Remembering Herbert Hoover
On October 20, 1964 (48 years ago today), Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st President of the United States, died in New York City at the age of 90. Hoover left office as one of the most criticized presidents, but in his lengthy and productive post-presidential retirement, he accomplished much and came to be regarded as a respected elder statesman.
After being defeated in the 1932 election by Franklin Roosevelt, Hoover left Washington in March 1933 with considerable bitterness. It is said that on the ride from the White House to Roosevelt's inauguration, Hoover refused to speak to his successor. The Hoovers first went to New York City, where they stayed at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Later that spring, they returned to California to their Palo Alto home. Hoover liked to go driving on trips to visit mining camps, or to the mountains to go fishing. He would later publish a book entitled Fishing For Fun—And To Wash Your Soul).
Hoover was asked to speak out against FDR's New Deal, but he refused to do so and largely kept himself out of the public spotlight. The relationship between Hoover and Roosevelt was very strained. Hoover had nothing good to say about his successor and FDR would engage in acts of pettiness, ranging from dropping Hoover from the White House birthday greetings message list to having Hoover's name struck from the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, which would officially be known only as Boulder Dam for many years to come.
Apparently Hoover hoped to win the Republican presidential nomination again, but there was little chance of this, given that he had been tarnished with blame for the great depression. When Kansas Governor Alf Landon ran against Roosevelt in 1935, Hoover might as well have been the nominee, since the Democrats virtually ignored Landon, and they ran against constantly attacked Hoover, claiming that a Landon victory would put Hoover back in the White House as the secret power "behind the throne". Roosevelt won 46 of the 48 states.
Hoover visited ten European countries in March 1938, and stated "I do not believe a widespread war is at all probable in the near future. There is a general realization everywhere ... that civilization as we know it cannot survive another great war." He initially believed that the European Allies would be able to contain Germany, and that Imperial Japan would not attack American interests in the Pacific. He was also a vocal supporter of providing relief to countries in Nazi-occupied Europe.
When the Germans overran France and then had Britain held in a stalemate, Hoover still maintained that it would be folly for the United States to declare war on Germany and to rush to save the United Kingdom. He argued that it was wiser for the US to build up its own defenses, and to wash its hands of the mess in Europe. He called for a "Fortress America" concept, in which the United States could adequately repel any attack.
When the United States entered the war following the December 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hoover swept aside all feelings of neutrality and offered himself to the government in any capacity necessary, but the Roosevelt Administration did take him up on his offer.
Following World War II, Hoover became friends with President Harry S. Truman. Hoover joked that they were for many years the sole members of the "trade union" of former Presidents. In 1946 Truman asked Hoover to tour Germany to investigate the food status of the occupied nation. Hoover toured what was to become West Germany in Hermann Göring's old train coach and produced a number of reports critical of U.S. occupation policy. On Hoover's initiative, a school meals program in the American and British occupation zones of Germany was begun on April 14, 1947. The program served 3,500,000 children aged six through 18. A total of 40,000 tons of American food was provided during the Hooverspeisung (Hoover meals).
In 1947, Truman appointed Hoover to a commission, which he chaired, to reorganize the executive departments. This became known as the Hoover Commission. He was appointed chairman of a similar commission by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. Both found numerous inefficiencies and ways to reduce waste. The government enacted most of the recommendations that the two commissions had made.
During the Cold War, Hoover became very anti-Communist, but he opposed American involvement in the Korean War, saying that "'To commit the sparse ground forces of the non-communist nations into a land war against this communist land mass [in Asia] would be a war without victory, a war without a successful political terminal... that would be the graveyard of millions of American boys and the exhaustion of the United States."
Hoover was a prolific writer in his retirement. His literary works include The Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson, a bestseller, and the first time one former President had ever written a biography about another. He threw himself into fund-raising for the Boys Clubs (now the Boys & Girls Clubs of America), which became his pet charity.
In 1960 Hoover appeared at his final Republican National Convention. From Coolidge's death in 1933, Hoover had been the only living Republican former president. In the three previous conventions he was the guest of "farewell" ceremonies (the unspoken assumption being that he might not survive until the next convention). Joking to the delegates, he said, "Apparently, my last three good-byes didn't take." Although he lived to see the 1964 convention, ill health prevented him from attending. The Presidential nominee Barry Goldwater acknowledged Hoover's absence in his acceptance speech.
Hoover died following massive internal bleeding at the age of 90 in his New York City suite at 11:35 a.m. on October 20, 1964, 31 years and seven months, sixteen days after leaving office. At the time of his death, he had the longest retirement of any President. (Former President Jimmy Carter broke this record on September 7, 2012.) At the time of his death he was the second longest-lived president after John Adams. (Both were since surpassed by Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan.) He had outlived by 20 years his wife, Lou Henry Hoover, who had died in 1944. Hoover and his wife are buried at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch, Iowa.
