Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st president of the United States. During his first year
in office the Wall Street crash of 1929 occurred. He was blamed for the resulting collapse
of the economy, and his unpopular policies brought an end to a brilliant career in public
office. After the inauguration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933, however, Hoover
remained a leading critic of the New Deal and a spokesman for the Republican party.
Early Life
Born on Aug. 10, 1874, the son of a blacksmith in the Iowa village of West Branch,
Hoover was orphaned at the age of eight and sent to live with an uncle in Oregon. The
uncle became wealthy, enabling Hoover to study mining engineering at Stanford University;
he graduated in 1895. The influences of his engineering training and his Quaker upbringing
were to shape his subsequent careers.
Hoover began working in California mines as an ordinary laborer, but he soon obtained a
position in Australia directing a new gold-mining venture. During the next two decades he
traveled through much of Asia, Africa, and Europe as a mining entrepreneur, earning a
considerable fortune. At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 he was in London.
Hoover, who as a Quaker passionately believed in peace, was appalled by the human costs
of the war, and he determined to devote his life to public service. He volunteered to
direct the exodus of American tourists from war-torn Europe and then to head (1915-19) the
Commission for Relief in Belgium. This position brought him public attention as the
"great humanitarian," a well-earned reputation that he lost only after the 1929
Wall Street debacle. The commission fed 10,000,000 people during the war and left funds
for Belgian postwar reconstruction.
When the United States entered the war in April 1917, Hoover was called to Washington
to serve as food administrator. This was a special wartime office, created to encourage
American agricultural production and food conservation and to coordinate a rational
distribution of food. When the war ended in November 1918, President Woodrow Wilson sent
Hoover back to Europe to direct the American Relief Administration, an agency intended to
relieve the suffering in Europe caused by the war's destruction.
Hoover's public reputation was enormous as a result of his activities in these offices,
and some persons looked upon him as a presidential candidate in 1920. He had never
participated in partisan politics, but he did declare himself a Republican while refusing
to seek the presidency that year. In 1921, Warren G. Harding appointed Hoover secretary of
commerce, a post he held until he began his own presidential campaign in 1928.
Secretary of Commerce
As secretary of commerce, Hoover made his most important contributions to public
policy. He was so able and active in the administrations of Warren G. Harding and Calvin
Coolidge that observers often referred to him as "secretary for domestic
affairs." Hoover directly confronted a dilemma central to American values: the
conflict between the tradition of individualism and the impersonalism of large
corporations and big cities. Hoover deeply believed in the traditional worth of the
individual, the value of personal initiative, the rights of self-expression, and the
legacy of freedom of opportunity. These beliefs were deeply rooted in American society and
in Hoover's personal Quaker faith.
But Hoover, as an engineer, was also profoundly impressed by the virtues of science.
Rational principles could point the way to disinterested fairness in public policy, bring
about greater efficiency in the economy and in society, and, if applied dispassionately,
cause an end to the bitter conflicts in an America populated by persons of different
creeds, races, and social classes. In his belief that greater rationality in public life
could be combined with respect for the tradition of individual rights, Hoover conformed to
the mainstream of progressive social thought in the early 20th century.
As secretary of commerce Hoover was concerned with applying rational principles in
order to end conflict between labor and business. But he was mostly preoccupied with
trying to bring the benefits of cooperative action to business owners and farmers without
destroying individual initiative. To this end his department encouraged firms to join
together in trade associations and thereby develop and share vital information about costs
of production and distribution and about available markets. Presidency
Hoover's views and policies were popular in the 1920s. In 1928, after Coolidge
announced that he would not seek reelection, Hoover launched a successful presidential
campaign, easily defeating the Democratic contender, Al Smith. Hoover expressed the belief
that ways had been found to eliminate the scourges of poverty and that America was
entering a future of peace and ever-increasing economic prosperity. After his election he
turned his attention to America's most noticeable economic problem, the agricultural
depression that had been chronic for nearly a decade. The resulting Agricultural Marketing
Act, passed by Congress in 1929, promoted the idea of marketing cooperatives among farmers
to increase their efficiency while the government purchased surplus commodities until--it
was intended--individual cooperative action could maintain farm prosperity without
government intervention.
