Herbert Hoover

About Herbert Hoover

The thirty first President who was in office when the Great Depression began. Hoover was a brilliant engineer and humanitarian who had organized food relief during World War I. But his response to the Depression was too cautious for the scale of the crisis. He believed voluntary efforts rather than government intervention would restore prosperity. Shantytowns of homeless people were called Hoovervilles. Hoover was a one term president, overwhelmingly defeated by Franklin Roosevelt in 1932. He lived 31 years after leaving office, the longest retirement of any president.