赫伯特·克拉克·胡佛(英語:Herbert Clark Hoover,1874年8月10日—1964年10月20日),曾為自己取漢名胡華[1][2],现通譯胡佛,第31任美国总统。美国歷史上唯一一位會說汉语的总统。共和党籍。除从事政治外,还是采矿工程师和作家。曾任沃伦·G·哈定和卡尔文·柯立芝两届总统的商务部长,其间打出“经济现代化”的旗号推动政府干预经济。1928年大选,此前从未经选举而担当政府职位的胡佛轻松赢得党内提名,并在国内一片欣欣向荣的乐观气氛中完胜民主党候选人阿尔·史密斯当选总统。他是美国迄今为止由内阁部长直接升为总统的唯一一人。
胡佛和其他有关组织和机构[註 6]合力在全国展开“住者有其宅”(Own Your Own Home)运动,鼓励人们购买独立住宅。他还和银行家及储蓄与贷款行业合作推广长期购房贷款,极大刺激了住宅房地产的建设。[20]
交通与广播
1924年和1926年,胡佛作为商务部长主持了两次道路交通会议[註 7],这些会议后被统称为国家街道与高速公路安全会议(National Conference on Street and Highway Safety)。起初,胡佛的主要目标是降低不断上升的交通事故伤亡率。但会议议题很快就扩大化,覆盖机动车车辆标准、道路规则和城市交通管理。胡佛让相关利益集团的代表自行磋商协议,然后再把这些协议交由州和地方批准。由于当时汽车行业协会的组织最为完善,会议所达成的共识大多真实反映了制造商的利益。会议发布了一部模范统一车辆法规(Uniform Vehicle Code)交由各州批准,以及一部模范城市交通条例(Municipal Traffic Ordinance)来供各市采纳。这两部影响极为深远的法规促进了不同司法管辖区间的统一,并帮助树立了车辆在城市街道中的优先权[21]。
史密斯对禁酒法的态度给了胡佛支持者一个攻击他的主要论据。从民众角度来讲,人们或许更倾向于攻击史密斯的宗教信仰。但是,由于第一修正案保护宗教信仰的自由,这种攻击对于严肃的竞选者来说由于其政治不正确而无法采纳。不过,给史密斯贴上“反禁酒的醉鬼”这类标签倒是毫无问题。在禁酒问题上,胡佛还得到了妇女基督教戒酒联合会(Women's Christian Temperance Union)及反沙龙联盟(Anti-Saloon League)的支持[24]。
胡佛的印第安人政策具有特殊的意味:胡佛本人为慈善家,而他的副总统又拥有部分印第安血统。贵格会的教义浸染令他相信印第安人应该实现经济上的自给自足。胡佛指派Charles J. Rhoads为印第安人事务局局长以重组该机构,支持后者有关同化印第安人的主张,并设法弱化印第安人事务中的政府角色。胡佛的目标是让印第安人成为真正的个人而不是从属于部落,并负担起1924年印第安人国籍法所赋予他们的公民责任[26]。
1928年11月,胡佛开始了为期七周的拉美“亲善之旅”,以向南方国家解释他的经济和贸易政策。经阿根廷时,胡佛躲过了一次由塞维里诺·吉奥瓦尼(Severino Di Giovanni)领导的无政府主义者对他的刺杀。吉奥瓦尼等人打算炸毁他所乘坐的火车车厢[27],并已得到了一份胡佛的铁路行程表,其中详细记载了他抵达每一站的时间。不过,吉奥瓦尼未及安置炸药就事败被捕[27] 。胡佛本人从未提及过此事;他对阿根廷的赞美之词在东道主国和媒体都得到了良好反响。[28]
到1932年,大萧条已经扩展为全球范围的经济危机。在美国,失业率高到24.9%[36],农业腹地持续干旱,大批企业和家庭拖欠还款,超过五千家银行倒闭[37]。数以万计的美国人因无家可归而聚集起来居住在帐篷搭制的城市营地中。这些流离失所者称这些营地为“胡佛村”(Hooverville),以表达它们对联邦政府未能给予足够援助的不满。对此,胡佛和国会批准了联邦住宅贷款银行法(Federal Home Loan Bank Act),以刺激建设新住房,并减少贷款人的止赎行为。由于之后止赎的减少,这一措施看似取得了效果;但还是作用太小、且来的太晚。
