So Mr. President, What Did You Do During Your Term In Office? (8)

Topic: The Hoover Administration-Year 1932 #2

February 2, 1932
Although not a member of the League of Nations, the United States attends an arms limitation conference at Geneva sponsored by the League. President Hoover makes sweeping proposals to reduce armaments, but the meeting ends without the participants having reached any significant agreement.

February 27, 1932
Congress passes the Glass-Steagall Act, which authorizes the sale of $750,000,000 worth of the Government's huge gold supply and allows the Federal Reserve System more leeway in discounting commercial paper. The purpose of the measure is to counteract the hoarding of gold and to ease credit.

March 3, 1932
The 20th Amendment to the Constitution is sent to the states to be ratified. Known popularly as the Lame Duck Amendment, the measure would reduce the amount of time an outgoing President will serve after the country has elected his successor (as a "lame duck"), by moving the inauguration date from March 4 to January 20. The measure also calls for Congress to convene on Jan. 3.

March 23, 1932
The Norris-La Guardia Act is signed by president Hoover. The Act limits the use of injunctions to stop strikes and is favored by organized labor. The act also prohibits "yellow-dog" contracts, by which employers, as a condition of employment, require their workers to promise not to join a union.

May 29-July 28, 1932
The first veterans of the "Bonus Army" arrive in Washington, D.C., with the hope of convincing the Government to approve immediate payment-in-full of their bonuses. Those proposed bonuses are actually prepayments of equities due to the veterans in 1945 under the terms of the 1924 Adjusted Compensation Act. By June approximately 15,000 veterans and 5,000 women and children are camped near the Capitol. On June 15 the House votes to cash the bonuses, but two days later the Senate turns the measure down. Most of the veterans return home, but approximately 2,000 remain. Finally President Hoover sends Federal troops commanded by General Douglas MacArthur to drive the veterans out. (In 1936 Congress votes to pay the bonus.).

To be continued: The Hoover Administration-Year 1932 #3

Sources For Information: The American Presidents by David C. Whitney; Reader's Digest Association, Inc. (1996), The New York Public Library American History Desk Reference; A Stonesong Press Book (1997) The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover, Macmillan Company (1952); The Bicentennial Almanac Edited by Calvin D. Linton, Ph.D. Publishers, Thomas Nelson Inc. (1975) The Presidents of the United States Vol 2, A.S. Barnes & Co. (1973)

Contact: miriam@thehistorybox.com
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