His policy was not nearly as proactive as Roosevelt, to my knowledge.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
I'd say. Still his actions don't make him look like like a Laissez-faire president. Roosevelt of course was way more interventionist. It was a hit or miss. For example things like Agricultural Adjustment Act and especially National Industry Recovery Act (as well as the National Recovery Administration). Thanks to the latter cost of production increased by 40%. There were other negative things about it as well. NRA is a well-known disaster of the New Deal, which was thankfully dissolved in 1935. In 1935 unemployment started decreasing from 18% to 14% but in 1938 there was a "depression within a depression". Many economist say that the Wagner Act was to blame. To be honest I'm not sure about this one.
Anyway it's an extremely complicated matter. No doubt New Deal wasn't a huge success and I'm glad many modern historians mention that but still I know how difficult this subject is. Roosevelt did some good as well no doubt (and as someone coming from "that other" part of Europe I have no reasons to love him trust me). The question whether or not New Deal prolonged the Great Depression will probably remain (but it's true it lasted more in the US than anywhere else) and it's perhaps too big of a subject for TV Tropes but I say in this case people usualy get things wrong. I don't think we can call Hoover a "hands-off" president but nevertheless he was pretty bad. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff pushed Weimar Republic further into radical territory.
"Not that he helped his cause with a "hands-off" approach to the economy in favor of letting it fix itself..."
What? That old myth again? What about Smoot-Hawley Tarriff Act from 1930, which had tragic consequences? And Hoover's check tax? It certainly didn't help. Or what about the fact that Rexford Tugwell, Roosevelt's economic advisor admitted that basically whole New Deal was taken from Hoover's program? Or that he Or that Roosevelt won the presidency by promising less government in business? New Deal was also a disaster but that's a much broader subject. I'd really prefer if all the schooltexts were right about Hoover and Roosevelt. It would've been much easier. But history tells a different story.
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