在萧条开始以前,胡佛的首任财长梅隆提议并实施了大规模的减税,其中将最高所得税税率由73%减为24%。萧条开始后,随着居民收入大幅下降,低税率导致联邦预算严重赤字。对增加联邦收入的迫切要求促使国会于1932年通过新的税收法,全面提高了各种税率。其中,最高所得税的税率重新上调为63%,接近1928年之前的水平;不动产税加倍;企业税上浮约15%。此外还新增支票税,规定对所有银行支票另征2美分的附加税。William D. Lastrapes和George Selgin等经济学家认为支票税是导致当时银根严重紧缩的一个重要因素[38]。胡佛还鼓励国会调查纽约证交所,这一压力导致了后者的多项改革。
1932年,胡佛政府为拯救经济进行了最后一搏,通过了紧急救济和建设法(Emergency Relief and Construction Act),其中包括为公共建设项目提供资金和成立重建金融公司等内容。重建金融公司的目的是向金融机构、铁路和农民提供政府担保的贷款。这一机构在建立初期并未产生太大效应,但富兰克林·罗斯福保留了其设置,并将其大幅扩大为新政的一部分。
一战期间,参战的美国军人在每人每日1美元的薪金之外,还另加25分做为海外生活补助金。但在战时,这笔薪金并没有发放到他们手中。战后,国会于1924年通过《服役证明修正法》(Adjusted Service Certificate Law),规定美国政府先发给一战老兵一张补助金证书,并承诺所欠薪金在二十年后依当兵日数按每日1美元的比率以现金偿付。但是,由于大萧条导致的经济困难,大批难以糊口的老兵开始要求政府立刻支付应在1945年才支付的薪金。
作为退休后的消遣,胡佛喜欢乘车出游,且只和妻子或一名朋友相伴[註 10]。胡佛常驱车几百或上千英里,尽享旅途的惬意。他走访西部的采矿营地或是小村庄,在那里没人认识这位前总统。他也登攀高山,探寻幽林,或是独自垂钓。钓鱼一直是胡佛的一大乐趣。直到他病逝前一年,胡佛还以自己的垂钓经验为背景出版了一本书,也是他16本书中的最后一本,题为《渔乐人生—洗涤灵魂》(Fishing For Fun — And To Wash Your Soul)。此外,像许久前一样,胡佛又重新参与到一些绅士俱乐部的活动中[註 11]。
^赫伯特·胡佛,接受共和党总统提名的讲话,斯坦福大学,1928年8月11日。原文:“We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poorhouse is vanishing from among us. We have not yet reached the goal, but given a chance to go forward with the policies of the last eight years, and [sic] we shall soon with the help of God be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished from this Nation.”
^
Baughman. American Decades. 1920-1929. 密歇根: Gale Research. 1996: 52, 197, 201, 203–204, 215, 217, 368, 380 (英语).
^Britten, Thomas A. "Hoover and the Indians: the Case for Continuity in Federal Indian Policy, 1900-1933" Historian 1999 61(3): 518-538. ISSN 0018-2370
^ 27.027.1Pigna, Felipe, Los Mitos de la Historia Argentina, ed. Planeta (2006), Chap. IV, p. 114
^Time Magazine, Hoover Progress, December 24, 1928
^Hoover, Herbert (1952). The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover.
