7. Herbert Hoover
SRI Ranking: 36
Brookings Ranking: 38
Herbert Hoover’s presidency was off to a promising start. He supported international trade and ensured that businesses have a proper governmental support, a continuation of his work as Secretary of Commerce. However, just eight months after he became president, Black Tuesday happened, and Wall Street market crashed, marking the beginning of the Great Depression. All of his ambitious plans had to be put to a halt, and his efforts were redirected to trying to pull the country out of the greatest economic turmoil in its history. Unfortunately, his actions didn’t produce the expected results, leading to Franklin Roosevelt wiping the floor with him in the 1932 elections and ushering the country into the New Deal era.
