31: 8. Hoover, FDR, and the Lessons of Wilson's Failure David Pietrusza 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents Herbert Hoover, known as the "great engineer," chose the Republican Party, disliking the Democratic coalition of Southern segregationists and radicals
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
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🗓️ 27 October 2025
⏱️ 9 minutes
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Summary
David Pietrusza
1920: The Year of the Six Presidents
Herbert Hoover, known as the "great engineer," chose the Republican Party, disliking the Democratic coalition of Southern segregationists and radicals. Hoover was systematic but lacked the public warmth necessary for effective leadership, a deficiency that proved costly during the Great Depression. Franklin D. Roosevelt, becoming governor in 1928, became more empathetic and politically calculating following his polio diagnosis in 1921. He mastered new media like radio to communicate effectively with the public. FDR eventually supported repealing Prohibition, shifting from his earlier focus on modification. Learning from Wilson's failure to pass the Versailles Treaty, FDR ensured the United Nations' success by consulting with Republicans and building a cross-party coalition.
1929 HOOVER PARADE
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| 0:00.0 | I'm John Batchew with David Petrucia. The book is 1920, the year of the six presidents. |
| 0:05.0 | The six presidents contain decades. We're talking about the early moments of the rise of Teddy Roosevelt |
| 0:14.0 | right after the Civil War and becoming prominent in the 1890s in New York |
| 0:21.6 | and rising to the vice presidency |
| 0:23.7 | because, of course, they wanted to get rid of him. |
| 0:27.1 | He was a troublesome progressive Republican governor in New York, |
| 0:33.5 | and the bosses found him extremely uncomfortable making, |
| 0:37.3 | especially Tammany Hall. |
| 0:39.0 | He becomes president, and then in dispute with Woodrow Wilson, who wins because Teddy Roosevelt breaks up the party, |
| 0:46.5 | and we end to the 1920s, and now we're extending all the way into the 1930s. |
| 0:50.8 | Hoover is known as the great engineer. |
| 0:53.3 | He was so effective as not being a partisan that |
| 0:56.5 | another party could decide on him in 1920. He will become president because Calculitz chooses not |
| 1:03.9 | to run again. And Hoover runs on the Republican line. What made him move towards the Republicans? |
| 1:09.8 | Had he always been a Republican, David? |
| 1:12.0 | Well, he'd been a Republican of sorts. He might have jumped to the Democrats, but he makes a |
| 1:17.4 | statement at one point that he takes a look at the Democratic Party, and it's like, ugh. I don't |
| 1:23.7 | want these racist Southerners, wild-ass progressives in the Midwest. |
| 1:31.2 | They're just too radical for me. |
| 1:33.1 | Or these crooks in the big cities. |
| 1:35.5 | I just don't feel comfortable with these guys. |
| 1:37.8 | I'm going to stick with the Republican Party. |
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