March 29, 1929 - President Herbert Hoover has a phone installed at his desk in the Oval Office of the White House; 1878 - Rutherford B. Hayes installed telephones and a telephone switchboard at the White House.

June 7, 1929 - The sovereign state of Vatican City came into existence as copies of the Lateran Treaty were exchanged in Rome. Premier Mussolini, as Italian Foreign Minister representing King Victor Emmanuel--the first Italian Premier ever to cross the threshold of the Vatican--exchanged with Cardinal Gasparri, Papal Secretary of State, representing Pope Pius XI, ratifications of the treaties signed at the Lateran Palace on February 11.

June 27, 1929 - Third Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare drawn up and signed at League of Nations-sponsored conference for supervision of international trade in arms and ammunition in Geneva.

June 27, 1929 - President Von Hindenburg refuses to pay German debt of WW I.

July 24, 1929 - President Herbert Hoover signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which renounced war as an instrument of foreign policy.

October 3, 1929 - The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes formally changed its name to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

October 25, 1929 - Albert B. Fall, who served as secretary of the interior in President Warren G. Harding's cabinet, is found guilty of accepting a bribe while in office. Fall was the first individual to be convicted of a crime committed while a presidential cabinet member; sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of $100,000. Doheny escaped conviction, but Sinclair was imprisoned for contempt of Congress and jury tampering. As a member of President Harding's corruption-ridden cabinet in the early 1920s, Hall accepted a $100,000 interest-free "loan" from Edward Doheny of the Pan-American Petroleum and Transport Company, who wanted Fall to grant his firm a valuable oil lease in the Elk Hills naval oil reserve in California. The site, along with the Teapot Dome naval oil reserve in Wyoming, had been previously transferred to the Department of the Interior on the urging of Fall, who evidently realized the personal gains he could achieve by leasing the land to private corporations. In October 1923 - the Senate Public Lands Committee launched an investigation that revealed not only the $100,000 bribe that Fall received from Doheny but also that Harry Sinclair, president of Mammoth Oil, had given him some $300,000 in government bonds and cash in exchange for use of the Teapot Dome oil reserve in Wyoming. In 1927 - the oil fields were restored to the U.S. government by a Supreme Court decision.

October 29, 1929 - Stock prices collapsed on the New York Stock Exchange amid panic selling. Thousands of investors were wiped out; most disastrous trading day in the stock market's history. It was estimated that 880 issues, on the New York Stock Exchange, lost between $8,000,000,000 and $9,000,000,000 (not including losses on issues on the Curb Market, in the over the counter market and on other exchanges).

February 10, 1930 - Grain Stabilization Corporation authorized by Congress.

March 12, 1930 - Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi begins a defiant march to the sea in protest of the British monopoly on salt, his boldest act of civil disobedience yet against British rule in India and  simple way for many Indians to break a British law nonviolently. He declared resistance to British salt policies to be the unifying theme for his new campaign of satyagraha, or mass civil disobedience. Britain's Salt Acts prohibited Indians from collecting or selling salt, a staple in the Indian diet. Citizens were forced to buy the vital mineral from the British, who, in addition to exercising a monopoly over the manufacture and sale of salt, also exerted a heavy salt tax. Gandhi set out from Sabarmati with 78 followers on a 241-mile march to the coastal town of Dandi on the Arabian Sea. There, Gandhi and his supporters were to defy British policy by making salt from seawater. All along the way, Gandhi addressed large crowds, and with each passing day an increasing number of people joined the salt satyagraha. April 5, 1930 - reached Dandi, Gandhi was at the head of a crowd of tens of thousands. Gandhi spoke and led prayers and early the next morning walked down to the sea to make salt. Civil disobedience broke out all across India, soon involving millions of Indians, and British authorities arrested more than 60,000 people. May 5, 1930 - Gandhi was arrested, but the satyagraha continued without him. January 1931 -  Gandhi was released from prison. He later met with Lord Irwin, the viceroy of India, and agreed to call off the satyagraha in exchange for an equal negotiating role at a London conference on India's future. In August, Gandhi traveled to the conference as the sole representative of the nationalist Indian National Congress. The meeting was a disappointment, but British leaders had acknowledged him as a force they could not suppress or ignore.

March 28, 1930 - The names of the Turkish cities of Constantinople and Angora were changed to Istanbul and Ankara, respectively.

