Preview

Book Review - the Great Depression

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
954 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Book Review - the Great Depression
Amanda Carrion
Review of The Great Depression America 1929-1941 by Robert S. McElvaine
September 2, 2004 The Great Depression America 1929-1941 by Robert S. McElvaine covers many topics of American history during the "Great Depression" through 1941. The topic that I have selected to compare to the text of American, Past and Present, written by Robert A. Divine, T.H. Breen, George M. Frederickson and R. Hal Williams, is Herbert Hoover, the thirty-first president of the United States and America's president during the horrible "Great Depression". Divine et al., state that Hoover was a "sober, intelligent, and immensely hardworking" man. McElvaine concurs and explains that "at the age of 29, Hoover was a financier-promoter-geologist-engineer-metallurgist". Divine et al., characterize Herbert Hoover by saying "Hoover epitomized the American myth of a self-made man" and he "embodied the nation's faith in individualism and free enterprise". McElvaine agrees and explains that Hoover "Orphaned and very poor at the age of nine, was a self-made millionaire thirty years later". McElvaine, in agreement, goes on to say that Hoover himself held the opinion that if a man "has not made a million dollars by the time he is forty he is not worth much." After making his fortune he moved on to various jobs and positions abroad and at home, in 1921 he was appointed by President Harding to the position of Secretary of Commerce. During his tenure as Secretary of Commerce for the Harding-Coolidge administrations, McElvaine reveals that Hoover "was the greatest secretary of commerce in our history". McElvaine explains that Hoover "had no use for the strict laissez-fair attitude of the nineteenth century" and goes on to say that Hoover often said "the root of problem in our economic system was the unfair distribution of income between labor and capital". Divine et al., affirm McElvaine's statements adding that Hoover "sought cooperation between government

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    During the 1920’s, America was a prosperous nation going through the “Big Boom” and loving every second of it. However, this fortune didn’t last long, because with the 1930’s came a period of serious economic recession, a period called the Great Depression. By 1933, a quarter of the nation’s workers (about 40 million) were without jobs. The weekly income rate dropped from $24.76 per week in 1929 to $16.65 per week in 1933 (McElvaine, 8). After President Hoover failed to rectify the recession situation, Franklin D. Roosevelt began his term with the hopeful New Deal. In two installments, Roosevelt hoped to relieve short term suffering with the first, and redistribution of money amongst the poor with the second. Throughout these years of the depression, many Americans spoke their minds through pen and paper. Many criticized Hoover’s policies of the early Depression and praised the Roosevelts’ efforts. Each opinion about the causes and solutions of the Great Depression are based upon economic, racial and social standing in America.…

    • 1371 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Wilkison, Kyle. “The Great Depression and the New Deal, 1929-1940s.” Collin College. Collin County Community College District, n.d. Web. 11 May 2011.…

    • 1222 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    DBQ Fdr's New Deal

    • 874 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Great Depression was the worst economic depression the US had ever faced in history. Set in motion after the crash of the stock market in 1929, the Depression led to the dramatic rise in unemployment rates, the vast migration of people, especially farmers, looking for jobs, food shortages, and an increasing hatred towards Hoover’s advocacy for laissez-faire and polices for reform. The years from 1929-1932 reflected a dark era in which Americans were afraid and unsure of what was to come next. With the nomination of Franklin D. Roosevelt as president, a feeling of hope emerged with the thought that this problem could be solved. With FDR’s New Deal, the nation was able to revitalize itself to the way it once was. Although WW II ultimately…

    • 874 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Herbert Hoover in his early life went through many trials and tribulations. The man that became president was once a boy with a dark childhood. Herbert Clark Hoover was born on August 10, 1874 in the state of Iowa. At the early age of nine Herbert was left as an orphan. These early experiences of his childhood left him scared with a dark past; because of these experiences from his early life “his boyhood experiences left Hoover permanently reclusive and wary to a degree that not even decades of success could erase, and they would have unfortunate political consequences when he sought to lead the nation” (P1). These experiences of his childhood not only affected him as a child or young adult, but also as an adult that became the president of the United Sates as well.…

    • 258 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Before the onset of the Great Depression, Herbert Hoover was elected president of the United States in 1928. Hoover was a popular administrative hero of World War 1, as he guaranteed more prosperity and further advantages for large companies even after the crash of the stock market. After the stock market crashed Hoover decided to increase spending for public works programs, in order to give people jobs for those who really needed it. Later, Hoover wanted to restore confidence in the economy by raising taxes and culture spending, but considering the depth of the Great Depression, his efforts had only made thing worse.…

    • 578 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Romasco, Albert U. The Poverty of Abundance: Hoover, the Nation, the Depression. New York: Oxford University Press, 1965.…

