31. Presidential Accomplishments
Out with the Old
As President, Herbert Hoover …
- Closed the White House stables
- sold the presidential yacht
- Canceled private oil leases on government lands
- Eliminated the daily and time-consuming public receptions where hundreds of citizens would file by for a presidential handshake
- Directed federal law enforcement to focus their energies on gangster-ridden Chicago, leading to the arrest and conviction of Al Capone on tax evasion charges
In with the New
As President, Herbert Hoover …
- Convinced a special session of Congress to establish a Federal Farm Board to support farm prices
- Studied tax cuts graduated to favor low-income Americans
- Established the Veterans Administration and doubled veterans' hospital facilities
- Began the "Talking Books" program for the blind
- Made "The Star Spangled Banner" the national anthem
- Established the Anti-trust Division of the Justice Department to prosecute unfair competition and restraint of trade cases
- Proposed a federal Department of Education
- Advocated federal loans for urban slum clearance pushed for $50-a-month pensions for Americans over 65 before the crash of Wall Street nullified this concept
Reform and Rehabilitation
As President, Herbert Hoover …
- Added millions of acres of land to both national parks and forests
- Planned for a series of new dams in the Tennessee Valley and central California
- Expanded Civil Service protection throughout the federal establishment
- Established a Federal Bureau of Prisons to oversee a massive program of prison reform that would stress education and rehabilitation
- Reorganized the Bureau of Indian Affairs to protect Native Americans from exploitation
- Presided over a pioneering White House Conference on Child Health and Protection that led to numerous reforms in child welfare at the state and local levels
- Focused a second White House Conference on home building and home ownership
- Reintroduced the Purple Heart as the medal given to soldiers wounded in battle
On The International Scene
As President, Herbert Hoover …
- Took steps to halt the arms race through the 1930 London Naval Conference and the 1932 World Disarmament Conference in Geneva
- Imposed an arms embargo to Latin America
- Proposed a one-third cut in the number of U.S. submarines and battleships
- Sought unsuccessfully to eliminate all bombers, tanks, and chemical weapons
- Negotiated a treaty authorizing construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway along the U.S. - Canadian border, but the Senate failed to ratify it until 1954.
- Objected to Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in January 1932 and supported the restoration of Chinese sovereignty