Bert, Frank and Harry
There was no love lost between Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. After Hoover lost the 1932 election to FDR, Hoover's contempt for FDR was so strong that he would not even speak to Roosevelt as the two men rode together on the way to Roosevelt's inauguration. There is a famous photograph of the two men riding together, Hoover appearing mute and stone-faced, refusing to even look at Roosevelt. Hoover had tried to work with Roosevelt during the transition period in an effort to take collaborative economic measures to battle the growing adverse affects of the depression. Roosevelt refused Hoover's requests for a meeting to develop a joint program to stop the downward spiral and calm investors. Publicly, the President-elect said that doing so would tie his hands, and that Hoover had all the power to act if necessary. Off the record, he said to reporters, "it is not my baby."
After leaving office, Hoover continued his attacks on his successor. He became a constant critic of Roosevelt's. He wrote a number of books, including The Challenge to Liberty, published in 1934, which harshly criticized the New Deal. Hoover argued that the country had surrendered its "freedom of mind and spirit" to the New Deal. He said that the National Recovery Administration and Agricultural Adjustment Administration were "fascistic," and the 1933 Banking Act was a "move to gigantic socialism." He was 58 years old when he left office, and he still held out hope for another term as President. At the 1936 Republican National Convention, Hoover's speech attacking the New Deal was well received, but delegates considered him as unelectable and gave their party's presidential nomination to Kansas Governor Alf Landon. In the general election, Hoover campaigned vigorously for Landon by making numerous well-publicized speeches that attacked the New Deal. At the 1940 Republican National Convention, Hoover again hoped for the presidential nomination, and was disappointed when it went to the internationalist Wendell Willkie. Though not a declared candidate, he was said to have delusions of being seen as a party savior and nominated at the convention.
During a 1938 trip to Europe, Hoover met with Adolf Hitler and stayed at Hermann Göring's hunting lodge. He expressed disgust over the persecution of Jews in Germany, but at the time he underestimated how much of a threat Hitler presented. He continued to vilify Roosevelt as being the biggest threat to peace, as he believed that Roosevelt was discouraging France and Great Britain from reaching an accord with Germany. Even after the September 1939 invasion of Poland by Germany, Hoover opposed United States from entering the war and he was critical of Roosevelt's Lend-Lease policy. But he was a vocal supporter of providing relief to countries in Nazi-occupied Europe.
In 1939, Roosevelt asked Hoover to come to the White House to discuss how to get aid to Poland, but Hoover turned down the offer. After that Hoover was not called upon to serve after the United States entered World War II due to his differences with Roosevelt.
Despite his antipathy towards Roosevelt however, Hoover became friends with FDR's successor, Harry S. Truman despite their ideological differences. Truman respected Hoover for what Hoover had done in Germany at the end of World War I, when Hoover led efforts to provide food and other relief to those left starving after the war. In 1946 Truman called upon Hoover to tour Germany to ascertain the food needs of the occupied nation. This time Hoover did not snub the White House. As requested, he toured what was to become West Germany, traveling in what had once been Hermann Göring's train coach. He produced a number of reports critical of U.S. occupation policy. He pointed out how the economy of Germany had "sunk to the lowest level in a hundred years", adding in one report, "There is the illusion that the New Germany left after the annexations can be reduced to a 'pastoral state'. It cannot be done unless we exterminate or move 25,000,000 people out of it."
On Hoover's initiative, a school meals program in the American and British occupation zones of Germany commenced operation on April 14, 1947. The program served meals to 3,500,000 children aged 6 to 18. A total of 40,000 tons of American food was provided under the program. The meals to the children became known as Hooverspeisung (Hoover meals).
Later, in 1947, Truman appointed Hoover to a commission whose mandate was to reorganize the executive departments of the Federal Government. The commission elected Hoover to be its chairman and it became known as the Hoover Commission. Under Hoover's leadership, the commission recommended changes designed to strengthen the president's ability to manage the federal government. It was somewhat ironic because Hoover had opposed Roosevelt's efforts to concentrate more power in the office of the president during in the 1930s, but he now believed that a stronger presidency was required with the advent of Atomic Age.
In 1953, Hoover was appointed to a similar commission by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. However he was not close with Eisenhower and said that he wished that Eisenhower had revoked many of the New Deal policies initiated by Roosevelt. He maintained his friendship with Truman, and after Truman left office, Hoover joked that he and Truman were the sole members of what he called the "trade union" of former Presidents.
