4 From Prosperity to War From Prosperity to War During the 1928 presidential campaign the nominee for the Republican Party Herbert Hoover promised Americans that there would be a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage It was a way of saying that the prosperity of the 1920s could be guaranteed by electing another Republican president The American voters agreed and elected Hoover giving him a landslide victory People closely identified the Republican presidents of the 1920s with the nation’s good economic times Both Presidents Warren Harding who served from 1921 to 1923 and Calvin Coolidge who served from 1923 to 1929 believed that the American economy was best if left alone without any interference from the government in Washington D C They did as little concerning this issue as possible during their presidencies believing that private industry would guide the nation to prosperity on its own Herbert Hoover campaigned with great success winning the presidency with 58 percent of the vote Hungry New Yorkers wait in breadlines during the Great Depression
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of office in 1932 and elected a Democratic president Franklin D Roosevelt unlike Hoover was willing to try anything to fix the economy If one approach did not work he tried another While Hoover had worried about what to do Roosevelt proved to be an activist president ready to use the power of his office and the federal government to help the nation The Activist Presidency Roosevelt changed the presidency forever He expanded and strengthened the presidential office during the Great Depression of the 1930s and again in the difficult years of America’s involvement in World War II 1941 1945 6 From Prosperity to War President Herbert Hoover was not as do-nothing as his two predecessors He believed that government should serve as a kind of referee between industries and as a promoter of economic cooperation He did not believe however that government had a more active role to play than that He thought that in the end business should manage its own affairs Crash In October 1929 the Hoover Republican philosophy was put to the test The U S stock market crashed and in the wake of this event the American and consequently the world economy went into a tailspin Within three years unemployment affected nearly 13 million Americans 10 percent of the population and the economy seemed on the brink of collapse At first President Hoover predicted that the economy would correct itself and get back to normal When it failed to do so he reluctantly agreed that the federal government would need to get involved to make recovery happen Hoover however did not have the chance to test his new approach The voters turned him out Words to Know Great Depression GRAYT di-PRESH-uhn The economic collapse that eventually affected the entire world starting in 1929 and lasting through the 1930s World War II WURLD WOR TOO The worldwide conflict fought between 1939 and 1945 The United States became involved against Japan Italy and Germany in 1941 Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivers his inaugural address from the south portico of the White House
From Prosperity to War 7 Black Tuesday During the 1920s the stock market became the symbol of American prosperity About 10 percent of the nation’s households which equated to some 4 million Americans owned stock in 1929 They believed what the financier John J Raskob had written in an article in the Ladies Home Journal Everyone Ought to Be Rich Many people however were buying stock on margin That is stockbrokers were allowing them to borrow money to pay up to 75 percent of the purchase price of stock If prices dropped many investors would not be able to pay their debts But few people seriously considered that possibility As long as the prices kept rising as they did throughout 1928 and 1929 everyone would be a winner Then came Black Tuesday October 29 1929 The stock process had been sliding since early September But on October 29 the bubble burst Investors began to sell their stocks to pay off debts and panic set in Overnight millions of shares were sold and the value of stocks dropped by about 40 percent Many people were wiped out A few even committed suicide The prosperity of the 1920s at least in the stock market had ended Ahead lay the Great Depression a huge economic downturn that would leave millions unemployed and shake the foundations of democratic society Gloom sets in on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange just after the crash of 1929
