Editing Herbert Hoover (section)

====Later policies====
[[File:Herbert Hoover and Ted Joslin.jpg|thumb|Hoover in the Oval Office with [[Theodore Joslin|Ted Joslin]], 1932]]

By the end of 1930, the [[Unemployment in the United States|national unemployment rate]] had reached 11.9 percent, but it was not yet clear to most Americans that the economic downturn would be worse than the [[Depression of 1920–1921|Depression of 1920–21]].{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|pp=58–59}} A series of [[bank failure]]s in late 1930 heralded a larger [[Economic collapse|collapse of the economy]] in 1931.{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|pp=65–66}} While other countries left the [[gold standard]], Hoover refused to abandon it;{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|pp=77–78}} he derided any other [[monetary system]] as "[[Collectivism and individualism|collectivism]]".{{sfn|Eichengreen|Temin|2000|pp=196–197}} Hoover viewed the weak [[Economy of Europe|European economy]] as a major cause of economic troubles in the United States.{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=143–144}} In response to the collapse of the [[Economy of Germany|German economy]], Hoover marshaled congressional support behind a one-year moratorium on European war debts.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=441–444, 449}} The [[Hoover Moratorium]] was warmly received in Europe and the United States, but Germany remained on the brink of [[Default (finance)|defaulting]] on its loans.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=450–452}} As the worldwide economy worsened, democratic governments fell; in Germany, [[Nazi Party]] leader [[Adolf Hitler]] assumed power and dismantled the [[Weimar Republic]].{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=485–486}}

By mid-1931, the unemployment rate had reached 15 percent, giving rise to growing fears that the country was experiencing a depression far worse than recent economic downturns.{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=140–141}} A reserved man with a fear of public speaking, Hoover allowed his opponents in the Democratic Party to define him as cold, incompetent, reactionary, and out-of-touch.{{sfn|Carcasson|1998|pp=351–352}} Hoover's opponents developed defamatory [[epithet]]s to discredit him, such as "[[Hooverville]]" (the shanty towns and homeless encampments), "Hoover leather" (cardboard used to cover holes in the soles of shoes), and "Hoover blanket" (old newspaper used to cover oneself from the cold).<ref>{{cite book| title=The Great War and the Origins of Humanitarianism, 1918–1924| last=Cabanes| first=Bruno| page=206| publisher=Cambridge University Press| date=2014|isbn=978-1-107-02062-7}}</ref> While Hoover continued to resist direct federal relief efforts, Governor [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] of New York launched the [[Federal Emergency Relief Administration|Temporary Emergency Relief Administration]] to provide aid to the unemployed. Democrats positioned the program as a kinder alternative to Hoover's alleged apathy towards the unemployed, despite Hoover's belief that such programs were the responsibility of state and local governments.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=457–459}}

The economy continued to worsen, with unemployment rates nearing 23 percent in early 1932,{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=162–166}} and Hoover finally heeded calls for more direct federal intervention.{{sfn|Olson 1972|pp=508–511}} In January 1932, he convinced Congress to authorize the establishment of the [[Reconstruction Finance Corporation]] (RFC), which would provide government-secured loans to financial institutions, railroads, and local governments.{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=153–154}} The RFC saved numerous businesses from failure, but it failed to stimulate commercial lending as much as Hoover had hoped, partly because it was run by conservative bankers unwilling to make riskier loans.{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=162–163}} The same month the RFC was established, Hoover signed the [[Federal Home Loan Bank Act]], establishing 12 district banks overseen by a Federal Home Loan Bank Board in a manner similar to the Federal Reserve System.{{sfn|Rappleye|2016|pp=309}} He also helped arrange passage of the [[Glass–Steagall Act of 1932]], emergency banking legislation designed to expand banking credit by expanding the collateral on which Federal Reserve banks were authorized to lend.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=483–484}} As these measures failed to stem the economic crisis, Hoover signed the [[Emergency Relief and Construction Act]], a $2 billion public works bill, in July 1932.{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=162–166}}