The defining feature of his term was the beginning of the Great Depression in October 1929, which was exacerbated by a drought the following summer that pummeled the Ohio farm economy.

Cooper largely echoed the Hoover Administration's calls for calm and efforts to speed up previously-planned public works spending[2] which represented the conventional view of how to respond to sudden downturns.

[3] Cooper's tepid response to the developing Great Depression led to a collapse in voter turnout - about 20 percent fewer votes were cast compared with the 1928 election.

[5] In 1929 Cooper signed a one-cent increase in the state gas tax which was estimated to produce $8.5 million in additional funds for road and bridge work.

Cooper was involved with Merrick's Village Project developments in Coral Gables, Florida that would later impact and inspire the architecture of Cincinnati homes in the 1930s-50s.