invested but their investments for purely of Magical nature. It was estimated that in 1929 almost 78% of the dividends from the great Industries, railroads, Oil Companies and other combined went to 0.3% population, headed by a handful of multi-millionaires.
Stock Speculation
As a result of speculation wave which swept the country during the year 1928 – 29 the stock market reached new heights. This boom was caused by and large number of people speculating in shares of stock for margin. Under the system speculator deposited only as much money with their brokers as sufficient to cover the probable range of fluctuation.
Tempted by the possibility of an easy Fortune and wealth, in the late 20s, people from different walks of life and professions freely indulged in stock speculation. For some time the prices of shares showed a steady rise and reached an all time record in 1928-29.
In October 1929 the stock market collapse, then Britain decided to raise the rate of interest to 6 and a half percent, with the view to attack back the capital that has been invested in United States. As a result many European holdings where thrown on to the market and the prices of shares began to sag. Once the prices fell, the speculators started selling their stock shares to avoid bigger losses, which could have ruined them. As a result selling went on an ever increasing rate. on October 24, 1929 alone 13,000,000 shares were sold. As a consequence of this stock market collapse, an unparallel depression overtook united States. The number of unemployed workers began to increase it’s raised from 6 to 7 million in 1930 and almost doubled by 1932
