Herbert Hoover – The Great Depression

Understanding I think I’m often misunderstood. I’m not exactly sure why that is. Maybe I present myself in a manner people don’t understand. Maybe it’s just a case of people thinking the worst and I have to “prove” that I’m different. Maybe people look at me as they look at themselves and believe “if I acted that way it would be for this reason.” Whatever the reason, it’s often a frustrating and exhausting experience for me. I believe I saw the cracks forming in my first marriage long before even I wanted to admit they were there. I worked real hard to try to keep that marriage together and I might even go so far as to say that my efforts to do so consumed me. In that process, I would try to do all I could, even losing focus on everything else, to keep that marriage together. One of the areas that you might say I compromised was the church we attended. I never felt I fit in. The church was filled with business leaders, lawyers, doctors, and others of what you might call the “upper crust” of the local society and their families. I was a lowly plumber. Once I was in a Sunday School class at that church and the teacher wanted us to break off in pairs. The only rule was that we could not be with someone we knew real well. Like a game of musical chairs, everyone rushed around the room to find a partner. I was the one left without the chair. The teacher, sensing the awkwardness of the situation, said the two of us could team up. We were given 10-15 minutes to find something we had in common with the other person. I believe the “purpose” of the lesson was to “prove” we all had something in common. What we came up with, and the only thing we could come up with, was that our wives were good friends. My former wife was also an excellent singer. She took much pride in her voice. Singing was her passion. It was so much of a passion for her that her entire mood would reflect how she thought her performance went. If she missed a note, or didn’t sing the note as high as she thought she could, it would be a rough day when she got home. I always tried to show my support, but often I was met with a “you just don’t understand” attitude. No matter how hard I tried to convince her that I was sorry she felt the way she did or that the audience loved her performance and she was just being too hard on herself, she would not listen to my sympathy. It was heartbreaking that someone else could say the exact same thing to her and she would wrap her arms around them like they had just saved her life. One day I was heading to the church and I was running very late. She must have been singing that morning and I didn’t want to miss it. Looking back, I’m sure I wanted her to know I was supporting her efforts, but I was probably also wanting to be forewarned of what type of mood she would be in once she got home. Being late was probably not a good thing, and as soon as I got out of my car I rushed toward the church so I could sneak in. As I got closer to the door, one of those church leaders, what you might call “one of the pillars of the church,” was walking out of the building. He had an odd look on his face. I figured it was just me and I was getting used to being looked down upon. I walked into the church service and found a seat in the back. I cannot tell you a single thing about that service. I really don’t remember how my former wife performed, but I will never forget that service. You see, after the service was over, the pastor came to the pulpit and announced that Mr. Smith, the “pillar of the church,” whom I saw as I came in the building, had died of a heart attack as he was going to his car after leaving the earlier service. I might have been the last person who saw Mr. Smith alive. I was so wrapped up in how bad my life was at the time that I couldn’t even see that I might have been a benefit to someone else. I was so focused on how bad the world was treating me that all I saw was everyone looking down on me. That I wasn’t more aware of my surroundings has haunted me every day since. Oh, these were some good times in our history. Prosperity was everywhere. Everyone was happy. We were able to afford things we never could afford before. As the election neared, the outcome was pretty much assured. Things were good and we did not want them to change. Who better to lead the charge than the self-made man who seemed to have a heart of gold. The choice was clear: keep things going the way they are or let’s just nick pick over those small issues. When the election was over, the results were for the obvious choice: let’s just not mess with the good thing we have. The election was a landslide for keeping things the same. The electoral vote wasn’t even close: 444-87. The states won by the winner, were almost as embarrassing: 40-8. Yes, the good times were going to continue. The fear that much of the economic growth was being experienced by the wealthy and the speculator seemed to ease with the fact that, despite the new President’s wealth, he seemed to have a soft spot in his heart for the disadvantaged, the downtrodden, and those less well off than himself. When I read my Bible, or a Bible story, I often look at things differently