Rhetoric as Currency: Hoover, Roosevelt, and the Great Depression.

• Author: Burgchardt, Carl R.
• Position: Book Reviews

Rhetoric as Currency: Hoover, Roosevelt, and the Great Depression. By Davis W. Houck, College Station, TX: Texas A&M Press, 2001; pp. xii + 226. $39.95.

Although many rhetorical critics flee from language that is bogged in statistics, tariffs, and taxation rates, Davis W. Houck explores productively the connection between rhetoric and economics in his well-crafted Rhetoric as Currency: Hoover, Roosevelt, and the Great Depression. In doing so, he helps to fill a void in the literature of rhetorical criticism. The author announces a "two-fold" rationale for the book: "to explore the relationship between presidential economic rhetoric and economic recovery, and, in doing the former, to gain a more thorough understanding of two complex presidents" (10). Houck does an excellent job of revealing the confusion, determination, and humanity of two presidential orators during a pivotally important period in United States history. Houck's book is insightful and, given the subject matter, delightfully readable.

After an introductory chapter, Houck analyzes the rhetoric of Herbert Hoover that focuses specifically on economic policy. Chapter 2 examines the first half of Hoover's administration, while Chapter 3 evaluates the second half. Chapters 4 through 6 consider the economic rhetoric of Franklin D. Roosevelt as governor, presidential candidate, and the first one hundred days of his presidency. Throughout, Houck perceptively traces the evolution of Hoover's and Roosevelt's rhetoric over time.

Houck makes a number of contributions, but one of the most important, I think, is the sustained focus on Herbert Hoover, whom the author calls "a badly misunderstood president" (10). I agree with Houck that historians have "downplayed, or completely overlooked, what Hoover introduced" (9), but Houck's book goes a long way towards correcting misunderstandings or even deliberate distortions about Hoover. A serious rhetorical assessment of "how a complex man attempted to solve a complex problem" was long overdue (9).

Houck challenges a number of historical myths or conventions about Hoover and Roosevelt. In the author's analysis, it is not true that Hoover was paralyzed by the Depression, that he ignored the struggles of ordinary citizens and sat passively in the White House. On the contrary, as Houck proves, Hoover worked tirelessly to counteract the negative consequences of economic collapse. Houck demonstrates that Hoover was an optimist, not a pessimist; that he...