Hoff very much believed that government was and should be the primary force in bringing about social change, saying that "Every significant decision of our time is going to be made in the governmental arena." He was quick to support efforts to modernize government operations that he considered obsolete and inefficient. But his influence on the state was profound and long lasting. At the time he left office in January 1969, the Rutland Herald predicted that, "it will be impossible to turn back the clock to the political era of caretaker governors." Hoff himself left office believing that his six years as an activist governor finally "got Vermont off the dime." Bill Kearns put it more bluntly, saying that Hoff "picked up the state by the back of the neck and gave it a damned good, much needed shaking."