Herbert Hoover was inaugurated as the thirty-first president of the
United States in March 1929. Despite the economic prosperity that existed then, the country would be mired in the worst financial crisis of its
history soon after Hoover took office. Though Hoover involved the federal government in fixing the country’s economic problems more than
preceding presidents had done, his efforts were deemed “too little, too
late” by many Americans.
Early life
Herbert Clark Hoover was born August 10,
1874, in West Branch, Iowa, a small Quaker settlement near Iowa City. His father, Jesse Hoover,
was a village blacksmith and merchant. Hulda
Randall Minthorn Hoover, his mother, was an
active lay minister in the Society of Friends,
which the Quakers had come to be called. Both
died when Hoover was quite young, his father in
1880, then his mother in 1884.
Hoover and his two siblings were separated
and sent to live with other family members.
Hoover was sent to live with his uncle, Henry
John Minthorn, in Newberg, Oregon. Though
he attended school at first, Hoover soon
dropped out to oversee the daily operations of
his uncle’s real estate business.
Hoover attended night school to develop his
business and office skills. Living with his oppressive uncle left Hoover with an independent
spirit and a determination to earn his own financial freedom. So Hoover left Oregon to attend Stanford University in
California in 1891.
Herbert Hoover took advantage of the innovative curriculum at
Stanford. He received an excellent education in geology and participated
in college politics. It was at Stanford that Hoover met the woman he
would later marry, Lou Henry, a fellow geology student.
After graduation in 1895, Hoover worked as a day laborer in the
Reward Gold Mine in Grass City, California. In 1896, he got an office
job at an important mining firm in San Francisco, California. His experience and promotions there eventually led in 1897 to a position with
one of the world’s leading mining consulting firms, Bewick, Moreing,
and Company of London, England.
The company sent Hoover to Australia, where he proved his worth
as a mining engineer by recommending several successful mine purchases
for the company. He was quickly considered a success and an authority
in his field, making a staggering salary of $10,000 per year. He soon proposed marriage to Lou Henry, and they were married in 1899.
In 1898, Hoover went to China on behalf of Bewick, Moreing, to
exploit extensive and profitable coal deposits. While he was there,
Chinese nationalists rebelling against foreign powers began the Boxer
Rebellion. In exchange for helping the Chinese government defend
against the rebellion, Hoover was given control of the Chinese
Engineering and Mining Company. He used the company to buy a share
of partnership in Bewick, Moreing. Hoover’s later business deals in
places such as Sri Lanka, Russia, Egypt, Zimbabwe, Burma, and
Malaysia helped him to amass a great fortune.
In 1901, the Hoovers moved to London, where they had two children. Hoover was drawn to move beyond amassing great fortunes and
started to consider philanthropic ways to apply his skills. When World
War I (1914–18) broke out in 1914, he found his opportunity.
A new career
When war started in August 1914, the American ambassador to Britain
asked for Hoover’s assistance to aid Americans stranded abroad at the
onset of war. Hoover did this with such efficiency that he was asked to
oversee the Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB) to help people in
German-occupied Belgium. The CRB operated much like a state, with 4,000 committees worldwide, 130,000 volunteers, and $200 million in
gifts and subsidies. Hoover’s extraordinary diplomatic skill, his knowledge of worldwide shipping, and his determination and perseverance
kept a steady flow of food to Belgium.
In May 1917, U.S. president Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924; served
1913–21) appointed Hoover food administrator for the United States
during its involvement in World War I. In that role, Hoover stimulated
agricultural production, controlled surging farm prices, and was able to
ship food surpluses to a famished Europe.
Hoover took part in the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 to negotiate peace treaties after World War I. He held a variety of positions: chairman of the Inter-Allied Food Council, director general of the American
Relief Administration, economic director of the Supreme Economic
Council, chairman of the European Coal Council, and personal advisor
to President Wilson.
Secretary of commerce
By 1920, rumblings about nominating Hoover for the presidency were
heard among both Republicans and Democrats. Though a Hoover nomination did not happen that year, his backing of Republican Warren G.
Harding (1865–1923; served 1921–23), who became the next president, earned Hoover a new position as the secretary of commerce, the
head of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Hoover was secretary of commerce from 1921 to 1929 under both
President Harding and President Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933; served
1923–29). In this role, Hoover encouraged the formation of trade associations, pushed cooperative markets for farmers, and was particularly
aggressive in seeking overseas markets for American businesses. His
greatest aim was for commercial expansion to replace military investment for bringing peace and prosperity to the world.
In 1927, the Mississippi River flooded, which left 350,000 people
destitute. Dominating the headlines, Hoover directed the feeding, clothing, and housing of the stricken families. Such publicity made him the
most famous secretary of commerce in U.S. history, and in 1928 Hoover was nominated and elected president of the United States.
Presidency
When Herbert Hoover was inaugurated in March 1929, the United
States was enjoying a period of prosperity. U.S. business was growing,
manufactured goods and raw materials flowed from the United States to
the rest of the world, and technology was developing at an impressive
rate. The prosperity, however, was far from evenly distributed, and there
were many who were doing poorly, too.
