[171] While other countries left the gold standard, Hoover refused to abandon it;[172] he derided any other monetary system as "collectivism".[173] Hoover viewed the weak European economy as a major cause of economic troubles in the United States.[174] In response to the collapse of the German economy, Hoover marshaled congressional support behind a one-year moratorium on European war debts.[175] The Hoover Moratorium was warmly received in Europe and the United States, but Germany remained on the brink of defaulting on its loans.[176] As the worldwide economy worsened, democratic governments fell; in Germany, Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler assumed power and dismantled the Weimar Republic.[177]
By mid-1931, the unemployment rate had reached 15 percent, giving rise to growing fears that the country was experiencing a depression far worse than recent economic downturns.[178] A reserved man with a fear of public speaking, Hoover allowed his opponents in the Democratic Party to define him as cold, incompetent, reactionary, and out-of-touch.