The Presidency of Herbert C. Hoover

Rating:
Summary: This Hoover Didn't Sweep All Before Him
Review: As with most books in the American Presidency Series the format is rigidly adhered to. A minor insight into the formative years of this Quaker before rapidly focusing on the important, shaping events of his four-year tenure that became his ill-fated legacy. Curiously though, this is one President who has a shallow, apolitical background in the respect he didn't serve his time in Congress or even gubernatorial positions. He lived on his reputation gleaned from his time in previous administrations. The book devotes adequate time to this part of Hoover's political career and necessarily so. Without it the reader would possibly fail to understand how Hoover's future actions were shaped by these experiences. Yet while it becomes apparent to the reader why Hoover failed in the time of his biggest crisis, the Depression, the empathy is lacking. Hindsight is a wonderful thing though and it is easy to be wise after the event. But whilst lacking this sense of empathy, the book remains true to its principle of objectivity, merely stating the facts, leaving the reader with a great deal of scope to formulate their own opinions on Hoover. Sadly, despite the books attempts to be kind, this is one President who has constantly failed to be viewed favourably over the course of time. This in itself is testimony to the sentiment Hoovervilles have in the minds of people. One criticism of the book is that it quickly makes it way through the four years leaving the impression that his tenure was quite fruitless but this I believe does the man an injustice, but this a subjective opinion. The actions of all presidencies live on long after the people and the author does try to convey this impression that despite the uneventfulness of these four years purely from a political perspective, The Depression being anything but a minor footnote in history, it seems a futile attempt. The more the reader progresses the greater the sense of helplessness and despair one feels for this genial person who was trying to do the best he could in the face of insurmountable odds. But overall the author does a good job. It is necessary for any historical book to have a sense of unbias because the material should be thought provoking. The beauty of history is that one can never be wrong. How people perceive history is always going to be different. In this respect the author's limitations are caused by the source of their work, Hoover himself. The sense is that Hoover was an uninspiring character even at the height of his success, serving under predecessors. With this limitation I think the book is well structured. Yet, despite certain ineptitude humans have a forgiving streak. Even for the weakest, nee blandest of characters, people are always curious as to how somebody functioned, what made them tick. In this I think they believe they can find answers as to why they don't possess the greatness of other President's. Sometimes it is merely circumstance. What would people of thought of Hoover if he had been in Lincoln's position and altered the course of history for the better? This is all hypothetical conjecture. Was he merely unlucky to be in charge at a time when the world was financially about to crumble? Even a truly great man, skilled in the art of oratory may have been treated, and in this respect I think FDR may have been viewed favourable because certain problems weren't construed as being of his own making. But that is another story. I think to read Hoover is fascinating though because there is more to the man than being the one in charge at the time of The Depression and he would not be the first president people would think of. But he has still held a very unique position in terms of world history and politics.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Look at Hoover and His Tenure
Review: Part of what makes the University Press of Kansas' American Presidency Series anything remotely of interest or importance is their adherence to the topic at hand: the presidency. Herbert Hoover has a long and storied pre-White House career and that story has some relevance and bearing on his four years in Washington but it is a topic of focus for a different book.

Martin Fausold points out that Hoover's four years as president speak volumes about the future course of the United States after March 1933 when Franklin Roosevelt took office. Hoover did not inherit the United States when it was on the verge of collapse nor was it at a peak. Black Tuesday, as Fausold illuminates, was a major turning point in the course of many levels of American movement: economic; social; cultural, and more. Most of this book is a detailed chronicle of the efforts Hoover used to extinguish the conflagration started by the October 1929 crash. Readers will note how small it seems to discuss a stock market crash caused by a drop of 375 or so points when in 2003, we have seen drops of two hundred points in a single day without much fervor or panic. Nonetheless, Fausold explains that the crash wa snot simply a one day event but a series of events throughout various sectors of the market that led to a mass sell off of stocks on Black Tuesday.

Most interestlingly, however, Fausold explains that FDR, as early as 1929, made efforts to have his contentions known and demanded an audience with Hoover and policy officials. Fausold also destroys other authors' criticism of Hoover as a silent critic of the Federal Reserve system that practically fathered the stock market crash by pointing out that Hoover moved behind the scenes to inch toward reform because he did not want to destroy public confidence in the banking system. Revelations such as these make this work essential for anyone studying the Hoover presidency or with even a remote interest in any issue relating to Hoover, including the stock market crash.