The Crash has terrible consequences over twelve million Americans were unemployed and over one million of these people could not pay off their mortgages and were therefore homeless. The homeless people lived shantytowns in ramshackle huts; they named these towns 'Hoovervilles' after President Hoover. In every city workers who had contributed to the prosperity of the 1920’s now queued for bread and soup dished out by charity workers. Families hoping to scrape a meal from the leftovers of more fortunate people crowded the rubbish tips. Farmers were hit particularly hard by the depression, because the 1920’s had not been good for them anyway. Most farmers had to leave their homes, as they could not afford to keep them they and they were forced to pick up work where they could. Also to make matters worse for farmers, over farming and drought in the Southern states turned millions of acres into a dust bowl and drove farmers off their land.
The Americans reaction to the depression was as much shock as anger and when it came to the 1932 presidential election President Hoover and the Republicans became the target of discontent. Hoover was regarded as a ‘do nothing’ president he was the president at the beginning of the depression and therefore he was blamed for the major effect it had on the people. Hoover did try to restart the economy in 1930 and 1931 but without much success. In spite of this Hoover and most Republicans where still reluctant to change their basic policies. They believed that the main cause of the depression had been economic problems in Europe, not weakness in America’s economy. They said that businesses should be left alone to bring back prosperity and that government help was not needed. They argued that business went in cycles of boom and bust and therefore prosperity would soon return.
Even more damaging to Hoover's reputation, was how little he tried to help those who were suffering because of the depression. Hoover believed in something called self-help where Americans looked after themselves and made their own keep. He believed that the social security was not responsibility of the government but local government or charities should provide relief. The republicans were afraid that if the government helped individuals they would become less independent and less willing to work.
Hoover appeared to be heartless and indifferent to the suffering American people.
And to make matters even worse. In 1932, thousands of servicemen who had thought in the world war marched on Washington asking for their war bonuses to be paid early. How did Hoover react? The bonus marchers were accused of being communists and criminals. They were dispersed by troops armed with machine guns, tanks and tear gas. Hoover appeared uncaring; he believed in self-help far too much, his image was tough and unsympathetic.
The Democratic candidate Franklin D Roosevelt could not be more different to Hoover. Roosevelt believed strongly in an ‘active government’ that would try to improve the lives of normal people. He had plans to spend public money on getting people back to work. As governor of New York he had already started doing this in his own state. Roosevelt was also not afraid to ask for advice on important issues from a wide range of experts such as factory owners, union leaders or economists. During his election campaign Roosevelt had promised the American people something called the ‘New Deal’. He planned to use the full power of the US government to get America out of depression. He wanted to get Americans back to work, protect their savings and property and provide relief for the sick, old and the unemployed. He also wanted to get American industry and agriculture back on their feet. This promise made him extremely popular. With such ill feeling towards Hoover being expressed throughout the country, Roosevelt was confident of victory, but he took no chances. He went on a grand train tour of the USA in the weeks before the election and mercilessly attacked the attitude of Hoover and the Republicans.
Overall in many ways Roosevelt’s victory needs no explanation because it would have been very surprising if any president could have been re-elected after the sufferings of 1929-1932. However there was a range of certain things that did help Roosevelt win and damage Hoovers election campaign. One of the first things that damaged Hoover’s election campaign was the fact that the shantytowns that people lived in were nicknamed ‘Hoovervilles’ after him. This became an impossible tag to remove and severely damaged his election campaign.
Hoover also damaged his reputation when he dealt with a revolt of soldiers from the First World War who wanted money. The way he dealt with this gave him a really bad image and he lost the support of the soldiers and ex-soldiers.
Hoover's government seemed to be doing little to help those suffering; frustration mounted as people's hopes for what Hoover had planned began to fade. Hoovers way of thinking proved very wrong and unpopular, people drew up the conclusion that he didn't care about the people of America.
Most people blamed Hoover for the Wall Street Crash and Depression. The Wall Street Crash, without doubt, contributed in destroying the Republican Party's chances of victory. That of course, and Roosevelt's effort. Unlike Roosevelt, Hoover did not have good campaigning skills.
These unpopular mistakes that Hoover made badly hurt his election campaign and so people voted for Roosevelt, as he was the best alternative. Roosevelt by contrast was enthusiastic, optimistic and he gave the people confidence. He caught the mood of voters with his New Deal promise and people were prepared to risk the change in style of government-they had nothing to loose. Interfering with economy had never been done before and Roosevelt intended to create jobs by spending more money, whereas Hoover believed in 'Self Help'. The people of America were now given a new hope from Roosevelt. Roosevelt gave the people of America confidence in him and the hope that he could make things better and get them out of the depression. So in November 1932 Roosevelt was elected president.
