Where should we place the blame? Economists believe the Great Depression was caused by the weaknesses in the 1920s economy, but the person whose name will be forever linked to the depression is President Herbert Hoover. Personally blaming him for the crisis, Americans started to call the shantytowns set up by unemployed people “Hoovervilles.”
- Read the linked essay DEBATING THE PAST: CAUSES OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION: Where Historians Disagree
- Read America’s Great Depression: www.amatecon.com/gd/gdcandc.html
- Read Digital History: Sections Why it Happened to President Hoover http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/teachers/lesson_plans/pdfs/unit9.pdf
QUESTION: Hoover’s presidency will be forever shadowed by the Great Depression. Is it fair to blame Hoover’s actions or inaction for the Great Depression?