May 4, 1930 - 1,028 leading economists signed a petition that protested the Smoot-Hawley bill, a fiercely protectionist piece of legislation that aimed to preserve the domestic market for American-made goods by raising duties on imports to astronomical heights. While the petition didn't derail the bill--Smoot-Hawley passed into the law books the following month-the economists' warnings proved prophetic, as a number of foreign nations retaliated against Smoot-Hawley by enacting their own hefty tariffs and quotas on imports that successfully exacerbated America's fiscal woes.

May 7, 1930 - McNary-Mapes Amendment to the Pure Food and Drugs Act is passed. The so-called "Canner's Amendment" authorized FDA standards of quality and fill-of-container for canned food, excluding meat and milk products.

May 23, 1930 - U.S. Plant Patent Act of 1930 enacted. Law established patent rights for developers of new varieties of many asexually, vegetatively propagated plants (i.e. apple trees, rose bushes that are propagated by cutting pieces of the stem rather than by germinating seeds). The holder of the plant breeder right can exclusively reproduce, sell, and use asexually propagated plants for 17 years. Protection is not provided, however, for plant parts, genes, or traits. In addition, there is no protection against sexual reproduction. Thus, the protection afforded under PPA is relatively narrow, and generally not applicable to protection of germplasm, or products of biotechnology; world's oldest intellectual property system designed for patenting living things.

June 17, 1930 - President Herbert Hoover signed the controversial protectionist bill, Smoot-Hawley Tariff (month before over one thousand economists signed a petition that protested the tariff, blasted it as an overly aggressive bill that would hurt and perhaps ultimately alienate foreign markets) - raised duties on imports to astronomical heights in hopes of preserving the domestic market for American-made goods. Raft of foreign nations retaliated by enacting their own hefty tariffs, as well as quotas on imports and other measures that not only made international trade all that more difficult, but that also exacerbated America's fiscal woes.

July 3, 1930 - Congress created the U.S. Veterans Administration.

July 21, 1930 - President Herbert Hoover issued an executive order creating a new agency, the Veterans Administration, to `consolidate and coordinate Government activities affecting war veterans'.

August 15, 1930 - President Herbert Hoover gives a press conference in which he offers plans for relief of individuals and businesses affected by a series of devastating droughts. The droughts, combined with a major stock market crash in October 1929, resulted in dire economic conditions in the country. In his statement, Hoover called for a mass mobilization of aid workers in response to the drought; asked state governors to organize committees to draft suggestions on how to aid the unemployed; and tasked the Red Cross with getting immediate aid to impoverished families. He asked the War Department to provide artillery range land to Montana cattle and sheep farmers for grazing. He also proposed a plan that Franklin Roosevelt would later expand upon: increasing federal money to drought-stricken areas to begin road-building programs for unemployed workers. Hoover’s piecemeal, primarily state-led relief plan, however, was not enough.

November 2, 1930 - Ras Tafari, King of Ethiopia, was crowned emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.

January 7, 1931 - The Committee for Unemployment Relief, formed at President Hoover's command, released a report that detailed the depths of the nation's Depression woes: some 4 to 5 million Americans were unemployed; 1932 - some 13 million Americans were without jobs.

March 3, 1931 - President Hoover signed ghe Davis-Bacon Act; established the requirement for paying prevailing wages on public works projects. All federal government construction contracts, and most contracts for federally assisted construction over $2,000, must include provisions for paying workers on-site no less than the locally prevailing wages and benefits paid on similar projects. Sponsored by Republican sponsors, James "Puddler Jim" Davis, a Senator from Pennsylvania and a former Secretary of Labor under three presidents, and Representative Robert L. Bacon of Long Island, New York.

March 3, 1931 - President Herbert Hoover signed into law a bill making ''The Star-Spangled Banner'' the national anthem of the United States; September 14, 1814 - Francis Scott Key composed the lyrics to "The Star-Spangled Banner" after witnessing the massive overnight British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Maryland during the War of 1812.

April 14, 1931 - King Alfonso XIII of Spain went into exile and the Spanish Republic was proclaimed.

May 1, 1931 - President Hoover dedicated Empire State Building (102 story skyscraper at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th Street) in New York City from the White House where he pressed a button that switched on the lights; construction was completed in a phenomenal one year and 45 days; world's tallest skyscraper until 1954.

June 20, 1931 - President Hoover urged leaders of various nations to suspend payment of international debts and reparations for the next year. The moratorium was intended as a precautionary measure: with the recent demise of a major Austrian bank, Hoover feared that the international economy was on the brink of a nasty slump that would only worsen the United State's woes. The international community readily acceded to Hoover's wishes and by July the freeze was in effect. But, though Hoover's moratorium initially helped restore confidence in the world's various markets and economies, its healing powers were short-lived: that fall, Great Britain abandoned the global economy, shattering most nation's fragile faith in the international economy.

