Book Review - the Great Depression

Amanda Carrion

Review of The Great Depression America 1929-1941 by Robert S. McElvaine

September 2, 2004

The Great Depression America 1929-1941 by Robert S. McElvaine covers many topics of American history during the “Great Depression” through 1941. The topic that I have selected to compare to the text of American, Past and Present, written by Robert A. Divine, T.H. Breen, George M. Frederickson and R. Hal Williams, is Herbert Hoover, the thirty-first president of the United States and America’s president during the horrible “Great Depression”.

Divine et al., state that Hoover was a “sober, intelligent, and immensely hardworking” man. McElvaine concurs and explains that “at the age of 29, Hoover was a financier-promoter-geologist-engineer-metallurgist”. Divine et al., characterize Herbert Hoover by saying “Hoover epitomized the American myth of a self-made man” and he “embodied the nation’s faith in individualism and free enterprise”. McElvaine agrees and explains that Hoover “Orphaned and very poor at the age of nine, was a self-made millionaire thirty years later”. McElvaine, in agreement, goes on to say that Hoover himself held the opinion that if a man “has not made a million dollars by the time he is forty he is not worth much.”

After making his fortune he moved on to various jobs and positions abroad and at home, in 1921 he was appointed by President Harding to the position of Secretary of Commerce. During his tenure as Secretary of Commerce for the Harding-Coolidge administrations, McElvaine reveals that Hoover “was the greatest secretary of commerce in our history”. McElvaine explains that Hoover “had no use for the strict laissez-fair attitude of the nineteenth century” and goes on to say that Hoover often said “the root of problem in our economic system was the unfair distribution of income between labor and capital”. Divine et al., affirm McElvaine’s statements adding that Hoover “sought cooperation between government and business”. Divine et al., also state that as Secretary of Commerce, Hoover “used his office to assist American manufacturers and exporters in expanding their overseas trade”. Divine et al., support the explanations of McElvaine by also citing that Hoover “strongly supported a trade association movement to encourage cooperation rather than cutthroat competition…he did not view business and government as antagonist”.

Hoover won the election of 1928 easily according to Divine et al., who states “Herbert Hoover was a Protestant, a dry and old-stock American, who stood for efficiency and individualism”. McElvaine concurs describing that Hoover was “generally seen in the twenties as a “human symbol of efficiency”. McElvaine goes on to say Hoover “was the foremost example of the idea of the New Era”.

Divine et al., describe Hoover as “the Great Depression’s most prominent victim”. McElvaine admits to Hoover being a victim as well by articulating “No past president has suffered quite as much abuse as Herbert Hoover. He was used as an example of a poor leader, a weak president, an awful politician”.

Hoover’s position on the depression and how to assist the nation was based on voluntary actions and not government actions. He rejected suggestions of government steps and relied on voluntary cooperation within business. Divine et al., state that Hoover “believed in voluntary efforts to relieve the human suffering. He called on private charities and local governments to help feed and clothe those in need. When those sources were exhausted he denied request for direct federal relief, asserting that such handouts