^Carcasson, Martin. "Herbert Hoover and the Presidential Campaign of 1932: the Failure of Apologia" Presidential Studies Quarterly 1998 28(2): 349-365页
^原文:“If we go further and join the war and we win, then we have won for Stalin the grip of communism on Russia . . . Again I say, if we join the war and Stalin wins, we have aided him to impose more communism on Europe and the world. At least we could not with such a bedfellow say to our sons that by making the supreme sacrifice, they are restoring freedom to the world. War alongside Stalin to impose freedom is more than a travesty. It is a tragedy.” 引自Robinson, Edgar Eugene, "Hoover, Herbert Clark", 大英百科全书,第11卷(芝加哥:大英百科公司,1973),676-7页。
^Michael R. Beschloss, The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941-1945 (2002) pg.277
^胡佛这里谈到的兼并是指美国财长亨利·摩根索于二战临结束之际提出的分割德国计划。根据这一计划,德国主体将被分割成南北两个国家,而如鲁尔等重要矿区和工业区将或被其他邻国兼并,或成为国际共管地带。此计划的一个重要目的是对德国去工业化,使之成为所谓“田园国家”(pastoral state)。原文:“There is the illusion that the New Germany left after the annexations can be reduced to a 'pastoral state'. It cannot be done unless we exterminate or move 25,000,000 people out of it.” The Marshall Plan at 60: The General’s Successful War On Poverty互联网档案馆的存檔,存档日期2009-04-19.
延伸阅读
主要资料
Myers, William Starr and Walter H. Newton, eds. The Hoover Administration; a documented narrative. 1936.
Hawley, Ellis, ed. Herbert Hoover: Containing the Public Messages, Speeches, and Statements of the President, 4 vols. (1974–1977)
Hoover, Herbert Clark and Lou Henry Hoover, trans., De Re Metallica, by Agricola, G., The Mining magazine, London, 1912
Hoover, Herbert C. Addresses Upon The American Road, 1933-1938, 1938
Hoover, Herbert C. Addresses Upon The American Road, 1940-41, (1941)
Hoover, Herbert C. The Problems of Lasting Peace, with Hugh Gibson, 1942
Hoover, Herbert C. Addresses Upon The American Road, 1945-48, (1949)
Hoover, Herbert C. Memoirs. New York, 1951–52. 3 vol; v. 1. Years of adventure, 1874–1920; v. 2. The Cabinet and the Presidency, 1920–1933; v. 3. The Great Depression, 1929–1941.
Dwight M. Miller and Timothy Walch, eds; Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Documentary History. Greenwood Press. 1998.
次要资料
传记
Best, Gary Dean. The Politics of American Individualism: Herbert Hoover in Transition, 1918-1921 (1975)
Bornet, Vaughn Davis, An Uncommon President. In: Herbert Hoover Reassessed. (1981), pp. 71–88.
Burner, David. Herbert Hoover: A Public Life. (1979). one-volume scholarly biography.
Gelfand, Lawrence E. ed., Herbert Hoover: The Great War and Its Aftermath, 1914-1923 (1979).
Hatfield, Mark. ed. Herbert Hoover Reassessed (2002).
Hawley, Ellis. Herbert Hoover as Secretary of Commerce: Studies in New Era Thought and Practice (1981). A major reinterpretation.
Hawley, Ellis. Herbert Hoover and the Historians (1989).
Hoff-Wilson, Joan. Herbert Hoover: Forgotten Progressive. (1975). short biography
Lloyd, Craig. Aggressive Introvert: A Study of Herbert Hoover and Public Relations Management, 1912-1932 (1973).
Nash, George H. The Life of Herbert Hoover: The Engineer 1874-1914 (1983), the definitive scholarly biography.
Life of Herbert Hoover: The Humanitarian, 1914-1917 (1988), vol. 2.
The Life of Herbert Hoover: Master of Emergencies, 1917-1918 (1996), vol. 3
Nash, Lee, ed. Understanding Herbert Hoover: Ten Perspectives (1987).
Smith, Gene. The Shattered Dream: Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression (1970).
Smith, Richard Norton. An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover, (1987) full-length scholarly biography.
Walch, Timothy. ed. Uncommon Americans: The Lives and Legacies of Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover Praeger, 2003.
Wert, Hal Elliott. Hoover, The Fishing President: Portrait of the Private Man and his Life Outdoors (2005). ISBN 978-0-8117-0099-3.
