Great Depression and New Deal Primary Sources | Herbert Hoover

Excerpt from "Public vs. Private Financing of Relief Efforts"

Delivered in a press conference on February 3, 1931
Reprinted from Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Herbert Hoover, 1931
Published in 1976

"The friendliness and charity of our countrymen can always be relied upon to relieve their fellow citizens in misfortune."

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover's presidential philosophy was based on voluntary cooperation and business self-regulation. Hoover believed that Americans would always answer the call for contributions to support local charity organizations and national groups such as the American Red Cross. He strongly believed that federal involvement in aiding the needy would stifle individual donations and lead to the dismantling of the nation's many charitable organizations. He pointed out...