Two Letters by Herbert Hoover Regarding the Great Depression

On Thursday October 24th, 1929, less than eight months into Herbert Hoover's presidency and less than a year since he had been elected by the widest margin ever, the stock market crashed. Most experts, including Hoover, who had served brilliantly as the Secretary of Commerce for the two previous administrations, thought that the crash was part of a passing recession. But by the time the president wrote the first of these two letters, this one to his friend Governor Emmerson of Illinois, it had become clear that excessive speculation and a worldwide economic slowdown had plunged America into the midst of a Great Depression. While Hoover wrote in July 1931 that "considerable continuance of destitution over the winter," and perhaps longer, was unavoidable, he was far from inactive in dealing with the problem. Since the crash, he had worked ceaselessly trying to fix the economy. He founded government agencies, encouraged labor harmony, supported local aid for public works, fostered cooperation between government and business in order to stabilize prices, and struggled to balance the budget. His work focused on indirect relief coming from individual states and the private sector. This focus can be seen in this letter in his emphasis on supporting "each state committee" and his stress on "appeals for funds" from outside the government, known as volunteerism.

As the Depression became worse, however, calls grew for more radical measures involving increased Federal intervention and spending. But Hoover refused, adhering strongly to his principles. While he was willing to use his influence to persuade business leaders to set moderate prices and employ more men, he refused to involve the Federal government in forcing fixed prices, controlling businesses, or manipulating the value of the currency, all of which he felt were steps towards socialism. And while he was inclined to give indirect aid to banks or local public works projects, he refused to use Federal money for direct aid to citizens, since he felt that the dole was un-American and would only further weaken public morale. He focused on volunteerism to raise money because he refused to engage in massive deficit spending, which he worried would only exacerbate the depression. These decisions allowed his opponents to paint Hoover as cold and uncaring toward the common citizen, even though he was in fact a philanthropist and a progressive before becoming president. During his reelection campaign, Hoover tried to convince Americans that the measures they were calling for might seem to help in the short term, but would be ruinous in the long run. In his speeches he asserted that he cared for common Americans too much to destroy the country's foundations with deficits and Socialist institutions. But he could not escape the reputation of being both heartless and ineffectual, and was soundly defeated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932.

Roosevelt promised Americans a "New Deal" when he took office, and from March until June of 1932, a period known as the "Hundred Days," he signed a number of groundbreaking new laws. Roosevelt's aids would later admit that most New Deal agencies were closely modeled on those that Hoover had attempted during his presidency. But Roosevelt's plans differed in financing and scope. New Deal bills supported direct federal aid, tightened government control over many industries, and eschewed volunteerism in favor of deficit spending, all in the hopes of jump starting both consumer confidence and the economy. In the second of these letters, Hoover expresses his fears about the recent flurry of legislation to Barton, a friend and famous advertising executive. Hoover sees the country already "going sour on the New Deal." He thinks revolution is inevitable "unless there is a halt" to the fundamental changes in government and the deficit spending. Roosevelt's reforms have led Americans to "cast off all moorings," and Hoover predicts the United States will veer dangerously "to the 'left,'" followed by a reaction leading to "some American interpretation of Hitler or Mussolini." In 1934, after two years out of the public eye, Hoover made these same thoughts public in an article titled "The Challenge to Liberty."

Though his fears of revolution would prove to be overstated, Hoover was right when he predicted that the role of American government would fundamentally change because of the New Deal. These two brief private letters allow the reader to see past the image of the man who was blamed for the Depression, and instead see Herbert Hoover as a man who was struggling to fight an economic crisis without destroying what he saw as the foundations of American liberty.

-Daniel Wolf, Manuscript Cataloger

GLC03146 and GLC00691. Two letters by Herbert Hoover.

For more information or to obtain copies, contact Ana Ramirez-Luhrs at reference@gilderlehrman.com or call (212) 787-6616 ext. 209.

First letter

Note: Anything in bold type is hand written.

