Herbert Clark Hoover foi o 31º presidente dos Estados Unidos entre 1929 e 1933. Hoover nasceu em uma família quaker e trabalhou como engenheiro de minas. Ele alcançou proeminência internacional por seus esforços humanitários na Bélgica e por servir como chefe da Administração de Alimentos dos EUA antes e durante a Primeira Guerra Mundial. Como secretário do comércio sob os presidentes Warren G. Harding e Calvin Coolidge, ele promoveu parcerias entre governo e negócios com o nome de "modernização econômica". Na eleição presidencial de 1928, Hoover facilmente venceu a indicação Republicana, mesmo nunca tendo sido eleito para um cargo público. Ele é o mais recente secretário membro do gabinete presidencial a ser eleito presidente dos Estados Unidos, e um de apenas três presidentes a ser eleito sem experiência eleitoral ou alta patente militar. O país estava no auge de sua bolha econômica, o que facilitou sua grande vitória contra Al Smith, o candidato Democrata.Hoover acreditava no Movimento de Eficiência, que afirmava que o governo e a economia estavam cheios de ineficiência e desperdício, e apenas podiam ser melhorados por especialistas que entendiam os problemas e como resolvê-los. Ele também acreditava na importância do voluntarismo e no papel dos indivíduos na sociedade e economia. Hoover, que adquiriu uma pequena fortuna com mineração, foi o primeiro de apenas dois presidentes a redistribuir seu salário . Quando a bolsa de Nova Iorque quebrou em 1929, oito meses depois do início de seu mandato, Hoover tentou combater a Grande Depressão com esforços governamentais, projetos públicos como a Represa Hoover, tarifas como a Smoot–Hawley, também conhecida como Lei Smoot-Hawley , a Leis da Receita, de 1932, o aumento no suporte de imposto de 25% para 63% e aumentos nos impostos corporativos. Essas medidas não produziram uma recuperação econômica durante seu mandato, mas serviram de base para várias políticas do New Deal de Franklin D. Roosevelt. Foi candidato a reeleição em 1932, mas foi derrotado por Roosevelt e deixou a presidência no ano seguinte. Depois de 1933, ele se tornou um porta-voz contra as políticas internas e externas do New Deal. Em 1947, o presidente Harry S. Truman o trouxe de volta para ajudá-lo a deixar a burocracia federal mais eficiente através da Comissão Hoover. O consenso entre os historiadores é de que sua derrota na eleição de 1932 se deu por ele não conseguir reverter o declínio econômico do país, apesar de seu apoio a lei seca ter sido um fator importante também. Hoover morreu em 20 de outubro de 1964, aos 90 anos de idade. Foi enterrado na sua cidade natal, West Branch, Iowa. Wikipedia
“Quando há falta de honra do governo, a moral de todo o povo estará envenenada.”
When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.
Citado no New York Times (9 de agosto de 1964)
Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die. And it is youth who must inherit the tribulation, the sorrow and the triumphs that are the aftermath of war.
Discurso em Chicago, Illinois na 23a Convenção Nacional Republicana (27 de Junho de 1944)
You convey too great a compliment when you say that I have earned the right to the presidential nomination. No man can establish such an obligation upon any part of the American people. My country owes me no debt. It gave me, as it gives every boy and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of action, opportunity for service and honor. In no other land could a boy from a country village, without inheritance or influential friends, look forward with unbounded hope. My whole life has taught me what America means. I am indebted to my country beyond any human power to repay.
Carta ao senador George H. Moses, presidente da convenção republicana nacional, mediante conhecimento da sua nomeação para presidente (14 de junho de 1928)
Se dirigindo a Des Moines, Iowa, (4 de outubro de 1932)
“Sendo um político é uma profissão pobre. Sendo um funcionário público é um nobre.”
Being a politician is a poor profession. Being a public servant is a noble one.
On Growing Up: Letters to American Boys & Girls (Em crescer: Cartas para meninos & meninas americanos) (1962); também citado por Herbert Hoover em Growing Up: Letters from and to American Children (1990) editado por Timothy Walch
“Honra não é propriedade exclusiva de qualquer partido político.”
Honor is not the exclusive property of any political party.
citado em Christian Science Monitor (Monitor de Ciência Cristã) (21 de maio de 1964)
The New Day: Campaign Speeches of Herbert Hoover (1928), Speech accepting the Republican Party Presidential nomination, Stanford University (11 August 1928)
Contexto: One of the oldest and perhaps the noblest of human aspirations has been the abolition of poverty. By poverty I mean the grinding by undernourishment, cold and ignorance and fear of old age of those who have the will to work. We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poorhouse is vanishing from among us. We have not yet reached the goal, but given a chance to go forward with the policies of the last eight years, and [sic] we shall soon with the help of God be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished from this Nation. There is no guarantee against poverty equal to a job for every man. That is the primary purpose of the economic policies we advocate.
