In Indiana Bicentennial 9, we’ll be heading into the Great Depression and World War II, covering the years from 1929 through 1945. Thanks to FDR’s willingness to buck tradition, that leaves me with only two Presidents to cover – Herbert Hoover’s one term (1929-1933), and three of FDR’s terms (1933-1945). The governors were Harry Leslie (1929-1933), Paul McNutt (1933-1937), M. Clifford Townsend (1937-1941), and Henry Schricker (1941-1945).
My very rough sense — probably not original to me and probably very debatable — is that American history divides into three major parts separated by the Civil War and the Great Depression/World War II. Part of that stems from my path-of-least-resistance approach as an amateur historian (or “fan of history” as Dan Carlin likes to say.) When I’m casually reading about American history, when I get to 1850-1865 or 1929-1945, all narratives bend toward the Civil War or Great Depression/WWII. I know life was going on, and if I expend some effort, I can find accounts of events not related to those major topic, but those events exert a lot of gravitational force. And, after those events have passed, American society tends to look a lot different than what came before.
Herbert Hoover (1929-1933) – Herbert Hoover was something of a self-promoting, technocratic whiz kid whose administration got clobbered by the Great Depression. Hoover was born in Iowa and got an engineering degree from Stanford. He initially worked in California, but then took a position that moved him to Australia for several years and then China. In 1900, he and his wife were pinned down by the Boxer Rebellion. He became a partner in the mining company and then acquired interests of his own in Australia and then investments world-wide. By the time World War I broke out, he was rich. During that war, he worked with humanitarian relief efforts, including as chairman of the Commission for Relief in Belgium. When the U.S. joined the war in 1917, Hoover sought and was appointed to the U.S. Food Administration. He believed that centralization of power was necessary to the war effort, and he was given a great deal of authority. “Hoover established set days for people to avoid eating specified foods and save them for soldiers’ rations: meatless Mondays, wheatless Wednesdays, and “when in doubt, eat potatoes”. . . . The agency employed a system of price controls and licensing requirements for suppliers to maximize production.”
When he returned to the U.S. in 1919, Hoover was courted by both Republicans and Democrats. He thought 1920 was likely to be a Republican year and, so, joined that party. Hoover lost a campaign for the Senate in California and was not a top contender when he put his name in for the Presidency. But, he ultimately supported Harding in getting the nomination. Harding named Hoover to be his Secretary of Commerce. “From Harding he demanded, and received, authority to coordinate economic affairs throughout the government. He created many sub-departments and committees, overseeing and regulating everything from manufacturing statistics, the census and radio, to air travel. In some instances he “seized” control of responsibilities from other Cabinet departments when he deemed that they were not carrying out their responsibilities well. “
Hoover was opposed to Teddy Roosevelt’s antagonistic relationship to business and sought to make the Department of Commerce a service organization, forging relationships between government and business. For example, in conjunction with home construction businesses and banks, he organized the “Own your own home” campaign and helped promote the new innovation of long-term home mortgages. He worked with Congress to create the Radio Act of 1927 which allowed the government to give broadcasters a monopoly to broadcast on particular frequencies of what had been public airwaves. He organized meetings where motor vehicle trade organizations were heavily involved that promulgated a Uniform Vehicle Code and Model Municipal Traffic Ordinance that were greatly influential.
In 1927, though not strictly the job of the Commerce Secretary, Hoover’s humanitarian background brought him into the relief effort following the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. The attention he got from these efforts helped propel his campaign efforts for the Presidency in 1928. The positive press propelled him past his primary opponent, Illinois governor, Frank Lowden. His general election opponent was New York governor, Al Smith. They had similar positions on many issues. One area where they differed was on the issue of Prohibition. Smith supported its repeal which appealed to the urban Catholic population. Hoover’s “dry” position was more appealing to the rural Protestant population. That plus the general prosperity under Coolidge led to a landslide victory. Abandoning black Republicans in the south helped the party start to crack the “Solid South.” There was a rift among the southern, rural conservative democrats left over from when they were the party of the Confederacy and the urban, immigrant Catholic Democrats from the northern cities. Abandoning black Republicans in the South helped Republicans to exploit that rift. (W.E.B. Dubois would recall, “In 1928, Negroes faced absolute dilemma. Neither Hoover nor Smith wanted the Negro vote and both publicly insulted us.”)
When Hoover took office, the country was still in the grip of Prohibition. Just before his inauguration, the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre took place in Chicago, allowing Al Capone to take control of organized crime there. Prohibition was one of the last great efforts of the Progressive Era. Enforcement was targeted primarily at the working class poor who were probably its intended targets in any event. Law enforcement was overwhelmed, public opinion was not necessarily on it side, the terrain made smuggling relatively easy, and Prohibition eliminated what had been an important source of tax revenue. Hoover established a committee to investigate the 18th Amendment which came to be known as the Wickersham Commission. The Commission ultimately reported “the widespread evasion of Prohibition and its negative effects on American society and recommended much more aggressive and extensive law enforcement to enforce compliance with anti-alcohol laws.”
Next time: The Wall Street Crash
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