than most people do. I try imagining being there. Sometime I wonder what it would have been like to be the character in the story. Would I have been as brave, as bold, or had that much faith when it is a strong character? Would I have run, denied, or made excuses like some of the weaker characters or situations where even the strong characters had weak moments? One of the most fascinating stories in the Bible is an encounter a character has with God. It is one of the few stories in the Bible where God is almost like a genie in a bottle. You know what I’m talking about. You rub that magic bottle that you found on the beach and a smoke-like genie pops out and says, “Your wish is my command.” God is usually not like that, or least that has been my experiences. I have usually found that God has a lesson He wants to teach me when I pray and usually that involves having the proper motives, attitude or faith for my request. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a time, when I prayed to God, and as soon as I asked for something in a prayer, He gave it to me. Don’t get me wrong, He has answered my prayers, it just hasn’t been one of the “put the coins in the vending machine and get the product out” type. I have prayed for God’s healing for people’s health. Sometimes He has stepped in and they have been healed, but even when He has done that, it usually hasn’t been instantaneously. Sometimes the person has to have months of chemo, many doctor visits and treatments, or a recovery period. Sometimes they are only given more time to live. Other times, despite my heartfelt prayers, they don’t make it at all. The same is true in what I would call bad situations. Sometimes God does answer my prayers the way I think they should be answered, but usually it takes time for those situations to improve and they don’t just happen overnight. The mean things can’t be unspoken. A big pile of money doesn’t just show up on the doorstep. That son doesn’t always return home. That marriage doesn’t always survive. There have been many heart-pounding dates that live in the memories of our history books. Some have rallied us even though they were very tragic at the time. There is April 19, 1775. The “shot heard round the world.” In what many would call the start of the American Revolution, or our battle for independence, shots were fired in the battles of Lexington and Concord. August 24, 1814 was the day Major General Robert Ross and his British soldiers marched into Washington DC and started burning many federal building including the White House. February 23, 1836 was when the Mexicans started their assault on a little Catholic mission and we cried, “Remember the Alamo.” On April 12, 1861 the Confederates started 34 straight hours of firing on Fort Sumter and the Civil War began. On February 15, 1898 one of our ships was docked in Cuba and it exploded. No one really knew what happened but we all cried, “Remember the (USS) Maine” and the Spanish-American War would evolve from those cries. On December 7, 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and our involvement in World War II was at hand. Who can forget September 11, 2001 when terrorists used our own planes to attack us. Two of those planes hit the Twin Towers (World Trade Center) in New York City. One plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington DC. Most credit the passengers on Flight 93 with causing that plane to crash in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, because it was headed to DC, too. But there are a couple of other days, days that blindsided us, that could be added to that list. We were so unprepared for it and its effects lasted so long. Even today there are administrative appointments that are made to make sure it never happens again or, at the very least, the effects of something similar don’t last very long. The biggest lesson I have learned about God answering prayers is that, despite my great wisdom, and the advice I give Him on how to answer them, God always answers my prayers, but He doesn’t always give me the answers I want at that moment or He may answer them in a different way. Can you imagine taking a test in school and arguing with the teacher that your answer, and not her answer, was the right one? Back to our Bible story. God basically says to our Bible character, “Your wish is my command.” He tells him to ask for anything and He will give it to him. Can you imagine what you would ask God for if He said that to you? Maybe you would ask God for an endless supply of money, a long and healthy life for you or one of the ones you love, happiness, or a host of other things that you think might free you from worry. Maybe you would ask Him to zap an enemy, give you a beautiful green lawn that never needed cutting, or any number of things that might make your life easier. Yes, to pick one thing to ask God would be a very difficult choice. Our Bible character had a somewhat odd choice for a wish. Solomon asked God for wisdom. God is so proud of Solomon’s answer that He throws in a lot of other free things, too. He throws in riches, honor and a long life. But as I look at that Bible story, Solomon’s request, and God’s reply, don’t really seem that