m.
12 Mar 1870
- Herbert Clark Hoover
1874 - 1964
- H
.
Herbert Clark Hoover
1874 - 1964
- W
.
Lou Henry
1874 - 1944
m.
10 Feb 1899
Facts and Events
- the text in this section is copied from an article in
Wikipedia
Herbert Clark Hoover
(August 10, 1874 ? October 20, 1964) was an American politician and engineer who served as the 31st
president of the United States
from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the
Republican Party
, holding office during the onset of the
Great Depression
. Before serving as president, Hoover led the
Commission for Relief in Belgium
, served as the director of the
U.S. Food Administration
, and served as the third
U.S. secretary of commerce
.
Hoover was born to a
Quaker
family in
West Branch, Iowa
, but he grew up in
Oregon
. He took a position with a London-based mining company after graduating from
Stanford University
in 1895. After the outbreak of
World War I
, he became the head of the Commission for Relief in Belgium, an international relief organization that provided food to occupied Belgium. When the U.S. entered the war, President
Woodrow Wilson
appointed Hoover to lead the Food Administration, and Hoover became known as the country's "food czar". After the war, Hoover led the
American Relief Administration
, which provided food to the inhabitants of Central and Eastern Europe. Hoover's wartime service made him a favorite of many
progressives
, and he unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination in the
1920 presidential election
.
President
Warren G. Harding
appointed Hoover as Secretary of Commerce in 1920, and he continued to serve under President
Calvin Coolidge
after Harding died in 1923. Hoover was an unusually active and visible Cabinet member, becoming known as "Secretary of Commerce and Under-Secretary of all other departments". He was influential in the development of air travel and radio. He led the federal response to the
Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
. Hoover won the Republican nomination in the
1928 presidential election
, and defeated Democratic candidate
Al Smith
in a landslide. In 1929 Hoover assumed the presidency during a period of widespread economic stability. However, during his first year in office,
the stock market crashed
, signaling the onset of the
Great Depression
. The Great Depression dominated Hoover's presidency and he responded by pursuing a series of economic policies in an attempt to lift the economy. Hoover staunchly opposed any intervention from the federal government in the U.S. economy. Hoover scapegoated
Mexicans
for the Depression, instituting policies and sponsoring programs of
repatriation and deportation to Mexico
.
In the midst of the economic crisis, Hoover was decisively defeated by Democratic nominee
Franklin D. Roosevelt
in the
1932 presidential election
. Hoover's retirement was over 31 years long, one of the longest presidential retirements. He authored numerous works and became increasingly
conservative
in retirement. He strongly criticized Roosevelt's foreign policy and
New Deal
domestic agenda. In the 1940s and 1950s, public opinion of Hoover improved largely due to his service in various assignments for presidents
Harry S. Truman
and
Dwight D. Eisenhower
, including chairing the influential
Hoover Commission
. In the end, Herbert Hoover is often regarded as a below-average U.S. president. Critical assessment of his presidency by historians and political scientists
ranks him
as one of the worst presidents in U.S. history.
Hoover's father was a blacksmith and store owner of German descent. His mother was Canadian of British Isles descent. Both were Quakers. They died when he was young, and he was shuttled from his grandmother in Kingsley, Iowa, to his uncle Allen Hoover in West Branch, to his uncle John Minthorn in Oregon. In 1891, he entered Stanford University as part of its first class of students. Hoover graduated in 1895 with a degree in geology.
References
- ↑
1.0
1.1
Herbert Hoover
, in
Wikipedia
:
The Free Encyclopedia
.
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