In 1958, Congress passed the Former Presidents Act, which provided a $25,000 yearly pension to each former president. Hoover was independently wealthy and didn't need the money, but Harry Truman did. Truman had never been a wealthy man and the presidency did not make him any richer. Hoover, who was the only other living former president, took the pension even though he did not need the money, in order to avoid embarrassing Truman whose precarious financial status was the reason for the law's enactment.
After leaving office, Hoover continued his attacks on his successor. He became a constant critic of Roosevelt's. He wrote a number of books, including The Challenge to Liberty, published in 1934, which harshly criticized the New Deal. Hoover argued that the country had surrendered its "freedom of mind and spirit" to the New Deal. He said that the National Recovery Administration and Agricultural Adjustment Administration were "fascistic," and the 1933 Banking Act was a "move to gigantic socialism." He was 58 years old when he left office, and he still held out hope for another term as President. At the 1936 Republican National Convention, Hoover's speech attacking the New Deal was well received, but delegates considered him as unelectable and gave their party's presidential nomination to Kansas Governor Alf Landon. In the general election, Hoover campaigned vigorously for Landon by making numerous well-publicized speeches that attacked the New Deal. At the 1940 Republican National Convention, Hoover again hoped for the presidential nomination, and was disappointed when it went to the internationalist Wendell Willkie. Though not a declared candidate, he was said to have delusions of being seen as a party savior and nominated at the convention.
During a 1938 trip to Europe, Hoover met with Adolf Hitler and stayed at Hermann Göring's hunting lodge. He expressed disgust over the persecution of Jews in Germany, but at the time he underestimated how much of a threat Hitler presented. He continued to vilify Roosevelt as being the biggest threat to peace, as he believed that Roosevelt was discouraging France and Great Britain from reaching an accord with Germany. Even after the September 1939 invasion of Poland by Germany, Hoover opposed United States from entering the war and he was critical of Roosevelt's Lend-Lease policy. But he was a vocal supporter of providing relief to countries in Nazi-occupied Europe.
In 1939, Roosevelt asked Hoover to come to the White House to discuss how to get aid to Poland, but Hoover turned down the offer. After that Hoover was not called upon to serve after the United States entered World War II due to his differences with Roosevelt.
Despite his antipathy towards Roosevelt however, Hoover became friends with FDR's successor, Harry S. Truman despite their ideological differences. Truman respected Hoover for what Hoover had done in Germany at the end of World War I, when Hoover led efforts to provide food and other relief to those left starving after the war. In 1946 Truman called upon Hoover to tour Germany to ascertain the food needs of the occupied nation. This time Hoover did not snub the White House. As requested, he toured what was to become West Germany, traveling in what had once been Hermann Göring's train coach. He produced a number of reports critical of U.S. occupation policy. He pointed out how the economy of Germany had "sunk to the lowest level in a hundred years", adding in one report, "There is the illusion that the New Germany left after the annexations can be reduced to a 'pastoral state'. It cannot be done unless we exterminate or move 25,000,000 people out of it."
On Hoover's initiative, a school meals program in the American and British occupation zones of Germany commenced operation on April 14, 1947. The program served meals to 3,500,000 children aged 6 to 18. A total of 40,000 tons of American food was provided under the program. The meals to the children became known as Hooverspeisung (Hoover meals).
Later, in 1947, Truman appointed Hoover to a commission whose mandate was to reorganize the executive departments of the Federal Government. The commission elected Hoover to be its chairman and it became known as the Hoover Commission. Under Hoover's leadership, the commission recommended changes designed to strengthen the president's ability to manage the federal government. It was somewhat ironic because Hoover had opposed Roosevelt's efforts to concentrate more power in the office of the president during in the 1930s, but he now believed that a stronger presidency was required with the advent of Atomic Age.
In 1953, Hoover was appointed to a similar commission by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. However he was not close with Eisenhower and said that he wished that Eisenhower had revoked many of the New Deal policies initiated by Roosevelt. He maintained his friendship with Truman, and after Truman left office, Hoover joked that he and Truman were the sole members of what he called the "trade union" of former Presidents.
In 1958, Congress passed the Former Presidents Act, which provided a $25,000 yearly pension to each former president. Hoover was independently wealthy and didn't need the money, but Harry Truman did. Truman had never been a wealthy man and the presidency did not make him any richer. Hoover, who was the only other living former president, took the pension even though he did not need the money, in order to avoid embarrassing Truman whose precarious financial status was the reason for the law's enactment.