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 President Herbert Hoover led a remarkable life that was based upon public
service, humanitarianism, and a belief that America is an exceptional nation.
Nevertheless, many conservatives today are often critical of Hoover. Some have
even described President Joe Biden as the next “Herbert Hoover” because of the
current state of the economy. President Hoover’s policies during the Great
Depression can be debated, and they deserve more consideration, more than just
the standard knee-jerk reaction often provided by many conservative and
libertarian commentators. Nevertheless, Hoover deserves better from
conservatives. Herbert Hoover is a forgotten conservative statesman, whose
philosophy and ideas can still serve as a guide for conservatives. In reflecting
on Hoover’s conservatism, Richard Norton Smith, a Hoover biographer and
presidential historian, wrote that “none has more relevance to our own time than
Hoover’s role as a philosopher of modern conservative thought.”
Hoover’s conservatism is often overshadowed because he is seen as a progressive,
especially in comparison to his predecessors Presidents Warren G. Harding and
Calvin Coolidge. Hoover served as Secretary of the Commerce in both the Harding
and Coolidge administrations, and he was viewed as an activist, especially in
comparison to other cabinet officials, especially Secretary of the Treasury
Andrew Mellon. Gordon Lloyd and David Davenport, who co-authored "The New Deal &
Modern American Conservativism: A Defining Rivalry," argue that Hoover’s
philosophy was to balance progressivism, while still defending the Constitution.
From a philosophical standpoint, Hoover rejected laissez-faire and he outlined
his political philosophy in his 1921 book "American Individualism." In American
Individualism, Hoover defended what he described as the “American System” and
the principle of equality of opportunity. Lloyd and Davenport wrote that
Hoover’s “American System” was centered on “individual freedom and equality of
opportunity,” which leads to “a sense of responsibility which inspires Americans
to take care of each other while pursuing their own and their communities best
interests, unhindered by government bureaucracy or central planning.”
This was the philosophy that governed Hoover’s humanitarianism and when
President Coolidge tasked him with the responsibility of organizing relief
efforts for the 1927 Mississippi River flood. “I suppose I could have called in
the whole of the army, but what was the use? All I had to do was to call in Main
Street itself,” stated Hoover in response to the call of Americans that helped
provide relief to those who were suffering because of the flood. This is also
the spirit that many Iowans took during the COVID-19 pandemic as neighbors and
businesses helped one another in numerous acts of goodwill across the state.
In the 1928 presidential campaign, Hoover won in a landslide and his philosophy
of the “American System” would guide his administration. The onset of the Great
Depression would not just be a turning point for Hoover, but for the nation.
During the 1932 presidential campaign Hoover would defend his administration,
but because of the severity of the Depression he was defeated in a landslide by
New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt, who during the campaign promised the
nation a New Deal.
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At the close of the 1932 campaign, Hoover stated “this campaign is more than a
contest between two men. It is more than a contest between two parties. It is a
contest between two philosophies of government.” Hoover was prophetic as
Roosevelt’s New Deal would radically transform not only the federal government,
but constitutionalism. Lloyd and Davenport argue that “we can now see more
clearly that the New Deal was America’s French Revolution, and the
post-presidential Herbert Hoover, if not our Edmund Burke, was at least a
prophetic voice crying in the progressive wilderness of the 1930s, pointing the
way toward what has become modern American conservatism.”
Hoover would become the leading conservative voice against the New Deal and its
centralization of federal power and thwarting the Constitution. In 1934, he
wrote "The Challenge to Liberty," which was a philosophical defense of both the
Constitution and the “American System,” and he warned about the ideologies,
including New Deal liberalism, which were attacking constitutionalism.
As a result of the New Deal, Lloyd and Davenport wrote that “Hoover became a
full-throated constitutional conservative, horrified by what he called the
challenge to liberty from Roosevelt’s New Deal.” Hoover’s opposition to New Deal
liberalism would influence future conservatives, including Senators Robert A.
Taft and Barry Goldwater.
Hoover also supported numerous conservative causes and organizations. As an
example, he was an early supporter of William F. Buckley’s National Review
magazine. Most important was his creating and funding of the Hoover Institution
on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford University, a project begun during
World War I. Today, the Hoover Institution is a prominent public policy think
tank and archive.
Conservatives, especially national conservatives, who wish to see a restoration
of limited government and foreign policy based upon the national interest should
consider Hoover’s response to the New Deal liberalism. During the 1930s, Hoover
was a voice of one calling in the wilderness pleading for the nation to repent
from its embrace of New Deal liberalism. He attempted to remind Americans about
the Constitution, federalism, and the importance of a limited government.
Hoover’s campaign against the New Deal was an example of conservative
statesmanship, which can serve as a guide for today’s conservative movement.
John Hendrickson is policy director of Iowans for Tax Relief
Foundation
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