Harding loved to “bloviate,”
Coolidge hardly spoke at all.
Hoover’s most distinctive trait
Was action, before which words pall.
Warren fell a victim to his cronies:
Some were villains, others just uncouth.
Cal thought all talkers must be phonies;
He believed only business spoke the truth.
Rising stocks were the voice to all consumers,
Who knew prosperity was here to stay.
“Poverty will live only in our rumors,”
Promised Hoover -- before that Black Thursday.
Prices plunged, and wages quickly followed.
Joblessness became a way of life.
Hoovervilles were the pills the homeless swallowed,
And poor Herbert was the victim of that strife.
His background of achievement, it was glorious;
Few Presidents had been so well prepared.
Yet success eludes the formerly victorious
When conditions change and everyone is scared.