Chapter 7: Herbert Hoover and Foreign Policy, 1939-1945

When Herbert Hoover left the White House in March 1933, he left as America’s scapegoat for the coming of the greatest economic crisis in its history. Not only did Democrats and other opposition groups condemn him politically, but he was discredited even among large numbers of his fellow Republicans. Not until World War II would his name stand for anything except economic depression and political reaction. This situation stemmed only in part from his inability as President to turn the tide of depression and to provide adequate relief to needy Americans. It was aggravated by the eagerness of most Democrats to wage oratorical battle against him and by the struggle by many Republicans to keep him from power in their party. Moreover, Hoover himself refused to let memories fade, as his outspokenness, often bitter, invited continued severe criticism. Repeatedly, the former President lashed out at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration. Constantly, he defended the record and ideas of his own administration. Hoover’s manipulatory efforts to gain renomination for President in 1936 was taken as a proclamation that he and he alone was fully qualified to determine the Republican party’s and the nation’s policies. Then too, his extremist contributions to the Republican election campaign that year and his struggle during the next several years against the 1936 presidential nominee, Alfred M. Landon, for leadership of the party created new controversies among’Republicans.¹