In time, manufacturers started to have too much inventory and
began to allow installment payments, or credit, for purchases. Those who
had a little to invest risked their earnings in the stock market, which is
the market for buying and selling shares in large companies. Often people bought stocks on margin, which meant they only paid a fraction of
the total cost for the stock and borrowed the rest. If stock prices went up, investors repaid the borrowed amount and pocketed the profit. However,
if stocks went down, investors lost the entire investment if they could not
repay the borrowed money to the broker.
On October 24, 1929, stock prices plummeted. Prices continued to
dive as investors scrambled to sell their stocks, and thousands of people
lost their savings. It marked the beginning of the Great Depression
(1929–41; a time of economic downturn in the United States) and
Hoover’s greatest challenge.
Domestic recovery
In November 1929, Hoover gathered railroad, labor, and construction
leaders along with mayors and governors. In December, he gathered
groups of business, labor, and farm leaders, too. Warning of a serious recession, Hoover worked to place the responsibility for avoiding major catastrophe within their hands. He asked them to foster industrial
expansion, avoid strikes, share work when possible, stabilize prices, and
provide relief where needed. Most of all, he stressed that there must not
be drastic wage cuts. He pushed both national and state public offices to
employ people out of work, asking Congress and state governors to appropriate, or provide the funds needed, for such jobs.
Though it seemed that Hoover’s policies were working by spring
1930, by fall economic conditions had again worsened. Employers were
forced to cut production. Hoover responded by creating the President’s
Emergency Committee for Unemployment, which established three
thousand local committees. By June 1931, $2 billion was being spent
and a million men were being employed on federal projects. Despite occasional rallies in the economic indicators, by 1932 over 20 percent of
the labor force was unemployed, and only one-quarter of the unemployed was receiving relief assistance.
The most important effort Hoover made to bring relief was the recovery program called the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC).
The RFC started in January 1932. That year it provided loans to over
five thousand banks, railroads, life insurance companies, farm mortgage
associations, and building and loan associations. It saved many businesses from failure, halting further financial collapse and restoring some
public confidence.
Though Hoover took great steps to bring relief to the country, he
had two personal limits that reduced his popularity with the public and contributed to his inability to win another term as president. He opposed offering direct federal aid to the unemployed. Believing such aid
would lower wages to a bare minimum and reward laziness, he insisted
that unemployment relief was a problem for local governments. Hoover
also was against any policies that might shift the budget out of balance
by spending more federal money than the government was collecting in
taxes and other revenues. In Hoover’s opinion, a balanced federal budget
was the keystone of recovery.
The Bonus Army March
By spring 1932, there were signs of social unease and community disruptions. Hunger marches took place, and the unemployed rioted. The most
memorable event was the gathering of World War I veterans in
Washington, D.C. Known as the Bonus Army, the eleven thousand veterans marched in front of the White House and the Capitol demanding
an early payment of a bonus not scheduled for distribution until 1945.
They camped in abandoned buildings and in tents at Anacostia Flats,
across the river from the Capitol, waiting for Congress to make a
decision.
When payment was rejected by Congress, most men returned home.
A minority, however, refused to leave the buildings, and Hoover instructed that the men be evicted. Both his secretary of war, Patrick
Hurley (1883–1963), and U.S. Army general Douglas MacArthur
(1880–1964) took disastrous steps to carry out the eviction. The veterans were pushed back far beyond their camps with the use of tanks, guns,
and tear gas. Two veterans were killed. Hoover was personally horrified,
but instead of blaming Hurley and MacArthur, he took personal responsibility and suffered the resulting negative opinions.
Foreign policies
The economic problems of the Great Depression affected the rest of the
developed world, and President Hoover’s challenges extended beyond
the nation’s borders, too. He met those challenges with the intention of
maintaining peace. To ease the global depression, he allowed nations to
delay payment of debts to the United States for a year.
In Asia, Japan was launching military attacks against China. The
Hoover administration’s Stimson Doctrine stated that the United States would not recognize any unilateral change in Asia imposed by force. The
United States, however, refrained from supporting China with military
intervention.
Hoover promoted international disarmament, or the voluntary reduction in arms worldwide. He also initiated the “good neighbor” policy, which implied the United States would refrain from intervening in
other country’s politics.
Post-presidential years
President Hoover only served one term as president, losing to Franklin
D. Roosevelt in the 1932 election, but he continued to be vocal and active after his presidency. During World War II (1939–45) Hoover
launched relief efforts in German-occupied Poland and Finland.
In 1946, President Harry S. Truman (1884–1972; served 1945–53)
appointed Hoover honorary chairman of the Famine Emergency
Committee. In 1947, Truman named Hoover to head the Committee on
Organization of the Executive Branch of Government, now known as
the Hoover Commission. Hoover’s job was to evaluate the structure and
operation of the executive branch of government and to recommend
improvements. He performed this service again for President Dwight D.
Eisenhower (1890–1969; served 1953–61) in 1953.
Until the end of his life, Hoover wrote a number of books, including three memoirs and several volumes on his relief activities. He also
wrote multiple defenses of his governmental policies. Herbert Hoover died in New York City on October 20, 1964.