Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover, a self-made mining engineer and humanitarian celebrated for feeding millions in war-torn Europe, won the presidency in 1928 as prosperity seemed limitless.

Months into his term the stock market crashed, triggering the Great Depression. Hoover believed recovery should come through voluntary action and local relief rather than direct federal aid, and his measures proved inadequate to the scale of the disaster. As unemployment soared and shantytowns dubbed 'Hoovervilles' spread, he was overwhelmingly defeated by Franklin Roosevelt in 1932.

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