Hail to the Chiefs Part XXXI: We'd Like To Thank You Herbert Hoover
Originally posted by 
direcorrector at Hail to the Chiefs Part XXXI: We'd Like To Thank You Herbert Hoover
direcorrector at Hail to the Chiefs Part XXXI: We'd Like To Thank You Herbert HooverThere is a joke that has made the rounds on the internet that I think makes a good summary of the tragic legacy of Herbert Hoover. A young tourist goes to a pub in Scotland. An old codger says to the tourist, "Do you see this pub here? I built it with me own two hands. But do they call me 'Pubbuilder' No!' Then the old man pointed to a bridge outside. "You see that bridge out there? I built it with me own two hands! But do they call me Bridgebuilder? No!" The old man sighed. "But you screw ONE sheep..."
In Herbert Hoover's 90 years, he was a self-made man, a hero to starving people in two World Wars, and the leader of during the 1927 Mississippi Flood. But you have ONE term as president.... Unfortunately, thanks to that reputation, there is a dearth of decent biographies on him. Most of what I found was extremely dry. However, as an armchair historian, I've discovered that often the best way to learn about a historical figure is not to read about them directly....but to read a book where they are a supporting player. (Example: I got a much better feel for John Lennon in a biography about Paul McCartney.) Also....next year I'm hoping to go to a couple of Hoover historical sites. So this barebones bio won't be the last I have to say on the subject. (Gee....for a liberal I sure get hung up on some of the Republicans.....wait until you see what I have to say about Nixon and Reagan!)
Herbert Clark Hoover was born August 10, 1874 in West Branch, Iowa....the first president to be born west of the Mississippi. However by age nine he was orphaned, and moved to live with an uncle in Newberg, Oregon. This means there are Hoover historical sites in Iowa AND Oregon. Woo hoo! Hoover was one of the first graduates of Stanford, with a degree in geology. It was there he met his future wife, Lou Henry. Then he was off for his exciting career as an engineer. No seriously, it WAS actually rather exciting. It took him around the world.
The Hoovers lived for a few years in China, and both became fluent in Mandarin. Later they would speak it to each other in the White House when they wanted a bit of privacy. The Hoovers were in China during the Boxer Rebellion....and Hoover even helped out the U.S. military because he knew the local area so well. The Hoovers spent a lot of time in Australia. A new mining innovation he created made Hoover a wealthy man. When he turned 40 he commented "If a man has not made a fortune by the time he is 40 he is not worth much." As you can imagine, statements like these later came back to bite him in the ass. In 1914, the Hoovers were living in London when World War I started. Hoover organized efforts to evacuate the 1000's of Americans that were trapped in Europe. He also got large amounts of food to Belgium, as they were having a food crisis.
This seemed to be what Hoover was best at....getting massive amounts of food to places that needed it. President Wilson liked Hoover, as did Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Roosevelt more than once commented that he thought Hoover would make a great president. Hoover, however, was a registered Republican, and intended to stay that way. After a failed run for the White House himself, he became Secretary of Commerce first for President Harding, and then for President Coolidge. The more laissez-faire Coolidge was somewhat annoyed by Hoover's eager beaver attitude. Coolidge nicknamed Hoover "Wonder Boy" partly in a sarcastic manner. At one point Coolidge lamented "That man has offered me unsolicited advice for six years, all of it bad." The 1927 flood of the Mississippi was when Hoover's reputation really skyrocketed. Once again, he had the opportunity to get food to people that needed it. Hoover's actions in this crisis were a huge factor in what got him elected president in 1928. If he'd gotten to be president in an economic climate like Calvin Coolidge....he'd probably be remembered fondly today.
However.... Hoover was inaugurated in March of 1929.....which meant he got all of 6 months before everything went to hell. In October was THE CRASH. Initially, Hoover figured this was just your garden variety "panic" and it would pass. It's not like there was a neon sign saying "Welcome to the greatest economic disaster in American history!" To grossly oversimplify the situation......let's say the only video game you have ever played is pong. And you are the BEST pong player ever. Then one day, where your pong game should be, there is an Xbox. And you try to play games on the Xbox the same way you played pong. Odds are you are going to be pretty lousy at it. That was Hoover's problem. The guy was a pro at the way the world worked up to 1929. Suddenly the rules change radically, but he was playing the game the same way he always had. He also made a few mistakes that exacerbated the situation. The Hawley-Smoot Tariff.....not one of his best moves. Sending a bunch of soldiers out that shot at World War I veterans that were peacefully requesting their pensions....BAD IDEA.
Hoover believed strongly that it was not the government's place to be giving people handouts in a crisis. He particularly did not want to increase government spending in an era where revenues were down, thanks to the Depression. Hoover figured private organizations should be doing the charitable work. The frustrating thing is.....the man was brilliant at getting large amounts of food to people who needed it. If Hoover HAD been in the private sector at the time, he would have been on the front lines figuring out how to get people fed.
On one little tangent......the Hoover administration was also when one of my favorite public speaking flubs happened. I just adore spoonerisms. (As you might guess by my name of "dire corrector"....which came from the days when I was a church choir director.) In 1931 a radio announcer was talking about the president, and introduced him as "the President of the United States....Hoobert Heever!"
Anyway....in 1932 President Heever....uh Hoover......was defeated. If you see the film footage of Hoover in the car with FDR.....they are so chilly to each other you can practically see frost forming on the car. He had a rough time during the 12 years of the Roosevelt administration....and spent a lot of it being vocally against the New Deal. However after FDR died, Hoover and Truman wound up forming an on-again off-again friendship. World War II once more brought Hoover the opportunity to have food sent to places that needed it, such as Poland. In Warsaw today you can see a monument to Hoover. He had somewhat managed to rehabilitate his reputation by the time he died in 1964 at age 90. My pop culture references for this entry are both from the 70's. The first one is from the musical "Annie." It's a song from the "Hoovervilleites."
