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Herbert Hoover
{hoo'-vur}
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st president of the United States.
During his first year in office the Wall Street crash of 1929 occurred. He
was blamed for the resulting collapse of the economy, and his unpopular
policies brought an end to a brilliant career in public office. After the
inauguration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933, however, Hoover remained
a leading critic of the New Deal and a spokesman for the Republican party.
Early Life
Born on Aug. 10, 1874, the son of a blacksmith in the Iowa village of
West Branch, Hoover was orphaned at the age of eight and sent to live with
an uncle in Oregon. The uncle became wealthy, enabling Hoover to study
mining engineering at Stanford University; he graduated in 1895. The
influences of his engineering training and his Quaker upbringing were to
shape his subsequent careers.
Hoover began working in California mines as an ordinary laborer, but he
soon obtained a position in Australia directing a new gold-mining venture.
During the next two decades he traveled through much of Asia, Africa, and
Europe as a mining entrepreneur, earning a considerable fortune. At the
outbreak of World War I in August 1914 he was in London.
Hoover, who as a Quaker passionately believed in peace, was appalled by
the human costs of the war, and he determined to devote his life to public
service. He volunteered to direct the exodus of American tourists from war-
torn Europe and then to head (1915-19) the Commission for Relief in Belgium.
This position brought him public attention as the "great humanitarian," a
well-earned reputation that he lost only after the 1929 Wall Street debacle.
The commission fed 10,000,000 people during the war and left funds for
Belgian postwar reconstruction.
When the United States entered the war in April 1917, Hoover was called
to Washington to serve as food administrator. This was a special wartime
office, created to encourage American agricultural production and food
conservation and to coordinate a rational distribution of food. When the
war ended in November 1918, President Woodrow Wilson sent Hoover back to
Europe to direct the American Relief Administration, an agency intended to
relieve the suffering in Europe caused by the war's destruction.
Hoover's public reputation was enormous as a result of his activities
in these offices, and some persons looked upon him as a presidential
candidate in 1920. He had never participated in partisan politics, but he
did declare himself a Republican while refusing to seek the presidency that
year. In 1921, Warren G. Harding appointed Hoover secretary of commerce, a
post he held until he began his own presidential campaign in 1928.
Secretary of Commerce
As secretary of commerce, Hoover made his most important contributions
to public policy. He was so able and active in the administrations of
Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge that observers often referred to him
as "secretary for domestic affairs." Hoover directly confronted a dilemma
central to American values: the conflict between the tradition of
individualism and the impersonalism of large corporations and big cities.
Hoover deeply believed in the traditional worth of the individual, the
value of personal initiative, the rights of self-expression, and the legacy
of freedom of opportunity. These beliefs were deeply rooted in American
society and in Hoover's personal Quaker faith.
But Hoover, as an engineer, was also profoundly impressed by the
virtues of science. Rational principles could point the way to
disinterested fairness in public policy, bring about greater efficiency in
the economy and in society, and, if applied dispassionately, cause an end
to the bitter conflicts in an America populated by persons of different
creeds, races, and social classes. In his belief that greater rationality
in public life could be combined with respect for the tradition of
individual rights, Hoover conformed to the mainstream of progressive social
thought in the early 20th century.
As secretary of commerce Hoover was concerned with applying rational
principles in order to end conflict between labor and business. But he was
mostly preoccupied with trying to bring the benefits of cooperative action
to business owners and farmers without destroying individual initiative. To
this end his department encouraged firms to join together in trade
associations and thereby develop and share vital information about costs of
production and distribution and about available markets.
Presidency
Hoover's views and policies were popular in the 1920s. In 1928, after
Coolidge announced that he would not seek reelection, Hoover launched a
successful presidential campaign, easily defeating the Democratic contender,
Al Smith. Hoover expressed the belief that ways had been found to eliminate
the scourges of poverty and that America was entering a future of peace and
ever-increasing economic prosperity. After his election he turned his
attention to America's most noticeable economic problem, the agricultural
depression that had been chronic for nearly a decade. The resulting
Agricultural Marketing Act, passed by Congress in 1929, promoted the idea
of marketing cooperatives among farmers to increase their efficiency while
the government purchased surplus commodities until--it was intended--
individual cooperative action could maintain farm prosperity without
government intervention.