Hon. Louis L. Emmerson
Governor of Illinois
Springfield, Ill.

My dear Governor Emmerson:

           No matter what improvement there may be in our economic situation during the fall, we shall unquestionably have considerable continuance of destitution over the winter.  I am wondering if it would not be advisable for us to get the machinery of the country into earlier action than last year in order that there may be provision for funds substantially made before the winter arrives.

            Your organization last winter was one of the admirable in the whole country and I had some thought that if all organizations were to being their appeals for funds some time  in October and run them over Thanksgiving we could make it more or less a national question and thereby support each state committee more effectively.

             This, however, is just thinking aloud on the general situation and I would like your views.

              I wish again to express my appreciation for the fine courtesies we received at the hands of Mrs. Emmerson and yourself and with kind regards to you both, I am

Second Letter

Note: Anything in bold type is hand written.

My dear Barton:

             I have complied with your momentous wish.  Your friend does not need to send an exchange.  A smoking President receives enough pipes to last a life time.  Likewise fishing tackle.  It is the only endowment he gets, except a troubled soul.

              It seems useless to discuss the situation.  The country is going sour on the New Deal, despite the heroic efforts of the Press.  Unless there is a halt, the real question will be that, having cast off all moorings, will we swing to the "right" or to the "left".  I fear first the "left" and then when the great middle class (80% of America) realizes its ruin, it will drive into some American interpretation of Hitler or Mussolini.

              There is no trouble finding a large occupation in California doing nothing and conducting a detached observatory of national trends.

Mr. Bruce Barton
383 Madison Avenue
New York City, New York

Burner, David. Herbert Hoover: A Public Life. NewYork: Knopf, 1979.

De Long, J. Bradford. "Depressions." The Readers Companion to American History. Eds. Eric Foner and John A. Garraty. 1 vol. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991.

Hoff, Joan “Hoover, Herbert.” American National Biography. Eds. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Hoover, Herbert. “The Challenge to Liberty.” The Saturday Evening Post. 8 September 1934.

McElvaine, Robert. The Great Depression: America, 1929-1941. New York: Times Books, 1984.

Smith, Gene. The Shattered Dream: Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression. New York: Morrow, 1970.

Questions for Classroom Discussion:

Document 1:

1. Why does Hoover privilege “volunteerism” over the “New Deal?”
2. What is “the machinery of the country” that Hoover is referring to?
3. What was Hoover’s motivation in asking for early relief efforts?
4. Why is Hoover's tone so humble?
5. Why did Hoover mark the letter “confidential?”
6. What is the difference between “confidential” and “personal?”
7. What is Hoover asking of the Illinois governor?
8. What would you speculate is the program that President Hoover is referring to when addressing the Illinois governor?
9. From Hoover’s perspective, why would Governor Emmerson’s approach to dealing with the Depression be superior to FDR’s?
10. Why did Hoover believe that states were a better source of aid than a strong federal government?
11. To what possible organization(s) might Hoover be referring in the second paragraph?

Document 2:

1. How does Hoover feel about the “New Deal?”
2. Are Hoover’s fears about a potentially radicalized America justified? Explain.
3. What was the nature of the letter to Mr. Barton? What concern was he sharing with him?
4. How does the mood change between the two letters?
5. What are former President Hoover’s fears about the New Deal’s impact upon the nation?
6. Compare Hoover’s concerns in 1931 with those he held in 1933.
7. What different types of people is Hoover concerned with at the different times?
8. Other than the date, what evidence tells you whether or not Hoover was president when he wrote the 1933 letter?
9. How does the narrative voice (wording) of the documents differ? How can this contrast be connected to Hoover’s political status? Account for the tone of each letter.
10. How does the tone in both letters speak to Hoover’s belief that the federal government is misdirected in the business of providing direct relief?
11. What does Hoover mean by “right” and “left”?
12. Do these letters refute in any way Hoover’s image as cold and uncaring about the victims of the Depression?