    • 2007 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hoover's notoriety, from various perspectives, became out of his uncompromising nature. Notwithstanding every sign that his way to deal with consummation the Depression was not succeeding, he industriously proceeded down the way he had trod since the share trading system crash in 1929. In any case, the presidentís real endeavors to design recuperation were and are generally ignored on the grounds that he experienced a consistently developing picture issue. Taking Office The Great Depression all through Hoover's term in office, the Depression exacerbated. Banks and organizations bombed over the country. Hoover was the most to fault in individuals' brains since Hoover neglected to perceive the extreme circumstance or his energy to address it.…

    • 308 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    President Hoover did not help citizens and thought the best was done until great change occurred. Many people thought the nation was ‘no longer a powerful nation’ because of this great depression time, but new plans and actions were taken into place later on to help the economy and the people. One major action that helped the economy and the people prosper up again was the building of the Hoover Dam. The Hoover Dam, named after President Hoover, helped by providing electricity, helped provide jobs for the people, and provided assurance to signify that the United States was really a…

    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The so-called “good life” in the United States seemed infinite before the Great Depression occurred. However, companies overproduced goods and farms failed, giving rise to the economic disaster in the United States. At the time, President Hoover wanted businesses to volunteer to help the American people while the government stepped back. Meanwhile, American citizens were losing their jobs and their life savings. The Great Depression’s leading causes were the problems of overproduction of goods, the hope of stock market prices rising, and Hoover’s poor economic policies including favoring the wealthy.…

    • 1216 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Herbert Hoover entered office shortly before the stock market crashed. Hoover believed in rugged individualism; however, the financial problems caused by the Great Depression were far too large for rugged individualism to work (“President Hoover”). President Hoover never fully understood how large of an effect the Great Depression was having on the people, and that caused him to be seen as a careless and heartless president. Hoover also did not think that the government should start relief programs for the American citizens. He believed that that was the responsibility of the state’s, except there was not enough money in the state funds for their relief programs to become effective (“President Hoover”). Hoover did everything he thought needed to be done to help those affected by the Depression, but it was just never enough. Hoover’s reputation as a hero was ruined by the Great Depression. He became one of the most hated people in America because he did not do enough to help the country in its most desperate…

    • 950 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Cited: Anonymous. (n.d.). Finance And Economics: 1929 and all that; Echoes of the Depression. Retrieved October 19, 2008, from ProQuest: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1566742201&sid=8&Fmt=3&clientId=5046&RQT=309&VName=PQD…

    • 3288 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bibliography: </b><br><li>Bernstein, Irving, A Caring Society: The New Deal, the Worker and the Great Depression (1985); Boardman, Fon W., Jr., The Thirties: America and the Great Depression (1967); <br><li>Davis, Joseph S., The World Between the Wars, 1919-39: An Economist 's View (1974); Galbraith, John K., The Great Crash, 3d ed. (1972; repr. 1980); <br><li>Garraty, John A., The Great Depression (1986); Kindleberger, Charles P., The World in Depression, 1929-1939 (1975; repr. 1983); <br><li>Markowitz, Gerald, and Rosner, David, eds., Slaves of the Depression (1987); Mitchell, Broadus, Depression Decade, 1931-1941 (1977); <br><li>Rothbard, Murray N., America 's Great Depression (1975; repr. 1983); Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr., The Age of Roosevelt, 2 vols. (1959); <br><li>Swados, Harvey, ed., The American Writer and the Great Depression (1966); Wecter, Dixon, Age of the Great Depression, 1929-1941 (1971).…

    • 1354 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hobsbawn Great Depression

    • 956 Words
    • 4 Pages

    It is no doubt that the Great Depression of late 1920’s to the early 1930’s had a dramatic effect that not only affected the united States of America, but the whole world. However, it is rare to find historians that analyze the Depression from a global stand point. Often, it is analyzed from a national standpoint, one in particular, the United States of America. In the both excerpts “Into the Economic Abyss” and “Roosevelt and Hitler: New Deal and Nazi Reactions to the Depression” written by Eric Hobsbawn and John Garraty, respectively, evaluates the Great Depression from a more international view point. They both do, however, differ in their approach. Hobsbawn…

    • 956 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Tucker Hickman Ms. DeGreef English IV 10 March 2017 The Great Depression The Great Depression (1929-1939) was the deepest and longest-lasting economic downfall in the history of the Western industrial world. In the United States, the Great Depression began soon after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of vital investors. Over the next several years, consumer spending and investment dropped, causing steep economic declines in industrial production output and rising levels of unemployment as failing companies laid off workers.…

    • 2648 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays