In our previous episode, we covered Herbert Hoover's presidency, how it started with high hopes,

but was quickly engulfed by the most devastating depression in American history.

Hoover had taken unprecedented actions to address the widespread suffering felt across the country,

but the economy remained shattered, and millions were in the depths of desperation.

Time was running out for Hoover.

1932 was an election year.

He was facing the judgment of the American people.

How the rest of his story unfolded is the subject of this episode of this American president.

Music of this American president. As Herbert Hoover began his re-election campaign, he faced virtually no opposition to his renomination by the Republican Party.

All of us today know what happened in that election. We know that Herbert Hoover lost. It's easy to

assume that everyone at the time expected a defeat for Hoover, especially with the economy in the

depths of the Depression. But this wasn't totally clear at the time. Republicans had won

three consecutive presidential landslides and six of the previous eight presidential elections.

The Democrats had spent a decade in the political wilderness, and it wasn't clear that they

could seal the deal. The Philadelphia Public Ledger offered a balanced

analysis of the race in Hoover's presidency, saying, quote, the task was one for a Superman. Mr. Hoover's

admirers will tell you he has succeeded. His enemies will insist he has been a dismal failure.

An unbiased observer, if there are any these days, would probably say he

has done all that was humanly possible for a president to do. Nevertheless, the habit of the

American people is to hold the party in power responsible for economic conditions, good or bad.

And Mr. Hoover must enter the presidential contest this year, with a section

of the voting population disappointed because he has performed no miracles. The closest election since

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