odd. Actually, there are three things I notice about this story that make complete sense to me. First, Solomon’s request is actually a very smart request. You see, if you have wisdom, almost every other positive thing that can happen in this worldly existence is possible. If you are financially wise you will make wise monetary choices. You will invest wisely, spend wisely, not get caught up in impulse buys, you will not be influenced to overspend because of status. You will limit the use of credit, especially at high interest rates, and you will save for the future. If you are wise in your relationships you would not base them on what they could do for you, the status of the other person, the other person’s popularity, appearance, or number of friends you have. Wisdom is also a blessing when trying to find that special one in your life. As Solomon would find out, it is hard enough to please one woman, it’s impossible to please a host of women. Doing the wise thing is rarely the popular thing, but in the long run it usually returns the best results. Giving in to a child’s tantrums doesn’t usually result in a child that respects you more, but usually leads to a child who realizes misbehavior is rewarded. Lying usually is easily used to get out of a situation, but often leads to living a parallel life that you have to keep up with what you said, but you don’t believe. Second, the story seems to get lost in time. There is nothing in the story that says that God waved a magic wand and “Boom!” Solomon was wise. Maybe Solomon got his wish over time. If that were the case, I’m sure Solomon had some very rough situations he went through. It is a great gift when you are able to see someone else make a mistake and you are able to learn from it yourself. Most people I know have to experience something themselves before it becomes real to them. They chalk up other’s bad experiences as bad choices or tough luck. Maybe they just believe it won’t happen to them. Maybe seeing and learning from others’ pain was a gift God gave to Solomon. Third, I think God does ask us what we want. The problem is that we don’t use the tools He has given us to achieve them. We ask for money, but we spend, spend, spend and we never seem to be able to have any. We want that shiny new car or that vacation, and we aren’t willing to wait or save for it. Taking classes to learn a new trade or how to better handle our finances will take too much of our “free” time. We want the prize, but we seem unwilling to use the gifts He has given us to obtain that prize. We want that perfect relationship, but we make bad choices in who we hang out with. We want people to respect us, but we refuse to have a backbone to stand up for anything. We want people to care and yet we refuse to care for them first or we think the worse about them. God gives us opportunities to be an influence in relationships, but we sit back and want others to come to us first. If you want relationships, valuable relationships, you need to be willing to risk a little bit of yourself. It started on October 24, 1929. The history books call that day “Black Thursday.” It would continue for five days to “Black Tuesday,” October 29, 1929. When the bell tolled on “Black Tuesday,” our total world had collapsed. Most would agree that the Stock Market Crash on “Black Tuesday” wasn’t the cause of The Great Depression, but most would also agree that is was close to the day that it started. It was the beginning of twelve long years of economic disaster for most people. Over 9000 banks would fail. In those days there was no FDIC insurance, so by failure it meant you did not get the money you had in the bank back. Unemployment would also reach 25%, so many people not only lost the money they had in the bank, but they also had no supply of money coming in to make purchases for things they needed every day. When the Stock Market crashed on October 29, 1929, it fell to 230.07, losing almost 12% of its value. The day before the Stock Market closed at 260.64, after losing almost 13% of its value. By comparison, on October 12, 2018 the Stock Market closed at 25,339.99 and it was up from the previous day (after some really rough days prior) 287.16 or just 1.15% of its value. That 287.16 gain was more than the total value of the Stock Market on “Black Tuesday.” When Hebert Hoover became President, I’m sure most people believed the Roaring 20’s would never end. It was a great time of prosperity. Speculators thought there was no upper limit on what the Stock Market could do. Besides, we had a President who was a poor orphan and rose to great financial success all on his own. If anyone knew how to make the system work it would have to be him. Then there was Hoover’s heart of gold. President Woodrow Wilson had asked him to help the World War I relief efforts by directing food divestments for the starving people in Europe. Hoover’s successful efforts earned him worldwide acclamations. Surely he would have a heart of gold for his own struggling people. One of the things I believe makes a great President is that they are able to rise above the “rules” and they have the wisdom to understand the purpose of those rules. They don’t misuse the rules