Herbert Hoover: “Rugged Individualism” Campaign Speech

Context

The election of 1928 occurred on the eve of one of the most dramatic periods of U.S. history, the Great Depression (1929–1941). The decade of the 1920s had been one of fairly rapid economic expansion. During the 1920s, the U.S. economy grew by more than 40 percent. Americans were able to buy a whole new range of consumer products, such as radios, washing machines, and cars. For example, by the time of Hoover's 1928 speech, there were almost twenty-three million cars in the United States. Easy credit allowed Americans to purchase automobiles and other products with a down payment and monthly payments. Americans could spend their leisure time listening to the radio or watching movies. New factories not only produced goods and products for a rapidly growing consumer class but also provided jobs and economic stability for workers. Wages rose for most workers during the 1920s, while the unemployment rate averaged around 4 percent per year (with the notable exception of a significant recession in 1921).

One result of the economic prosperity was a rise in the number of wealthy Americans. By 1929, estimates were that there were more than twenty thousand millionaires in the United States, a dramatic 100 percent increase from 1918, when there were ten thousand. New laws enacted during the 1920s made it easier to invest in the stock market and other financial products. Those Americans with disposable incomes were able to increase their wealth through the stock market, which tripled in value from 1920 to 1929.

The economic prosperity was not universal, however. People in less developed areas of the country moved in a massive relocation to areas where there were more jobs or economic opportunities. Beginning around 1916, large numbers of African Americans and rural whites left the South to relocate in the North and Midwest, in what became known as the Great Migration. Factory wages in these regions were two to three times higher than what farmworkers made in the South. The year 1920 marked the first year in U.S. history that the nation's urban dwellers outnumbered the rural population. During the 1920s, more than two million Americans left the farms and rural areas of the country to move to the cities. In these years, the U.S. economy contracted by 30 percent, the value of the stock market dropped by almost 90 percent, and unemployment soared above 20 percent.

Some Americans were left out of the rising leisure class. Some found that they could not keep up with the payments required for their credit purchases or with rising prices. Meanwhile, because U.S. farmers were so productive, agricultural prices fell during the decade as farms produced more and more. For instance, the price of a bushel of wheat was $2.45 in 1920 but fell to under $1 by 1929, even though demand increased. While the price of some products fell, the costs of other goods and services rose. Rent prices soared in cities as more workers moved into urban areas and tried to find places to live. Rising prices also added to the difficulty some had in budgeting. One result was greater support for unions as workers sought higher wages and better working conditions, but many businesses opposed organized labor because unions raised the costs of doing business.

A growing number of Americans sought government help to overcome everyday problems. Some wanted new laws that set a minimum hourly wage, others wanted regulations that limited the number of hours that could be worked during a week. Still others sought more government oversight of how businesses operated, especially with respect to worker safety. There was also support for government housing programs to provided places to live for the poor or elderly.

Throughout the era, Americans were also divided over Prohibition (1920–1933), which forbade the commercial manufacture and sale of alcohol. Protestant religious groups and women's organizations supported the ban. Nonetheless, some Americans viewed Prohibition as an unwarranted government intrusion into their personal lives. Because many Americans continued to drink alcohol, organized crime flourished as criminal gangs developed large networks to supply lucrative illegal beer and spirits.

From 1921 to 1933, the Republican Party dominated U.S. politics. Prior to the 1928 election, two Republicans had served as president, Warren G. Harding (1921–1923) and Calvin Coolidge (1923–1929). In addition, the Republican Party, or Grand Old Party (GOP), controlled both houses of Congress from 1921 to 1931. Throughout this period, Republicans endeavored to avoid further government intrusion into the economy or social sectors. Republicans argued that more government regulation would harm the economy or lead to outright government ownership of some industries or businesses, as was common in some European nations. During the presidential campaign of 1928, Hoover emphasized a free-market approach to the economy, but he also endorsed a role for government in regulating commerce. His moderate stance attracted support from both members of his party and Democrats.