Hoover was a brilliant engineer and businessman but he believed strongly in big government. He was a technocrat who thought he could wield government with surgical precision to engineer solutions to anything. Consequently he kept trying to “fix” what became the great depression with more and bigger government meddling. His good intentions made the depression worse. He was basically no different than FDR, he was just the guy everyone blame while FDR, doing very similar stuff, was considered a heroic champion of the little guy.
Most of the New Deal was more or less a continuation of policies already started under Hoover.
HERBERT HOOVER:
“No man who has not occupied my position in Washington can fully realize the constant battle which must be carried on against incompetence, corruption, tyranny of government expanded into business activities ...
“Free speech does not live many hours after free industry and free commerce die.”