Happy Birthday Herbert Hoover
On August 10, 1874 (139 years ago today) Herbert Clark Hoover the 31st President of the United States was born in the same community that he now lies at rest: West Branch, Iowa, the site of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, which is surprising considering all the travelling that Hoover did and all the places in the world he lived (including China).
Hoover had a reputation as a brilliant man, a whiz kid. He became President without holding any federal elected office, though he did serve two presidents as Secretary of Commerce. Hoover was born to a Quaker family, and became a professional mining engineer. He achieved American and international prominence in humanitarian relief efforts in war-torn Belgium and served as head of the U.S. Food Administration before and during World War I. As Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business. In the presidential election of 1928, Hoover easily won the Republican nomination, despite having no elected-office experience. Hoover is one of only two Presidents (along with William Howard Taft) elected without electoral experience or high military rank.
Hoover was an efficiency expert. He believed that the government and the economy were riddled with inefficiency and waste, and could be improved by people like him who could identify the problems and solve them. He also believed in the importance of volunteerism and of the role of individuals in society and the economy. He made his fortune in mining, and was the first of two Presidents to redistribute his presidential salary (John F. Kennedy was the other.) Hoover donated all his paychecks to charity.
When the Wall Street Crash of 1929 struck less than eight months after he took office, contrary to popular belief, Hoover did not "do nothing." He tried to fight the ensuing Great Depression with government projects like public works projects such as the Hoover Dam, tariffs such as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, an increase in the top tax bracket from 25% to 63% and increases in corporate taxes. Some believe that these initiatives served as the groundwork for various policies incorporated in Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. But when the depression struck, it was on Hoover's watch. That, and a violent response to protesting veterans (known as the Bonus Marchers) did Hoover in, politically. (The decision to use violence against the marchers wasn't Hoover's decision, it was a decision made by General Douglas MacArthur, but Hoover was blamed for it.)
After Hoover lost the 1932 election to FDR, he became a spokesman in opposition to the domestic and foreign policies of the New Deal. In 1947 President Harry S. Truman brought him back to help make the federal bureaucracy more efficient through the Hoover Commission. He and Truman became good friends and Hoover became more popular in retirement than during his presidency. He was considered an elder statesman. Hoover died on October 20, 1964 at the age of 90 in New York.
Hoover had a reputation as a brilliant man, a whiz kid. He became President without holding any federal elected office, though he did serve two presidents as Secretary of Commerce. Hoover was born to a Quaker family, and became a professional mining engineer. He achieved American and international prominence in humanitarian relief efforts in war-torn Belgium and served as head of the U.S. Food Administration before and during World War I. As Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business. In the presidential election of 1928, Hoover easily won the Republican nomination, despite having no elected-office experience. Hoover is one of only two Presidents (along with William Howard Taft) elected without electoral experience or high military rank.
Hoover was an efficiency expert. He believed that the government and the economy were riddled with inefficiency and waste, and could be improved by people like him who could identify the problems and solve them. He also believed in the importance of volunteerism and of the role of individuals in society and the economy. He made his fortune in mining, and was the first of two Presidents to redistribute his presidential salary (John F. Kennedy was the other.) Hoover donated all his paychecks to charity.
When the Wall Street Crash of 1929 struck less than eight months after he took office, contrary to popular belief, Hoover did not "do nothing." He tried to fight the ensuing Great Depression with government projects like public works projects such as the Hoover Dam, tariffs such as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, an increase in the top tax bracket from 25% to 63% and increases in corporate taxes. Some believe that these initiatives served as the groundwork for various policies incorporated in Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. But when the depression struck, it was on Hoover's watch. That, and a violent response to protesting veterans (known as the Bonus Marchers) did Hoover in, politically. (The decision to use violence against the marchers wasn't Hoover's decision, it was a decision made by General Douglas MacArthur, but Hoover was blamed for it.)
After Hoover lost the 1932 election to FDR, he became a spokesman in opposition to the domestic and foreign policies of the New Deal. In 1947 President Harry S. Truman brought him back to help make the federal bureaucracy more efficient through the Hoover Commission. He and Truman became good friends and Hoover became more popular in retirement than during his presidency. He was considered an elder statesman. Hoover died on October 20, 1964 at the age of 90 in New York.