Hoover
We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land.
Herbert Hoover, 1928
At the time of the Wall Street Crash in 1929, the 3st American president, Herbert Hoover was serving his term. Elected on the above promise of prosperity, he became the scapegoat for the instant deterioration of the US economy during and after 1929. The people of the US were demanding answers for their suffering, and insisted on the necessary care that should be provided by their country leader.
Hoover presented solutions in congress that were never put into practice. His peers sabotaged his programs by creating controversial rumours. There are terms used throughout Galati's play that reveal to us just how unpopular Hoover soon became. Shanty-towns, which are a collection of a mass of people in poor housing (on land unwanted by developers usually on the edge of cemeteries or wasteland), became known as 'Hoovervilles'. He was spectacularly blamed for all unemployment and all economic problems that the US was facing. It was no surprise that by 1932, when election year came by again, the people supported Hoover's opponent, Franklin D Roosevelt, looking to him for a way out of the depression.
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