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Herbert Hoover





Herbert Hoover was born in West Branch, Iowa. He was born on August 10, 1874. Hoover died in New York City in 1964. He lived to be 90 years old. Hoover was a Republican Candidate in the 1928 election. In the 1928 Presidential selection, Hoover ran against Alfred E Smith. He was a Democratic from New York and at the time was the current governor in New York. Hoover was elected in 1929 as the 31st president in the United States. He beat Governor Smith in a landslide, it wasn't even close. Hoover only served one 4 year term in office and was out of office in 1933.

Hoover was seen as more of an unsuccessful president then a successful president. During his first year in office, the Great Depression ruined the stock market, businesses and families across the entire country. The Great Depression is one of if not the most tragic economic disasters our country has ever faced. The unemployment rate rose 20% in three years from 3% to 23% while Hoover was in office. Due to businesses a banks failing, millions of families lost all their money, jobs, and houses because they had no money. Because of hundreds of thousands of families lost their home in the great depression, families had to build shacks and makeshift homes out of whatever material they could find. These groups of houses were called "Hooverville’s" after Hoover and to display their hatred for the lack of success and ruining of their lives. Another big mistake that led to Hoover’s downfall in the Great Depression was he did not allow the government to help and intervene in the situation. He did not want them to takeover and help the situation because he believed volunteers in the community that people lived in could fix their problems. The only successes that Hoover had were due to his efforts of cleaning up his failure and trying to clean up the Great Depression. One way that he tried to help America survive out of the hole he put them in was the Hawley-Smoff Tariff. This tariff placed taxes on goods that were imported from out of the country and did caused the prices to go up in those products. Due to the higher prices on the imported goods, it caused Americans to buy goods that were sold in the US and support the countries businesses and economy. Another accomplishment that Hoover had was the Hoover Dam. The Hoover Dam was a dam that was built in Nevada. The Dam took approx. 2 years to fully build and it provided thousands of jobs for unemployed workers; building it and operating it. The Hoover Dam not only applied jobs for unemployed people but it provided water for southern California farms. The water allowed farmers to grow ample crops and increase their businesses back up from the Great Depression.

One scandal or controversy that Hoover had to deal with was with the Bonus Army. The Bonus Army was made up of World War I veterans and their families. The Bonus Army marched to the capitol demanding for pay and bonuses from the war. Hoover however, did not want to pay them. Hoover ordered his Army to go outside and reduce and break-up the marching veterans. After some tempers flared, the Army fired some shots into the crowd to minimize the veterans march. A baby was shot and killed by accident by one of the Army soldiers and it was nationally televised. After the news got out, America reacted to Hoover’s decision to send an army out in the capitol as a negative one. Along with many other negative decisions that Hoover made, this was the last straw to many Americans and refused to re-elect Hoover in the next presidential election. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected in 1933 to become the 32nd president of the United States, taking place of Herbert Hoover. Herbert Hoover died in a hotel suite in New York City in 1964. He was 90 years old. Hoover had internal bleeding. Hoover’s bleeding was so severe that he went into a coma. After going into a coma, Hoover was said to die a peaceful and painless death a couple hours later. His two sons, Henry and Herbert were by his side.

Herbert Hoover had many cool fun facts. Hoover was the first president that was born west of the Mississippi River. The 30 presidents born before him were all on the east side of the Mississippi river that is hard to believe! Also Herbert Hoover had a rough childhood. At age 6, Hoovers da passed away. Three years later, his mother passed away. So at age 9, Herbert Hoover was an orphan and was sent to his Aunt and Uncles house in Oregon to go live with them. Also, another interesting fact about Hoover is that he was in the inaugural graduating class at Stanford University. He also met his wife at Stanford. When Hoover left office in 1933, the Hoover Dam was still being built. When the dam was finally finished, Herbert Hoover was not even invited to the grand opening of the dam. This just shows how much America lost respect for him. 

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**"Herbert Hoover." //The White House//. The White House. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. **


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**//Bio.com //****. A&E Networks Television. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. **

**Stevenson, Freeman. "Top Scandals and Controversies of Each United States President | Deseret News." //DeseretNews.com//. 20 May 2013. Web. 04 Feb. 2016. **

**"Herbert-hoover-signing-legislation." // History.com //. A&E Television Networks. Web. 07 Feb. 2016. **

Video: "The Presidents: Number 31: Herbert Hoover." //YouTube //. YouTube, 23 June 2011. Web. 07 Feb. 2016.