By the 1930s, unemployment seemed to be the new normal for many Americans. The stock market crash of 1929 marked the beginning of an economic depression that resulted in the loss of millions of jobs. In a campaign speech he delivered in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt promised Americans a “New Deal”—a committed, federal effort to alleviate the pressures of the Great Depression.
Before he became president, Herbert Hoover rose to prominence as one of the most effective and influential members of Presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge’s cabinets. Hoover transformed the Department of Commerce into one of the most powerful federal agencies of its time. This display explores Hoover’s time as Secretary of Commerce, and the many initiatives the department took on under his leadership.
During the 1920's, the Department of Commerce grew massively under Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover. By 1926, the department's numerous bureaus were scattered about the city in ten separate buildings; the construction of the Federal Triangle complex would provide the opportunity to bring them all under one roof.
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