A Polarized Party

Abstract

When Herbert Hoover became president, the Republican Party was polarized. The fissures almost cracked during the special session to deal with farm relief and the tariff. Ironically, the new president was viewed with suspicion for opposite reasons. The Progressive faction disliked him because he was a moderate and a gradualist, who viewed the country’s problems in national rather than regional or parochial terms and who preferred sophisticated, multifaceted solutions to issues such as the farm problem rather than radical, experimental ones, impractical to implement and politically impossible to enact. The party regulars—both conservatives and moderates—comprised a larger faction but created less noise. They disliked Hoover because he was an amateur politician who had not risen through the ranks. He did not trade favors or back special interest legislation targeted to their districts. Hoover was frustrated by the creaky pace of legislating during a worldwide depression. Most previous presidents had worked through congressional leaders, allowing them to shape legislation and guide bills through the labyrinths of Congress. For his first two years, especially during the special session of 1929, Hoover considered the constitutional division of powers sacrosanct. As the Depression worsened, the president grew assertive. After 1930 he was an aggressive president, and although Republican majorities were reduced or eliminated, Congress pounded out most of the major legislation he wanted, though sometimes weakened or delayed.