July 26, 1931 - A swarm of grasshoppers descends on crops throughout the American heartland, devastating millions of acres. Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota, already in the midst of a bad drought, suffered tremendously from this disaster. Swarm was said to be so thick that it blocked out the sun and one could shovel the grasshoppers with a scoop. Cornstalks were eaten to the ground and fields left completely bare.

September 21, 1931 - Britain went off the gold standard.

September 26, 1931 - President Hoover convened a national conference on unemployment. On the agenda was not just the shortage of jobs, but how to address the discontentment of those Americans who had previously been shortchanged by the labor system. After serving in World War I, African-Americans were beginning to protest job discrimination and their relegation to low-paying work. In response, the Hoover Conference suggested a jobs program, as well as a slash in prices. Although this wouldn't directly stimulate jobs, the Commission hoped it would make goods more readily available to all citizens.

October 4, 1931 - President Herbert Hoover convened a meeting of thirty U.S. business leaders to address recent financial woes in Europe further weakened the nation's already vulnerable banking system; Several months later, Hoover established the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, an agency dedicated to funding some of the nation's major institutions, including banks and railroads.

January 22, 1932 - President Herbert Hoover led the government into action against the Depression and signed the legislation that established the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC). Conceived by Hoover in 1931, and passed by the House earlier that January, the RFC was an independent agency charged with funding banks, railroads, insurance companies, and other institutions that could help kick start the moribund economy; 1953 - Eisenhower signed the RFC Liquidation Act into law (effectively stripped the organization of its duties as a lender); 1957 - shut down.

January 23, 1932 - New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

February 2, 1932 - Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) opened its doors for business; initially equipped with $500 million and license to borrow up to $2 billion in tax exempt bonds; charged with making loans to banks, insurance companies, other institutions to spark the nation's ravaged economy; bulwark of the New Deal.

February 22, 1932 - George Washington's 200th birthday, the U.S. War Department announced the creation of the "Order of the Purple Heart", a reinstatement of the "purple Heart" and "Book of Merit" begun by Washington on August 7, 1782 but was lost, and the decoration was largely forgotten; oldest American military decoration for military merit, is awarded to members of the U.S. armed forces who have been killed or wounded in action against an enemy. It is also awarded to soldiers who have suffered maltreatment as prisoners of war.

February 27, 1932 - Congress passed Glass-Steagall Act, expanded the powers of the Federal Reserve Board to extend credit, enabled the agency to "release" some of the government's gold to business as a response to the flood of foreign withdrawals (ran $100 million per week).

March 9, 1932 - Henry Pu Yi, who reigned as the last emperor of China from 1908 to 1912, becomes regent of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, comprising the Rehe province of China and Manchuria; 1934 - became K'ang Te, emperor of Manchukuo; 1945 - captured by Soviet troops in the final days of World War II. Manchuria and the Rehe province were returned to China; 1950 - Pu Yi was handed over to the Chinese communists, who imprisoned him at Shenyang;  1959 - Chinese leader Mao Zedong granted him amnesty. After his release, he worked in a mechanical repair shop in Peking.

April 10, 1932 - German president Paul von Hindenburg was re-elected; Adolf Hitler came in second in the voting.

May 17, 1932 - Congress changes name "Porto Rico" to "Puerto Rico".

May 29, 1932 - World War I veterans began arriving in Washington to demand cash bonuses they weren't scheduled to receive for another 13 years. So-called "Bonus Expeditionary Force," a group of 1,000 World War I veterans seeking cash payments for their veterans' bonus certificates, arrive in Washington, DC. One month later, other veteran groups spontaneously made their way to the nation's capital, swelling the Bonus Marchers to nearly 20,000 strong, most of them unemployed veterans in desperate financial straits. Camping in vacant government buildings and in open fields made available by District of Columbia Police Chief Pelham D. Glassford, they demanded passage of the veterans' payment bill introduced by Representative Wright Patman. June 15 the Patman bill passed in the House of Representatives. However, two days later, its defeat in the Senate infuriated the marchers, who refused to return home. In an increasingly tense situation, the federal government provided money for the protesters' trip home, but 2,000 refused the offer and continued to protest. July 28 - President Herbert Hoover ordered the army, under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, to evict them forcibly. MacArthur's men set their camps on fire, and the veterans were driven from the city. Hoover, increasingly regarded as insensitive to the needs of the nation's many poor, was much criticized by the public and press for the severity of his response.

