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Hoover is not my favorite president though I think he was far from our worst. He raised taxes and tariffs in the middle of the depression with predictable results. (FDR raised taxes twice more before our entry into WWII, also with predictable results.). But his heart was in the right place and that counts for a lot with me. His humanitarian instincts were undeniable.

All of which said, his predecessor Calvin Coolidge is my favorite president.

The Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922 wasn’t appreciably different from the Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930. The US basically had an unchanged level of taxation beginning with 1922.

The primary cause of the Great Depression was a collapse in the US banking system, as described by Friedman & Schwartz and Joseph Schumpeter.

Smoot-Hawley is what contemporaneous writers latched onto as a cause but the real damage was 30% of the American money supply evaporating in a series of cascading bank failures from 1930-33.

Not sure how much of FDR you have studied. When I didn’t know much about him thanks to my secondary and college education, I had a neutral-to-favorable view of him. After studying him on my own in the years after from a variety of authors (pro- and anti-FDR), like it or not, he ranks with Washington, Lincoln as most influential. But FDR continues to be taught in a positive way to the public. Unfortunately that portrait is like the photos, and how his poor health was (not) reported to the public - done in a way to keep you from seeing the real FDR. He changed the US, and not for the good in so many ways. (FWIW - Trump has the potential to change the USA in profound ways to take the 4th spot as most influential President; a second term will give him the opportunity. Reagan will be ranked behind him, and I really liked Ronnie back when).

FDR heart was in the right place? Where should one start? Threatening the SUpreme Court with expansion to get his unconstitutional programs legally blessed, finally? Let’s do something “small” - He refused to integrate the services in the time of war despite black leaders personally appealing to him in his office for integration well before the war started. Heart in the right place - not from my indepenedent studies. Influential, game changer = yes, but did some wrong things that we are still paying for today, and beyond.

*** But his heart was in the right place and that counts for a lot with me ***

Strange statement.
FDR was a saint to my family (who lived\suffered\survived the as past of the “greatest generation”) and that would be something they would say.

humanitarian ? maybe ‘cept for sanctioning the imprisonment of Japanese-Americans ?

Interesting article here.
https://livingnewdeal.org/glossary/income-and-wealth-taxes-1934-1941/

FDR had 5 tax increases mostly against income (to include SS) - 1935 was a doozy though I’m guessing it didn’t affect a lot of people.

FDR embraced Hoover’s Revenue Act of 1932...even though it included taxes on consumption of which FDR did n’t appear to be a fan.
There was also a Revenue Act of 1934; 1935; 1936; 1937; 1940.

humanitarian ? early maybe, but later ? sanctioning the imprisonment of Japanese-Americans ?

what my folks always talked about was FDR kept giving them hope and I can’t take that away from him\them.

"That man [Hoover] has offered me unsolicited advice every day for six years, all of it bad." - Calvin Coolidge

People normally forget that Hoover was a progressive, he was a part of Wilson's cabinet. I am quite convinced that his electoral fight against FDR over the definition of the word "Liberal" played a large part in converting him toward conservatism. This election in 1932 is when progressives took over the word "liberal" and have used it as camouflage ever since.

FDR was a massive liar and a massive propagandist aided by a sympathetic media, and I think that did in some degree catch Hoover off guard because his viewpoint was "I'm one of you guys, I'm a fellow progressive. I was with Wilson! Why are you throwing me under the bus? Why are you lying about me? And why are we corrupting the word liberal into a new meaning?"

Without Warren Harding, there would be no Coolidge. Coolidge merely continued Harding’s excellent policies. Harding and Treasury Secretary Mellon resolved the Wilson Recession in record time and cut spending and government. The last time it was legitimately done. Harding is reviled by historians for proving conservatism works. FDR did everything opposite to him, and Hoover did, too (despite retaining Mellon as Treas Sec).