Analysis of Herbert Hoovers Inaugural Address

Introduction
In the following paper I will analyze the inaugural address of President Herbert Hoover
by discussing his political agenda as presented in his address in relation with the historical events
that took place while he was president and how he managed to achieve or not the goals he aimed
at in his inaugural discourse.
In the first part I will say some words about Herbert Hoovers personae from the point of
view of his political career up to the moment he became president of the United States.
In the second part I will analyze his inaugural address, his management of the events that
occurred during his presidency and how he chose to approach them, as well as the measures and
policies he implemented while he was president.

Facts about Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover was the 31st President of the United States and served in office during
1929 and 1933. In contrast with many other presidents of the United States, he was not a
politician by profession, but actually, he was a professional mining engineer and a world-known
humanitarian. His extensive travelling as a mining engineer gave him opportunity to develop as a
humanitarian, and these experiences shaped his views and goals as a political person which can
later be observed in his speeches and inaugural address.
As a humanitarian, he helped 120 000 Americans to return home from Europe, as the
First Word War began and also he helped feed the people of Belgium after the invasion of
Germany. As he became more and more widely known publicly, he slowly began to be involved
in the political life as well, as he was appointed by Woodrow Wilson, who at the time was the
president of the United States, as head of the U.S. Food Administration. After the war, Hoover
found himself in a position of actually entering politics, actually intending to run for presidency
but as Warren G. Harding became president, he gave Hoover the position as the Secretary of
Commerce.
In 1928 Hoover became the Republican Partys candidate for presidency, although he did
not have the full support of the previous Republican president Calvin Coolidge. Due to his
reputation, the good state of economy at the time and the promising future of America, as it
looked at that time, ensured Hoovers election as president of the United States. During his
political campaign prior to his election, he actually reassured Americans that a period of
economic prosperity would continue, as he stated: We in America today are nearer to the final
triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land, but the dramatic events that
followed, proved Hoover was very much wrong.

Herbert Hoovers inaugural address

Herbert Hoover gave his inaugural address on the 4th of March 1929 in a humble tone,
with reference to the Almighty Providence as a guidance tool for his leadership of the United
States. His inaugural address was very well structured, noting important matters he thought
should be discussed, focusing mainly on ideals and aspirations of America and reinforced many
times the idea that the United States represents the hope of the world in overcoming poverty, and
that America is the place where individual freedom can be best acquired.
As I mentioned earlier, his inaugural address was well structured, and started with a talk
about progress, stating that America reached a high level of satisfaction home and abroad,
reached a level of comfort and security and that though freeing the country of poverty, America
was forming a new race and civilization. Of course, all his talk about progress, and the
flourishing economy seems rather redundant, taking in consideration the fact that only after a
few months since he took office, the stock market crashed and slowly America went downward
into depression. Although many advised him to adopt a hands-off approach regarding the
depression, he decided to take measures and fight the crisis, but in the end these measures failed
and ultimately led to Hoovers wide unpopularity and loss of presidency against Franklin D.
Roosevelt in the elections of 1932. Some measures he took for fighting the crisis were the cutting
of taxes and increase in public spending. During his presidency the Reconstruction Finance
Corporation was founded in order to lend money to agricultural institutions, and this was taken
to a higher level by the Roosevelts New Deal. Probably one of the biggest mistakes Hoover
made in handling the crisis was the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act which raised tariffs on imported
goods and which ultimately led to the refusal of other countries to buy American goods, and this
only worsened the depression.
Next in his inaugural address he talked about the failure of the criminal system and
proposed a reform of the entire judicial machinery, for he thought that fighting against the
increase in crime was a necessity of the time. Another pressing issue that caused great debates in
the entire country was the Enforcement of the 18th Amendment regarding prohibition of alcohol
and as he saw it, the abuses that took place under this amendment and which led to an increase in
crime were the responsibility of the states as they failed to enforce the law on one hand, and
on the other hand, it was the citizens responsibility to obey and respect it, as disobeying a law
undermines the all the other laws. Together with the points he made about the 18 th Amendment,
he also talked about the need for a National Investigation of the whole jurisprudence system to
suggest procedures of resolving the problems that appeared under this amendment.
Talking about the problem of the Government, he adopted a laissez faire view on the
relationship between government and business, as private ownership and not government
intervention is desired; but if look as the prior mentioned Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, this
statement he made was not really applied.
A great emphasis was put on education in his address, probably stemming from his
humanitarian experience, he thought that education should be provided for all children regardless
of race. This aspiration was actually put into practice as expenditures in American-Indian schools

doubled during his administration. Another issue was healthcare as it was the way to achieve
human happiness.
Another important issue from his inaugural address is the problem of world peace, as the
peace and prosperity of America is strongly connected with that of the entire world, saying that
America has no desire for further expansion and actually adopted an isolationist stand. As a
witness to this, stands the refusal of adherence to the League of Nations, Hoovers implication in
mediating conflicts between other countries and the withdrawal of troops from countries such as
Nicaragua and Haiti.
He also had other aspirations for America that are related to the previous discussed ideas,
such as preservation of liberty, strengthening of education, integrity in public affairs,
advancement of world peace and many others.
He concluded by once again by asking the help and guidance of the Providence in
achieving his goals for America.

Conclusion
To sum up, I would like to say that in hindsight, all his inaugural speech is not relevant to
his actions in managing the problem of the Great Depression. Although one cannot argue that his
intentions were not good, he failed or did not want to see the threats that America would come to
face. Hoovers inaugural address is, I believe, a bit too idealistic, and although it provides hope
for the Americans, it fails to actually provide a valid solution for their problems. This is why he
became the scapegoat for the Great Depression, as he was not the responsible for its occurrence,
he surely is responsible for its deepening.
Hoovers inaugural address, I believe, shows too much optimism and focuses too much
on the humanitarian issues such as education, public health and world peace. Not that I am
saying that these aspects are not important, but I believe that considering the historical context,
that that was a time of reconstruction after the Great War, a much bigger emphasis should have
been put on economic policies and much more thought on Hoovers behalf should have been
directed to this, instead of relying too on the optimism that surrounded his view on economy.

Bibliography

Cornetti L., What a president says matters: an analysis of presidential responses

in times of economic crises, 2012
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/herberthoover
Author: Marchis-Medan Ioana-Alexandra
American Studies 3rd yea, 1st semester