Question

Question: Read the excerpt from Hoover’s “Rugged Individualism” speech to answer the question. Choose the two highlighted examples that best explain why Hoover believed in rugged individualism, or the belief that individuals should rely on themselves and not the government.  

Answer Options (Highlighted Excerpts):

Example 1: "Nor do I wish to be misinterpreted as believing that the United States is a free-for-all and devil-take-the-hindmost."

Example 2: "I have witnessed not only at home but abroad the many failures of government in business."

Example 3: "But she [Russia] has not had the blessings of one hundred and fifty years of our form of government and our social system."

Example 4: "By adherence to the principles of decentralized self-government, ordered liberty, equal opportunity, and freedom to the individual, our American experiment in human welfare has yielded a degree of well-being unparalleled in the world."

Answer 1

Examples 2 and 4.

- Example 2 shows Hoover’s distrust of government involvement in business (“the many failures of government in business”), a direct reason to prefer individual/private action.
- Example 4 explicitly praises “decentralized self-government” and “freedom to the individual,” wording that directly expresses the core of rugged individualism.

(Example 1 is just a caveat against extreme laissez-faire; Example 3 is a comparative remark about Russia, less directly stating why he favored individual self-reliance.)