U.S. President Herbert Hoover 1874-1964

HOOVER, HENRY

Posted By: Gary Lillis (email)
Date: 8/10/2003 at 15:37:56

Reprinted with permission from Iowa Pride by Duane A. Schmidt

"Boys are very durable. A boy if not washed too often and if kept in a cool dry place after each accident, will survive broken bones, hornet's nests, swimming holes and five helpings of pie"

-Herbert Hoover 31st President of the United States

The eight year old future President of the United States lay lifeless.

Dimes were placed on his motionless eyelids, as the family sobbed in wrenching grief. Suddenly, the doctor burst into the room, grabbed the lad's body and blew into his mouth. "Praise Thee Lord" rang out as the boy coughed alive.

Before the Civil War, Quakers had settled in West Branch, Iowa. Two of them produced a famous son, Herbert (or Bertie) Hoover. Jesse and Hulda Hoover instilled stern disciplines in their prized boy.

A year after his parents' death, 10-year-old Bertie went to live with an Uncle in Oregon. He soon showed that he was a hard worker, with a head for figures. At 17 he was admitted to the first class at Stanford University where he studied geology, became a mining engineer and met fellow Iowan Lou Henry, from Waterloo.

Upon his appointment in 1899 as chief mining engineer for the Chinese government, Hoover married Lou and they at once accepted global responsibilities. Fifteen years later, World War I then engulfed Europe, and 10 million Belgians were starving, trapped between the Germans and the British. Hoover badgered nations, corporations and Americans to deliver $1 billion worth of food for beleaguered Belgians. Grateful Belgian children soon called a bowl of soup and a piece of bread a "Hoover lunch."

When America entered the war, President Woodrow Wilson asked Hoover to head the U.S. Food Administration. Hoover accepted, asking only total control and no pay. At war's end, famine stalked the Continent and "The Great Humanitarian:" again brought relief.

In 1921, Hoover was appointed Secretary of Commerce by President Warren G. Harding. Eight years later he became the President of the United States. His vast popularity was to be short-lived, for a crushing financial collapse engulfed the nation soon after his inauguration. In 1932 he was defeated for re-election by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Later, when World War II finally ended, President Harry S. Truman asked for Hoover's help. Called back into service "like a trusted family doctor," Hoover headed global relief for the United States.

There are 12 presidential libraries in the United States. One of them, in West Branch, is dedicated to the 31st President of the United States, Iowa-born Herbert Hoover: the last great humanitarian.

Successfully led efforts to feed Europeans ravaged by World War I and again following World War II. Secretary of Commerce; but, because of his energetic work for the government, was known as the "Secretary of Everything."

Born: August 10, 1874, West Branch, Iowa

Education: B.A. in Geology, Stanford University (1st class)

Family: Lou Henry, wife; Herbert Jr.,Allan, sons

Iowa connection: born in Iowa

Honors: French Legion of Honor, Honorary Citizen and Friend of the Belgian Nation. 90 honorary degrees.

-copywrite 1996 Duane A. Schmdt
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President Hoovers' gravesite
 

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