June 6, 1932 - First gasoline tax levied by Congress was enacted as a part of the Revenue Act of 1932. The Act mandated a series of excise taxes on a wide variety of consumer goods. Congress placed a tax of 1¢ per gallon on gasoline and other motor fuel sold.

June 16, 1932 - President Herbert Hoover and Vice President Charles Curtis were re-nominated at the Republican national convention in Chicago.

July 2, 1932 - Democrats nominated New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt for president at their convention in Chicago.

July 18, 1932 - The United States and Canada signed a treaty to develop the St. Lawrence Seaway.

July 28, 1932 - President Herbert Hoover orders the U.S. Army under General Douglas MacArthur to evict by force the Bonus Marchers from the nation's capital. Two months before, the so-called "Bonus Expeditionary Force," a group of some 1,000 World War I veterans seeking cash payments for their veterans' bonus certificates, had arrived in Washington, D.C. Most of the marchers were unemployed veterans in desperate financial straits. In June, other veteran groups spontaneously made their way to the nation's capital, swelling the Bonus Marchers to nearly 20,000 strong. Camping in vacant government buildings and in open fields made available by District of Columbia Police Chief Pelham D. Glassford, they demanded passage of the veterans' payment bill introduced by Representative Wright Patman. June 15 - Patman bill passed in the House of Representatives. However, two days later, its defeat in the Senate infuriated the marchers, who refused to return home. In an increasingly tense situation, the federal government provided money for the protesters' trip home, but 2,000 refused the offer and continued to protest. General MacArthur's men set their camps on fire, and the veterans were driven from the city. Hoover, increasingly regarded as insensitive to the needs of the nation's many poor, was much criticized by the public and press for the severity of his response.

October 3, 1932 - With the admission of Iraq into the League of Nations, Britain terminated their mandate over the nation, and Iraq became independent.

November 8, 1932 - New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated incumbent Herbert Hoover for the presidency.

November 24, 1932 - FBI Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory officially opens in Washington, DC; chosen because it had the necessary sink, operated out of a single room, had only one full-time employee, Agent Charles Appel; 1938 - added polygraph machines, conducted controversial lie detection tests as part of its investigations; early days - the Lab worked on about 200 pieces of evidence a year; 1990s - approximately 200,000 per year; today - Lab obtains 600 new pieces of criminal evidence everyday.

February 3, 1933 - The chief justice of the United States, former President William Howard Taft, resigned for health reasons.

February 6, 1933 - The 20th Amendment to the Constitution was declared in effect. It moved the start of presidential, vice-presidential and congressional terms from March to January.

February 15, 1933 - President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt escaped an assassination attempt in Miami by Giuseppe Zangara, a deranged, unemployed brick layer; Roosevelt had just delivered a speech in Miami’s Bayfront Park from the back seat of his open touring car when Zangara opened fire with six rounds (five people were hit); claimed the life of Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak (died on March 6); March 20, 1933 - Zangara electrocuted.

William J. Barber (1985). From New Era to New Deal: Herbert Hoover, the Economists, and American Economic Policy, 1921-1933. (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 237 p.). Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964; United States--Economic policy--To 1933; United States--Politics and government--1919-1933.

compiled by Richard D. Burns (1991). Herbert Hoover: A Bibliography of His Times and Presidency. (Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources Inc., 247 p.). Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964 --Bibliography; United States--History--1919-1933--Bibliography.

Kendrick A. Clements (2000). Hoover, Conservation, and Consumerism: Engineering the Good Life. (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 332 p.). Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964; Consumption (Economics)--United States--Moral and ethical aspects; Conservation of natural resources--United States; Environmental economics--United States; Environmental policy--United States.

Samuel Crowther (1928). The Presidency vs. Hoover. (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., 286 p.). Hoover, Herbert Clark, President, U. S., 1874-1964; Presidents--United States.

E. R. Curry (1979). Hoover’s Dominican Diplomacy and the Origins of the Good Neighbor Policy. (New York, NY: Garland Pub., 277 p.). Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964; United States--Foreign relations--Dominican Republic; Dominican Republic--Foreign relations--United States; United States--Foreign relations--Latin America; Latin America--Foreign relations--United States.

Jay N. Darling; with introduction by Timothy Walch (1996). As Ding Saw Herbert Hoover. (Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press, 144 p.). Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964 --Caricatures and cartoons; Political satire, American; American wit and humor, Pictorial; United States--Politics and government--1929-1933--Caricatures and cartoons.

Will Irwin (1928). Herbert Hoover, A Reminiscent Biography. (New York, NY: The Century Co., 315 p.). Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964.