After being defeated in the 1932 election by Franklin Roosevelt, Hoover left Washington in March 1933 with considerable bitterness. It is said that on the ride from the White House to Roosevelt's inauguration, Hoover refused to speak to his successor. The Hoovers first went to New York City, where they stayed at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Later that spring, they returned to California to their Palo Alto home. Hoover liked to go driving on trips to visit mining camps, or to the mountains to go fishing. He would later publish a book entitled Fishing For Fun—And To Wash Your Soul).
Hoover was asked to speak out against FDR's New Deal, but he refused to do so and largely kept himself out of the public spotlight. The relationship between Hoover and Roosevelt was very strained. Hoover had nothing good to say about his successor and FDR would engage in acts of pettiness, ranging from dropping Hoover from the White House birthday greetings message list to having Hoover's name struck from the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, which would officially be known only as Boulder Dam for many years to come.
Apparently Hoover hoped to win the Republican presidential nomination again, but there was little chance of this, given that he had been tarnished with blame for the great depression. When Kansas Governor Alf Landon ran against Roosevelt in 1935, Hoover might as well have been the nominee, since the Democrats virtually ignored Landon, and they ran against constantly attacked Hoover, claiming that a Landon victory would put Hoover back in the White House as the secret power "behind the throne". Roosevelt won 46 of the 48 states.
Hoover visited ten European countries in March 1938, and stated "I do not believe a widespread war is at all probable in the near future. There is a general realization everywhere ... that civilization as we know it cannot survive another great war." He initially believed that the European Allies would be able to contain Germany, and that Imperial Japan would not attack American interests in the Pacific. He was also a vocal supporter of providing relief to countries in Nazi-occupied Europe.
When the Germans overran France and then had Britain held in a stalemate, Hoover still maintained that it would be folly for the United States to declare war on Germany and to rush to save the United Kingdom. He argued that it was wiser for the US to build up its own defenses, and to wash its hands of the mess in Europe. He called for a "Fortress America" concept, in which the United States could adequately repel any attack.
When the United States entered the war following the December 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hoover swept aside all feelings of neutrality and offered himself to the government in any capacity necessary, but the Roosevelt Administration did take him up on his offer.
Following World War II, Hoover became friends with President Harry S. Truman. Hoover joked that they were for many years the sole members of the "trade union" of former Presidents. In 1946 Truman asked Hoover to tour Germany to investigate the food status of the occupied nation. Hoover toured what was to become West Germany in Hermann Göring's old train coach and produced a number of reports critical of U.S. occupation policy. On Hoover's initiative, a school meals program in the American and British occupation zones of Germany was begun on April 14, 1947. The program served 3,500,000 children aged six through 18. A total of 40,000 tons of American food was provided during the Hooverspeisung (Hoover meals).
In 1947, Truman appointed Hoover to a commission, which he chaired, to reorganize the executive departments. This became known as the Hoover Commission. He was appointed chairman of a similar commission by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. Both found numerous inefficiencies and ways to reduce waste. The government enacted most of the recommendations that the two commissions had made.
During the Cold War, Hoover became very anti-Communist, but he opposed American involvement in the Korean War, saying that "'To commit the sparse ground forces of the non-communist nations into a land war against this communist land mass [in Asia] would be a war without victory, a war without a successful political terminal... that would be the graveyard of millions of American boys and the exhaustion of the United States."
Hoover was a prolific writer in his retirement. His literary works include The Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson, a bestseller, and the first time one former President had ever written a biography about another. He threw himself into fund-raising for the Boys Clubs (now the Boys & Girls Clubs of America), which became his pet charity.
In 1960 Hoover appeared at his final Republican National Convention. From Coolidge's death in 1933, Hoover had been the only living Republican former president. In the three previous conventions he was the guest of "farewell" ceremonies (the unspoken assumption being that he might not survive until the next convention). Joking to the delegates, he said, "Apparently, my last three good-byes didn't take." Although he lived to see the 1964 convention, ill health prevented him from attending. The Presidential nominee Barry Goldwater acknowledged Hoover's absence in his acceptance speech.
Hoover died following massive internal bleeding at the age of 90 in his New York City suite at 11:35 a.m. on October 20, 1964, 31 years and seven months, sixteen days after leaving office. At the time of his death, he had the longest retirement of any President. (Former President Jimmy Carter broke this record on September 7, 2012.) At the time of his death he was the second longest-lived president after John Adams. (Both were since surpassed by Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan.) He had outlived by 20 years his wife, Lou Henry Hoover, who had died in 1944. Hoover and his wife are buried at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch, Iowa.