Barber, William J. From New Era to New Deal: Herbert Hoover, the Economists, and American Economic Policy, 1921-1933. (1985).
Barry, John M. Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America (1998), Hoover played a major role.
Britten, Thomas A. "Hoover and the Indians: the Case for Continuity in Federal Indian Policy, 1900-1933" Historian 1999 61(3): 518-538. ISSN 0018-2370
Calder, James D. The Origins and Development of Federal Crime Control Policy: Herbert Hoover's Initiatives Praeger, 1993.
Carcasson, Martin. "Herbert Hoover and the Presidential Campaign of 1932: the Failure of Apologia" Presidential Studies Quarterly 1998 28(2): 349-365.
Clements, Kendrick A. Hoover, Conservation, and Consumerism: Engineering the Good Life. U. Press of Kansas, 2000.
DeConde, Alexander. Herbert Hoover's Latin American Policy. (1951).
Dodge, Mark M., ed. Herbert Hoover and the Historians. (1989).
Doenecke, Justus D. "Anti-Interventionism of Herbert Hoover" Journal of Libertarian Studies, Summer 1987, 8(2), pp. 311–340. online version (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆)
Fausold, Martin L. The Presidency of Herbert C. Hoover. (1985) standard scholarly overview.
Fausold Martin L. and George Mazuzan, eds. The Hoover Presidency: A Reappraisal (1974).
Ferrell, Robert H. American Diplomacy in the Great Depression: Hoover-Stimson Foreign Policy, 1929-1933. (1957).
Goodman, Mark and Gring, Mark. "The Ideological Fight over Creation of the Federal Radio Commission in 1927" Journalism History 2000 26(3): 117-124.
Hamilton, David E. From New Day to New Deal: American Farm Policy from Hoover to Roosevelt, 1928-1933. (1991).
Hart, David M. "Herbert Hoover's Last Laugh: the Enduring Significance of the 'Associative State' in the United States." Journal of Policy History 1998 10(4): 419-444.
Hawley, Ellis. "Herbert Hoover, the Commerce Secretariat, and the Vision of an 'Associative State,' 1921-1928." Journal of American History 61 (1974): 116-140.
Houck, Davis W. "Rhetoric as Currency: Herbert Hoover and the 1929 Stock Market Crash" Rhetoric & Public Affairs 2000 3(2): 155-181. ISSN 1094-8392
Hutchison, Janet. "Building for Babbitt: the State and the Suburban Home Ideal" Journal of Policy History 1997 9(2): 184-210
Lichtman, Allan J. Prejudice and the Old Politics: The Presidential Election of 1928 (1979).
Lisio, Donald J. The President and Protest: Hoover, MacArthur, and the Bonus Riot, 2d ed. (1994).
Lisio, Donald J. Hoover, Blacks, and Lily-whites: A Study of Southern Strategies (1985)
Malin, James C. The United States after the World War. 1930. extensive coverage of Hoover's Commerce Dept. policies
Olson, James S. Herbert Hoover and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, 1931-1933 (1977).
Robinson, Edgar Eugene and Vaughn Davis Bornet. Herbert Hoover: President of the United States. (1976).
Romasco, Albert U. The Poverty of Abundance: Hoover, the Nation, the Depression (1965).
Schwarz, Jordan A. The Interregnum of Despair: Hoover, Congress, and the Depression. (1970). Hostile to Hoover.
Stoff, Michael B. "Herbert Hoover: 1929-1933." The American Presidency: The Authoritative Reference. New York, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company (2004), 332-343.
Sobel, Robert Herbert Hoover and the Onset of the Great Depression 1929-1930 (1975).
Tracey, Kathleen. Herbert Hoover—A Bibliography. His Writings and Addresses (1977).
Wilbur, Ray Lyman, and Arthur Mastick Hyde. The Hoover Policies. (1937). In depth description of his administration by two cabinet members.
Wueschner, Silvano A. Charting Twentieth-Century Monetary Policy: Herbert Hoover and Benjamin Strong, 1917-1927. Greenwood, 1999.