16. Hoover’s policies and failures vaulted FDR to national prominence
The same year Herbert Hoover became President of the United States, 1929, saw Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated as Governor of New York. Following the stock market crash, FDR moved for immediate and aggressive action against the economic downturn. As Hoover argued the downturn was mild and destined to be short-lived, Roosevelt proposed several state initiatives, including the first in the United States for government-provided unemployment insurance. Following reelection in 1930, FDR proposed a comprehensive relief package in the state, which offered voters a stark contrast between the troubled federal response and the successes in New York.
During the Presidential election of 1932, which pitted FDR and Hoover against each other, Hoover continued to support the national policy of Prohibition. It was he who gave Prohibition its moniker as the “noble experiment” in 1928. FDR argued that repeal would create jobs, including a larger market for grains, and generate badly needed tax revenues. FDR pointed out both were necessary fighting the economic depression, which he likened to a national emergency. His successes in New York and his enthusiastic endorsement of repeal were two major factors in his defeat of Hoover at the polls in November, 1932.