And this one, of course, is from "All in the Family."
In Herbert Hoover's 90 years, he was a self-made man, a hero to starving people in two World Wars, and the leader of during the 1927 Mississippi Flood. But you have ONE term as president.... Unfortunately, thanks to that reputation, there is a dearth of decent biographies on him. Most of what I found was extremely dry. However, as an armchair historian, I've discovered that often the best way to learn about a historical figure is not to read about them directly....but to read a book where they are a supporting player. (Example: I got a much better feel for John Lennon in a biography about Paul McCartney.) Also....next year I'm hoping to go to a couple of Hoover historical sites. So this barebones bio won't be the last I have to say on the subject. (Gee....for a liberal I sure get hung up on some of the Republicans.....wait until you see what I have to say about Nixon and Reagan!)
Herbert Clark Hoover was born August 10, 1874 in West Branch, Iowa....the first president to be born west of the Mississippi. However by age nine he was orphaned, and moved to live with an uncle in Newberg, Oregon. This means there are Hoover historical sites in Iowa AND Oregon. Woo hoo! Hoover was one of the first graduates of Stanford, with a degree in geology. It was there he met his future wife, Lou Henry. Then he was off for his exciting career as an engineer. No seriously, it WAS actually rather exciting. It took him around the world.
The Hoovers lived for a few years in China, and both became fluent in Mandarin. Later they would speak it to each other in the White House when they wanted a bit of privacy. The Hoovers were in China during the Boxer Rebellion....and Hoover even helped out the U.S. military because he knew the local area so well. The Hoovers spent a lot of time in Australia. A new mining innovation he created made Hoover a wealthy man. When he turned 40 he commented "If a man has not made a fortune by the time he is 40 he is not worth much." As you can imagine, statements like these later came back to bite him in the ass. In 1914, the Hoovers were living in London when World War I started. Hoover organized efforts to evacuate the 1000's of Americans that were trapped in Europe. He also got large amounts of food to Belgium, as they were having a food crisis.
This seemed to be what Hoover was best at....getting massive amounts of food to places that needed it. President Wilson liked Hoover, as did Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Roosevelt more than once commented that he thought Hoover would make a great president. Hoover, however, was a registered Republican, and intended to stay that way. After a failed run for the White House himself, he became Secretary of Commerce first for President Harding, and then for President Coolidge. The more laissez-faire Coolidge was somewhat annoyed by Hoover's eager beaver attitude. Coolidge nicknamed Hoover "Wonder Boy" partly in a sarcastic manner. At one point Coolidge lamented "That man has offered me unsolicited advice for six years, all of it bad." The 1927 flood of the Mississippi was when Hoover's reputation really skyrocketed. Once again, he had the opportunity to get food to people that needed it. Hoover's actions in this crisis were a huge factor in what got him elected president in 1928. If he'd gotten to be president in an economic climate like Calvin Coolidge....he'd probably be remembered fondly today.
However.... Hoover was inaugurated in March of 1929.....which meant he got all of 6 months before everything went to hell. In October was THE CRASH. Initially, Hoover figured this was just your garden variety "panic" and it would pass. It's not like there was a neon sign saying "Welcome to the greatest economic disaster in American history!" To grossly oversimplify the situation......let's say the only video game you have ever played is pong. And you are the BEST pong player ever. Then one day, where your pong game should be, there is an Xbox. And you try to play games on the Xbox the same way you played pong. Odds are you are going to be pretty lousy at it. That was Hoover's problem. The guy was a pro at the way the world worked up to 1929. Suddenly the rules change radically, but he was playing the game the same way he always had. He also made a few mistakes that exacerbated the situation. The Hawley-Smoot Tariff.....not one of his best moves. Sending a bunch of soldiers out that shot at World War I veterans that were peacefully requesting their pensions....BAD IDEA.
Hoover believed strongly that it was not the government's place to be giving people handouts in a crisis. He particularly did not want to increase government spending in an era where revenues were down, thanks to the Depression. Hoover figured private organizations should be doing the charitable work. The frustrating thing is.....the man was brilliant at getting large amounts of food to people who needed it. If Hoover HAD been in the private sector at the time, he would have been on the front lines figuring out how to get people fed.
On one little tangent......the Hoover administration was also when one of my favorite public speaking flubs happened. I just adore spoonerisms. (As you might guess by my name of "dire corrector"....which came from the days when I was a church choir director.) In 1931 a radio announcer was talking about the president, and introduced him as "the President of the United States....Hoobert Heever!"
Anyway....in 1932 President Heever....uh Hoover......was defeated. If you see the film footage of Hoover in the car with FDR.....they are so chilly to each other you can practically see frost forming on the car. He had a rough time during the 12 years of the Roosevelt administration....and spent a lot of it being vocally against the New Deal. However after FDR died, Hoover and Truman wound up forming an on-again off-again friendship. World War II once more brought Hoover the opportunity to have food sent to places that needed it, such as Poland. In Warsaw today you can see a monument to Hoover. He had somewhat managed to rehabilitate his reputation by the time he died in 1964 at age 90. My pop culture references for this entry are both from the 70's. The first one is from the musical "Annie." It's a song from the "Hoovervilleites."
And this one, of course, is from "All in the Family."