When I think of Herbert Hoover, this is what I think of.

Today we're leaving in a shatty.

It's a song from the musical Annie.

The Great Depression is raging, and there's a scene where little orphan Annie stumbles

into a Hooverville, which is what they called the Shanty Towns that sprung up when millions

of Americans lost their jobs and their homes and were starving on the streets during the

Depression.

The word Hooverville was of course a jab at President Hoover, who was in the White House

as the country spiraled downward.

We like to thank the Herbert Hoover.

We're really showing us the way.

So this was basically the extent of my image of Hoover, a failed President during the Great

Depression.

This week we are going to get a much richer picture of him, starting with the fact that

Hoover, like Annie, was an orphan.

I'm Lillian Cunningham with Washington Post, and this is the 30th episode of Presidential.

Last week with Calvin Coolidge, we spent a lot of time talking about economics.

So this week, even though we're now at the Great Depression and there are a lot of interesting

economic questions to explore, we're not actually going to get to into the weeds on economic

policy.

Instead, I'm interested in the fact that Hoover entered the White House looking extremely

qualified for the role.

...