The Wall Street crash of October 1929 and the onset of the DEPRESSION OF THE 1930s
shattered Hoover's dreams and his popularity. He refused to mobilize fully the resources
of the federal government to save the collapsing economy. What actions he did take, such
as approving creation (1932) of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to loan funds to
ailing corporations, seemed too little too late. Hoover feared that too much government
intervention would destroy the integrity and initiative of the individual citizen. The
"great humanitarian" lost his reputation as millions lost their jobs and some
were actually starving by the winter of 1932-33. Franklin Delano Roosevelt easily defeated
Hoover in 1932 by promising Americans a New Deal.
Later Years
In semiretirement Hoover criticized the policies of the New Deal, saying that they made
Americans dependent on the government. He remained an important ideologist for the
Republican party. After World War II he served as coordinator of the European Food Program
(1946-47). He subsequently headed two Hoover Commissions (1947-49 and 1953-55) on the
organization of the executive branch of the government. He recommended structural changes
to make the government more efficient and the executive branch more accountable to the
Congress and the public.
In retirement Hoover thus remained true to his principles of efficiency and individual
integrity. He died in New York City on Oct. 20, 1964.
Bibliography:
Best, Gary D., Herbert Hoover: The Postpresidential Years, 1933-1964 (1983)
Burner, David, Herbert Hoover (1979)
Eckley, Wilton, Herbert Hoover (1980)
Fausold, Martin L., The Presidency of Herbert Hoover (1985)
Fitzgerald, C. B., ed., Herbert C. Hoover (1988)
Hawley, E. W., et al., Herbert Hoover and the Historians (1990)
Hoover, Herbert, Addresses upon the American Road, 8 vols. (1936-61), and The Memoirs
of Herbert Hoover, 3 vols. (1951-52)
Huthmacher, J. Joseph, and Sussman, Warren I., eds., Herbert Hoover and the Crisis of
American Capitalism (1973)
Lyons, Eugene, Herbert Hoover, a Biography (1964)
Nash, G. H., The Life of Herbert Hoover, 2 vols. (1983-88)
Smith, Gene, The Shattered Dream: Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression (1984)
Smith, R. N., An Uncommon Man (1984)
Sobel, Robert, Herbert Hoover at the Onset of the Great Depression, 1929-1930 (1975)
Wilson, Joan Hoff, Herbert Hoover: Forgotten Progressive (1975).
QUICK FACT SUMMARY
NAME: Herbert Clark Hoover 31st President of the United States (1929-33) Born: Aug. 10,
1874, West Branch, Iowa Education: Stanford University (graduated 1895) Profession:
Engineer Religious Affiliation: Society of Friends (Quaker) Marriage: Feb. 10, 1899, to
Lou Henry (1875-1944) Children: Herbert Clark Hoover (1903-69); Alan Henry Hoover (1907- )
Political Affiliation: Republican Writings: The Challenge of Liberty (1934); America's
First Crusade (1942); Memoirs (3 vols., 1951-52); The Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson (1958)
Died: Oct. 20, 1964, New York City Buried: West Branch, Iowa Vice-President: Charles
Curtis Cabinet Members: Secretary of State: Henry L. Stimson Secretary of the Treasury:
Andrew W. Mellon (1929-32); Ogden L. Mills (1932-33) Secretary of War: James W. Good
(1929); Patrick J. Hurley (1929-33) Attorney General: William DeWitt Mitchell Postmaster
General: Walter F. Brown Secretary of the Navy: Charles F. Adams Secretary of the
Interior: Ray L. Wilbur Secretary of Agriculture: Arthur M. Hyde Secretary of Commerce:
Robert P. Lamont (1929-32); Roy D. Chapin (1932-33) Secretary of Labor: James J. Davis
(1929-30); William N. Doak (1930