nor do they think they are above the rules, but they understand that the rules were put in place to protect people and their rights. Many of the pre-Civil War Presidents were excellent at staying within the rules. Many of those Presidents, of which many Americans of this age have never even heard of, did nothing when serious issues came along because they did not believe they had the right to “overstep” those rules. When states started leaving the Union, Lincoln focused more on the purpose of those rules than he did on the rules themselves. Lincoln believed the rules’ main purpose was to keep us peacefully together. When that “togetherness” was broken, Lincoln believed, in order for the purpose of the rules to survive, he had to step outside the rules to accomplish their purpose. Lincoln’s wisdom and bravery may have been difficult, and unpopular, while America was in the middle of the Civil War, but ask anyone today to name five Presidents and I assure you Lincoln’s name will almost always be on that list. On the other hand, Hebert Hoover’s name would probably not show up on one of those lists. Simply put, he was exactly like the pre-Civil War Presidents. He lived by the rules, not the purpose of the rules. His name has become synonymous with a big government that doesn’t care about its people. I don’t believe Hoover was the demon many history books have made him out to be. He did not stand idly by and just let things happen. Hoover, like many Presidents before him, believed it was up to the state governments, not the federal government, to enact programs to help the citizens. He went to great lengths to encourage state governments to extend a helping hand. The problem was the states simply didn’t have the revenue to handle all the influx of problems. Hoover was either not creative enough to find federal government solutions or his beliefs in the Constitution limited his role in extending help. Either way, the people suffered, and nothing got better. Hoover’s name got negatively attached to peoples’ condition. Hooverville was a shantytown or homeless village where people gathered or lived because they couldn’t afford anything else. Hoover blankets were old newspapers people wrapped themselves in to keep warm. Hoover flags were empty pockets turned inside out. Hoover leather was cardboard used to line holes in the bottoms of shoes. Hoover wagons were automobiles hitched to horse, often without their engines in them. Then the people spoke. Like the landslide he celebrated four years before, he would suffer the same landslide in defeat at the hands of Franklin Roosevelt. In the election of 1932, Franklin Roosevelt would garner 472 electoral votes to Hoover’s 59. Roosevelt would also claim 42 states to Hoover’s 6. The hero had become the villain. The people spoke. They were chasing what they perceived was an uncaring Hoover out of office. I’m sure this hurt Hoover very much and he spent most of the rest of his life trying to redeem his reputation of being a very caring person. One of the deepest reasons people would probably give for being depressed or down is that they don’t believe people understand them. Their voices, or actions, are crying out for someone to have pity on them because of their pain. They claim that if people really understood them, they would be enlightened to join them in their cause for justice. The biggest byproduct of trying to live a life where we spend much of our time wondering why people fail to understand us is running into a shell and hiding. We don’t stay in that shell. We often poke out our head to let the world know how unhappy we are with our condition. We may not yell, we may not even talk at all, but the world knows we are not very happy. But we are not going to give the world a chance to redeem itself because it needs to know the pain it is causing us. One of the saddest results of this process is that it puts a cloud over our lives. That cloud causes us not to notice the world around us. We become self-consumed. Our pain is all we see. Solomon’s request for wisdom was a plea to God to not let those clouds form around his life. In other words, “God, despite how the world treats me, please don’t let my thoughts about my mistreatment control my life.” Wisdom is the act of taking yourself out of a situation even when that situation is deeply affecting your daily life. It allows you to focus on the problem and not the pain. It also allows you to see the pain in others’ eyes, too. It grants you permission to share your stories of overcoming with others. It defies the logic of self-defense and seeks out solutions. Or you can just stick to your guns and justify that you have a right to feel the way you do and act the way you do. Then you can spend the rest of your life missing chances to help the guy who is having health problems or, like President Hoover, trying to convince the world that you really do care. Prayer: Dear Mighty Father, I am so sorry when I get so self-consumed. Please help me to rise above the way I’m treated. Please help me work at getting to the bottom of problems without the emotional baggage hanging on my back. Then, please help me share with others how You helped me overcome my issues. Amen.