When Hoover came to office in March of 1929, he was well like and very well qualified man but

in a few short months he would face the greatest challenge of his presidency.

 He was a man of principle who believed in the free market and that government interference would only limit Americas prosperity and self determination.

His belief in rugged individualism which helped to make the country great would only be undermined by a nanny state in which the government stepped in and the individual becomes less responsible.

 When the depression hit, he had hoped that business leaders and the government would cooperate to help get the economy back on a sound principles.

 One example of this cooperation was the building the Boulder Dam, which was funded by the federal government but built by six independent companies.

 The dam harnessed electricity and provided safe water to a vast area including seven different states.

 Encouraged farmers to form cooperatives so that they could by materials more cheaply and control their prices better.

 Although he did not believe the government should provide direct relief he finally authorized the 2 billion to help struggling banks and companies.

 The RFC was criticized for providing relief to the wealthy and doing nothing to help the forgotten man.

 In 1931 Hoover suggested that the country had passed the worst and was on the road to recovery but it was far from the truth.