The Republican president who vetoed a Great Depression rescue package in an election year

Congress was rushing to pass a huge spending bill to combat the nation’s economic crisis. The president desperately wanted the legislation but threatened to veto the bill if it was jammed with “pork barrel” provisions.

It was mid-July of 1932 in the depths of the Great Depression. Congress was pressing for a $2.1 billion emergency relief bill to fight staggering unemployment of more than 12 million Americans.