tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20077444.post4944207785782209337..comments2024-03-26T04:21:43.535-05:00Comments on Free Association: Herbert Hoover, Wild-Eyed ActivistSheldon Richmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15672237234580563637noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20077444.post-26103249441602253762008-10-04T10:34:00.000-05:002008-10-04T10:34:00.000-05:00A couple of reasons explain this. First, Hoover la...A couple of reasons explain this. First, Hoover later criticized FDR for not relying on voluntarism. Remember, he jawboned employers to keep wages up when prices were falling. He didn't ask for an act of Congress. (Of course, his tax increase was not voluntary--don't look for logic here.)<BR/><BR/>Second, Roosevelt's idolaters and American left-statists in general had a stake in magnifying FDR's "achievement." Their cause was helped by portraying Hoover as a do-nothing laissez-faire advocate. Rothbard has several informative essays on the real Hoover. See my article "America's Engineer" <A HREF="http://www.fee.org/in_brief/default.asp?id=1389" REL="nofollow">here</A>.<BR/><BR/>The best line about Hoover came from either William Appleman Williams or another New Left historian: Hoover was not the last of the old presidents. He was the first of the new.Sheldon Richmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15672237234580563637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20077444.post-30495894058058312422008-10-04T00:19:00.000-05:002008-10-04T00:19:00.000-05:00How did Hoover get to be known as a "do nothing"? ...How did Hoover get to be known as a "do nothing"? It seems after all that there's no way anyone could see him that way.Ben Arzatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09903350466028308146noreply@blogger.com