The New Day: Campaign Speeches of Herbert Hoover (1928), Campaign speech in New York (22 October 1928)
Contexto: Bureaucracy is ever desirous of spreading its influence and its power. You cannot extend the mastery of the government over the daily working life of a people without at the same time making it the master of the people's souls and thoughts. Every expansion of government in business means that government in order to protect itself from the political consequences of its errors and wrongs is driven irresistibly without peace to greater and greater control of the nation's press and platform. Free speech does not live many hours after free industry and free commerce die.
The New Day: Campaign Speeches of Herbert Hoover (1928), Campaign speech in New York (22 October 1928)
Contexto: Our people are steadily increasing their spending for higher standards of living. Today there are almost nine automobiles for each ten families, where seven and one-half years ago only enough automobiles were running to average less than four for each ten families. The slogan of progress is changing from the full dinner pail to the full garage. Our people have more to eat, better things to wear, and better homes.
Letter to Senator George H. Moses, chairman of the Republican national convention, upon learning of his nomination for president (14 June 1928); reported in The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover (1952), volume 2, p. 195.
Contexto: You convey too great a compliment when you say that I have earned the right to the presidential nomination. No man can establish such an obligation upon any part of the American people. My country owes me no debt. It gave me, as it gives every boy and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of action, opportunity for service and honor. In no other land could a boy from a country village, without inheritance or influential friends, look forward with unbounded hope. My whole life has taught me what America means. I am indebted to my country beyond any human power to repay.
“Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die.”
Speech in Chicago, Illinois to the 23rd Republican national convention (27 June 1944)
Contexto: Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die. And it is youth who must inherit the tribulation, the sorrow and the triumphs that are the aftermath of war.
The New Day: Campaign Speeches of Herbert Hoover (1928), Campaign speech in New York (22 October 1928)
Contexto: My conception of America is a land where men and women may walk in ordered freedom in the independent conduct of their occupations; where they may enjoy the advantages of wealth, not concentrated in the hands of the few but spread through the lives of all; where they build and safeguard their homes, and give to their children the fullest advantages and opportunities of American life; where every man shall be respected in the faith that his conscience and his heart direct him to follow; where a contented and happy people, secure in their liberties, free from poverty and fear, shall have the leisure and impulse to seek a fuller life.
Some may ask where all this may lead beyond mere material progress. It leads to a release of the energies of men and women from the dull drudgery of life to a wider vision and a higher hope. It leads to the opportunity for greater and greater service, not alone from man in our own land, but from our country to the whole world. It leads to an America, healthy in body, healthy in spirit, unfettered, youthful, eager — with a vision searching beyond the farthest horizons, with an open mind, sympathetic and generous.
The Hoover Policies (1937)
Excerpted from Chapter 11 "The Profession of Engineering"
The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: Years of Adventure, 1874-1929 (1951)
Comment about the League of Nations in 1922 Herbert Hoover and Economic Diplomacy: Department of Commerce Policy, 1921-1928 https://books.google.com/books?id=rinywBbGac4C&pg=PA27
Excerpt from a statement to the New York Tribune concerning the 1920 Presidential campaign (29 April 1920)
State of the Union Address (3 December 1929)
The New Day: Campaign Speeches of Herbert Hoover (1928), Campaign speech in New York (22 October 1928)
“I’m the only person of distinction who’s ever had a depression named for him.”
Quoted in An Uncommon Man (1984) by Richard Norton Smith
“Economic depression can not be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement.”
Herbert Hoover, 1874-1964 (1971)
“The thing I enjoyed most were visits from children. They did not want public office.”
On his years in the White House, in On Growing Up: Letters to American Boys and Girls (1962)
The Hoover Policies (1937)
“Honor is not the exclusive property of any political party.”
Quoted in Christian Science Monitor (21 May 1964)
The Hoover Policies (1937)
The New Day: Campaign Speeches of Herbert Hoover (1928)
“A good many things go around in the dark besides Santa Claus.”
Address to the John Marshall Republican Club, St. Louis, Missouri (16 December 1935)
“When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.”
Quoted in the New York Times (9 August 1964)
“Being a politician is a poor profession. Being a public servant is a noble one.”
On Growing Up: Letters to American Boys & Girls (1962); also quoted in Herbert Hoover On Growing Up: Letters from and to American Children (1990) edited by Timothy Walch
Explaining himself to a young autograph seeker as he signed his name six times; as quoted in "Hoover Elated by Swift Turn From New Deal" http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1935/12/18/page/4/article/hoover-elated-dy-swift-turn-from-new-deal by Philip Kinsley, in The Chicago Tribune (18 December 1935), p. 4
On vetoing the "Muscle Shoals Bill" which was the seed for the later creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority
Herbert Hoover, 1874-1964 (1971)
Fonte: The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Great Depression, 1929-1941 (1952), p. 484
Campaign speech at Madison Square Garden (31 October 1932)
The New Day: Campaign Speeches of Herbert Hoover (1928)
Fonte: The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Great Depression, 1929-1941 (1952), p. 357
“Let me remind you that credit is the lifeblood of business, the lifeblood of prices and jobs.”
Address at Des Moines, Iowa, (4 October 1932)