The Wall Street crash of October 1929 and the onset of the DEPRESSION
OF THE 1930s shattered Hoover's dreams and his popularity. He refused to
mobilize fully the resources of the federal government to save the
collapsing economy. What actions he did take, such as approving creation
(1932) of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to loan funds to ailing
corporations, seemed too little too late. Hoover feared that too much
government intervention would destroy the integrity and initiative of the
individual citizen. The "great humanitarian" lost his reputation as
millions lost their jobs and some were actually starving by the winter of
1932-33. Franklin Delano Roosevelt easily defeated Hoover in 1932 by
promising Americans a New Deal.
Later Years
In semiretirement Hoover criticized the policies of the New Deal,
saying that they made Americans dependent on the government. He remained an
important ideologist for the Republican party. After World War II he served
as coordinator of the European Food Program (1946-47). He subsequently
headed two Hoover Commissions (1947-49 and 1953-55) on the organization of
the executive branch of the government. He recommended structural changes
to make the government more efficient and the executive branch more
accountable to the Congress and the public.
In retirement Hoover thus remained true to his principles of efficiency
and individual integrity. He died in New York City on Oct. 20, 1964.
Bibliography: Best, Gary D., Herbert Hoover: The Postpresidential Years,
1933-1964 (1983); Burner, David, Herbert Hoover (1979); Eckley, Wilton,
Herbert Hoover (1980); Fausold, Martin L., The Presidency of Herbert Hoover
(1985); Fitzgerald, C. B., ed., Herbert C. Hoover (1988); Hawley, E. W., et
al., Herbert Hoover and the Historians (1990); Hoover, Herbert, Addresses
upon the American Road, 8 vols. (1936-61), and The Memoirs of Herbert
Hoover, 3 vols. (1951-52); Huthmacher, J. Joseph, and Sussman, Warren I.,
eds., Herbert Hoover and the Crisis of American Capitalism (1973); Lyons,
Eugene, Herbert Hoover, a Biography (1964); Nash, G. H., The Life of
Herbert Hoover, 2 vols. (1983-88); Smith, Gene, The Shattered Dream:
Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression (1984); Smith, R. N., An Uncommon
Man (1984); Sobel, Robert, Herbert Hoover at the Onset of the Great
Depression, 1929-1930 (1975); Wilson, Joan Hoff, Herbert Hoover: Forgotten
Progressive (1975).
NAME: Herbert Clark Hoover
31st President of the United States (1929-33)
Born: Aug. 10, 1874, West Branch, Iowa Education: Stanford University
(graduated 1895) Profession: Engineer Religious Affiliation: Society of
Friends (Quaker)
Marriage: Feb. 10, 1899, to Lou Henry (1875-1944) Children: Herbert Clark
Hoover (1903-69); Alan Henry Hoover (1907- )
Political Affiliation: Republican Writings: The Challenge of Liberty
(1934); America's First Crusade (1942); Memoirs (3 vols., 1951-52); The
Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson (1958)
Died: Oct. 20, 1964, New York City Buried: West Branch, Iowa
Vice-President: Charles Curtis
Cabinet Members:^ Secretary of State: Henry L. Stimson Secretary of the
Treasury: Andrew W. Mellon (1929-32); Ogden L. Mills (1932-33) Secretary of
War: James W. Good (1929); Patrick J. Hurley (1929-33) Attorney General:
William DeWitt Mitchell Postmaster General: Walter F. Brown Secretary of
the Navy: Charles F. Adams Secretary of the Interior: Ray L. Wilbur
Secretary of Agriculture: Arthur M. Hyde Secretary of Commerce: Robert P.
Lamont (1929-32); Roy D. Chapin (1932-33) Secretary of Labor: James J.
Davis (1929-30); William N. Doak (1930-33)
ADDITIONAL FEATURED ESSAYS
Causes Of The Great Depression
The main cause of the Great Depression was a lack of understanding of economic systems. The Great Depression began in 19
Facts Behind The Great Depress
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My Opinion On Director Hoovers Essay
As a Law Enforcement Officer myself, I feel that Director Hoovers Essay hits the Controversy about capital punishment ri
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