Sentence:  In that decade the partisan zeal to <WSD>defend</WSD> Mr. Hoover , and the party 's failure to anticipate or cope with the depression , caused a great majority of Americans to see the Republican party as cold and lacking in any sympathy for the problems of human beings caught up in the distress and suffering brought on by the economic crash . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  argue or speak in defense of