Hoover and the Federal Reserve made poor choices engineering economic fixes to the economy.
Coolidge had been reluctant to choose Hoover as his successor; on one occasion he remarked that “for six years that man has given me unsolicited advice—all of it bad.”
Hoover the progressive became, in the politics of the thirties, Hoover the conservative. But hoover was a big government man, who like FDR after him, cranked up a national mobilization approach, involving of course, the big rich. FDR tried a more government centered approach with a much more inspiring style. Hoover had, unfortunately for him, the same down at the mouth public manner as Jimmy Carter, matched with a total lack of the common touch. Mrs. Coolidge was probably one of the most pleasant and approachable First Ladies, but Mrs Hoover was a entirely different sort.
Had Coolidge been President during the 1929 crash, I don’t think there would have been a depression.. Maybe a recession..
Coolidge never really chose Hoover as his successor. After Coolidge announced over a year before the 1928 election that he would not be running for another term, he essentially kept hands off the GOP nomination process, while Hoover worked at getting that nomination. Coolidge made it clear that he supported Hoover during his campaign vs. Democrat Al Smith, but his role was small. During his last year in office, as he sensed that Hoover would succeed him, Coolidge fretted privately that a Hoover administration would lead to bigger government, deficit spending, and an economic downturn, reversing the achievements of Coolidge's administration. In that, Coolidge was absolutely right.