[David in San Antonio]

From what I’ve read, Hoover was an excellent administrator. He was in the unfortunate position of being President of the US when the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began. Unfortunate because the understanding of economics at the time and political forces kept him from taking action to address the underlying problems. My father was born in 1930, and referred to Hoover Dam as Damn Hoover. By the way, the government called it “merely a depression” rather than use the frightening term “recession”. I wonder what went through Henry and Edsel’s mind after bringing out the Model A in 1928, then see in 1929 the stock market crash, commodity prices drop so far the farmers couldn’t afford to send the crops and cattle to market, thousands of banks go out of business while wiping out their depositors’ life savings. A popular song of the time says, “Mr. Herbert Hoover says that now’s the time to buy! So let’s have another cup of coffee and let’s have another piece of pie.”