Primary Sources: The 1920s: Hoover, Herbert

National Archives Identifier:
187095
Creator(s): Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964 (Most Recent)
From: Series : Herbert Hoover Papers: Clippings File, compiled 1920 - 1964
Collection HH-HOOVH: Herbert Hoover Papers, 1913 - 1964

"... assembles a wide array of Library of Congress source materials from the 1920s that document the widespread prosperity of the Coolidge years, the nation's transition to a mass consumer economy, and the role of government in this transition. The collection includes nearly 150 selections from twelve collections of personal papers and two collections of institutional papers from the Manuscript Division; 74 books, pamphlets, and legislative documents from the General Collections, along with selections from 34 consumer and trade journals; 185 photographs from the Prints and Photographs Division and the Manuscript Division; and 5 short films and 7 audio selections of Coolidge speeches from the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division. The collection is particularly strong in advertising and mass-marketing materials and will be of special interest to those seeking to understand economic and political forces at work in the 1920s. "

Signed at Geneva, July 27, 1929

Document from the National Archives

Information & Materials related to President Hoover are available from the Library & Museum. Some materials are available for access online, including access to some of his writings.

A collection of Hoover's papers available from the University of Michigan Digital Library

"Hoovervilles, named after President Hoover, who was blamed for the problems that led to the depression, sprung up throughout the United States."

MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1929

"Treaty between the United States and other Powers providing for the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy."

"On the morning of October 24, 1929 (“Black Thursday”), billions of dollars in stock value were wiped out before lunch. Prices recovered somewhat that afternoon, but the Great Crash was underway. The next day President Herbert Hoover counseled reassurance, but as stock prices continued to plummet Hoover’s reassurances rang increasingly hollow. The president’s efforts to reassure the public did not stop, in part as he tried to convince voters that his policies were bringing recovery. In 1932, Edward Angly published a short book filled with optimistic forecasts about the economy offered by Hoover and his associates. The sarcastic title, Oh Yeah?, reflected his contempt for political leaders who did not seem to know what was happening to the country. These 17 quotations from or about Herbert Hoover proved that he was a poor prophet of the hard times ahead."

A collection of political cartoons related to Hoover at the The University of Iowa's Digital Library - Editorial Cartoons of J.N. 'Ding' Darling Collection.

"Hosted by former President Herbert Hoover, this film details Woodrow Wilson’s efforts to influence the Versailles Peace Treaty following World War I, and his failed push to win Senate approval of U.S. membership in the new League of Nations. The film is based on Herbert Hoover’s book by the same title. Herbert Hoover served as President Wilson’s director of the U.S. Food Administration during World War I, overseeing distribution of food to the allies."

Herbert Hoover
October 31, 1932
Teaching American History website

"On the morning of October 24, 1929 (“Black Thursday”), billions of dollars in stock value were wiped out before lunch. Prices recovered somewhat that afternoon, but the Great Crash was underway. The next day President Herbert Hoover counseled reassurance, but as stock prices continued to plummet Hoover’s reassurances rang increasingly hollow. The president’s efforts to reassure the public did not stop, in part for political reasons. To win reelection in 1932, he would have to convince voters that his policies were bringing recovery. In this excerpt from an October 22, 1932, campaign speech on “The Success of Recovery,” Hoover told a partisan crowd of twenty-two thousand in Detroit’s Olympia Arena that success would have come even sooner if not for Democratic obstruction. The Detroit faithful and radio audiences heard Hoover hail ten sure signs of “economic recovery.” (Less enthusiastic were hundreds of unemployed men who greeted him at the train station with signs like “Hoover—Baloney and Apple Sauce.”)"