David M. Kennedy (1999). Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 936 p.). United States -- History -- 1929-1933; United States -- History -- 1933-1945.

Rose Wilder Lane (1920). The Making of Herbert Hoover. (New York, NY: The Century Co., 356 p.). Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964; Presidents -- United States -- Biography.

Eugene Lyons (1948). Our Unknown Ex-President: A Portrait of Herbert Hoover. (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 340 p.). Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964.

George H. Nash (1983). The Life of Herbert Hoover: The Engineer 1874-1914, Vol. 1. (New York, NY: Norton, 732 p.). Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964; Presidents--United States--Biography. 

George H. Nash (1983). The Life of Herbert Hoover: Masters of Emergencies, 1917-1918, Vol. 3. (New York, NY: Norton, 656 p.). Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964; Presidents--United States--Biography.

----- (1988). Herbert Hoover and Stanford University. (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, 241 p.). Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964 --Contributions in higher education; Stanford University--History.

Compiled by Patrick G. O'Brien (1993). Herbert Hoover: A Bibliography. (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 373 p.). Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964 --Bibliography.

James Stuart Olson (1977). Herbert Hoover and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, 1931-1933. (Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press, 177 p.). Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964; Reconstruction Finance Corporation; Depressions--1929--United States.

Albert U. Romasco (1965). The Poverty of Abundance; Hoover, the Nation, the Depression. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 282 p.). Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964; Depressions--1929--United States; United States--Politics and government--1929-1933; United States--Economic policy--To 1933.

Elliot A. Rosen (1977). Hoover, Roosevelt, and the Brains Trust: From Depression to New Deal. (New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 446 p.). Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945; Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964; Presidents--United States--Election--1932; New Deal, 1933-1939; United States--Politics and government--1929-1933.

Jordan A. Schwarz (1970). The Interregnum of Despair: Hoover, Congress, and the Depression. (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 281 p.). Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964; United States--Politics and government--1929-1933.

Robert A. Slayton (2001). Empire Statesman: The Rise and Redemption of Al Smith. (New York, NY: Free Press, 480 p.). Teaches History (Chapman University). Smith, Alfred Emanuel, 1873-1944; Presidential candidates--United States--Biography; Governors--New York (State)--Biography; Presidents--United States--Election--1928; Irish Americans--United States--Biography; Catholics--United States--Biography; United States--Politics and government--1901-1953; New York (State)--Politics and government--1865-1950. 

Gene Smith (1970). The Shattered Dream; Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression. (New York, NY: Morrow, 278 p.). Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964; Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945; United States -- Politics and government -- 1929-1933; Depressions -- 1929 -- United States.

Richard Norton Smith (1984). An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover. (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 488 p.). Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964; Presidents--United States--Biography; United States--Politics and government--20th century.

Robert Sobel (1975). Herbert Hoover at the Onset of the Great Depression, 1929-1930. (Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, 113 p.). Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964; Depressions--1929--United States; United States--Politics and government--1929-1933.

Harris Gaylord Warren (1959). Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 372 p.). Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964; Depressions--1929--United States; United States--Politics and government--1929-1933.

Joan Hoff Wilson (1975). Herbert Hoover, Forgotten Progressive. (Boston, MA: Little, Brown, 307 p.). Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964.

John R.M. Wilson (1993). Herbert Hoover and the Armed Forces: A Study of Presidential Attitudes and Policy. (New York, NY: Garland Pub., 275 p.). Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964; United States--Military policy; United States--Foreign relations--1929-1933; United States--Armed forces.

Silvano A. Wueschner, foreword by Ellis W. Hawley (1999). Charting Twentieth-Century Monetary Policy: Herbert Hoover and Benjamin Strong, 1917-1927. (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 178 p.). Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964; Strong, Benjamin, 1872-1928; Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.); Monetary policy--United States--History--20th century; Banks and banking--United States--History--20th century.

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LINKS

Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum http://www.hoover.archives.gov                                            

Born in 1874, President Herbert Hoover was a rather remarkable government administrator whose many lasting achievements are often overshadowed by the fact that he had the misfortune to preside over the United States during the beginning of the Great Depression. As one might expect, The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum offers a great deal of perspective on Hoover and his accomplishments, and does so through a number of fine online exhibits and additional materials. First-time visitors to the site may wish to peruse the practical information about visiting the actual Library and Museum in Iowa, but they will want to be sure to continue to the Hoover Information Station of the site. Here they can read Hoover’s Inaugural Speech from March 4, 1929, view a list of his public positions and honors, and read his own reflections on his boyhood days in Iowa. Subjects: Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964; Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum; Presidents; Presidential libraries; Museums; People.