HL - Reassessing Hoover

It looks like we will not have time to explore Hoover's presidency to the extent that I had intended. My closing thoughts on Hoover, then, are that he did not cause the Depression and he did try a lot of things to stop it that he does not get credit for. The biggest problem Hoover had was that he let himself seem insensitive to people who were suffering. In a sense, his "everything is OK" attitude is understandable, too. The last thing the economy needed was a president creating a panic because he said things about how bad the economy was. Hoover was clearly aware of how confidence in the country and the economy could lead to a healthier system. Hoover did not "sleep through" the Depression. Calvin Coolidge probably would have slept through most of it, but he didn't get the chance. Hoover was very knowledgeable about the economy and tried to draw lessons from history.

Some have said that Hoover had the misfortune of being an uncharismatic president at a time when America needed a leader more than anything. I understand what the point is, but I don't think Hoover was completely without charisma. If he were, how could he of won the popular vote by such a large margin?