31. HERBERT HOOVER (Brother can you spare a dime)
Born: August 10, 1874, West Branch, Iowa
Died: October 20, 1964, New York, New York
Term: March 4, 1929- March 4, 1933
Political Party: Republican
Vice President: Charles Curtis
First Lady: Lou Henry Hoover
Before the Presidency: Herbert Hoover was born to Quaker parents in rural Iowa. By the time he was nine, both of his parents had died, and he and his siblings were passed around to relatives. Herbert ended up with his uncle in Oregon. Herbert was somewhat introverted, and he struggled in school for a bit, excelling in only math. But he studied hard and got into Stanford University. It was there where he showed his entrepreneur skills when he started a student laundry service.
After Hoover graduated in 1895, he tried to find work as a surveyor and ended up working at a gold mine in California. It was hard work; Hoover worked seventy hours a week. Luck came his way when he found a job in San Francisco. This put him in connection to a company that needed a mine inspector. He worked as a mining engineer in Australia and China from 1897 to 1902. In fact, Hoover and his young wife, Lou, were in China during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900.
In 1908, Hoover opened his own mining consulting business and was independently wealthy as of 1914. He had identified himself as a Progressive Republican and was concerned about humanitarian needs. In that sense, Hoover was an idealist. He supported Roosevelt’s third party bid in 1912.
Hoover’s foray into politics, or at least the administrative end of it, started in 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War. That year, he was asked by the US consul to help evacuate over a hundred thousand Americans trapped in London. After Germany invaded Belgium, he organized the Commission for Relief in Belgium with some wealthy friends. Through the commission, Hoover was able to raise millions of dollars for food and medicine for the besieged Belgians.
Hoover had become nationally known for his humanitarian skills and President Wilson asked him to run the US Food and Drug Administration. By now, the US was on a war footing, having entered the World War and Hoover was advocating the conservation of food. Hooverizing became another word for rationing and Americans were all in as they were supporting the troops in Europe. After the war ended, President Wilson appointed Hoover as head of the European Relief and Rehabilitation Administration where he directed 34 million tons of food, clothing, and supplies to war-torn Europe. He would also attend the Versailles Peace Conference with President Wilson and ran Wilson’s economic council as well. After leaving the administration, he founded what would later be called the Hoover Institution, at Stanford. And, though a Republican, he supported US involvement in the League of Nations, something his party was vehemently opposing.
Of course, Hoover was a Republican and was considered a candidate in 1920 but his support of the League of Nations more or less ended a chance at the White House that year. Instead, he ended up being appointed Secretary of Commerce by President Harding, a position he would keep through both the Harding and Coolidge administrations.
As Secretary of Commerce, Hoover supported regulation of new industries such as aviation and radio. He also was aggressive in pursuing trade opportunities for American businesses. Under Hoover as Commerce Secretary things were booming indeed.
In 1922, Hoover wrote a book called American Individualism. In it, he rejected the laissez-faire capitalism of the right while also being critical of the socialist policies of the left. Hoover was clearly a Capitalist, but he was looking for a more reasonable middle ground.
As Secretary of Commerce, Hoover was seen as a Progressive and was even being considered as a running mate for Coolidge in 1924. Of course, that was not to happen. But a major flood on the Mississippi River in 1927 but him back in the National spotlight as he took charge in the relief effort. By 1928, Hoover had a reputation as a humanitarian and as someone who could get things done. He was certainly going to be a front runner in 1928 to be sure.
Summary of offices held:
1914-1917: Chair of the Commission For Relief in Belgium
1917-1918: Director, United States Food Administration
1918-1919: Chair, European Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
1921-1928: Secretary of Commerce
What was going on: The Wall Street crash, The Great Depression, the Bonus Army,
Scandals within the administration: none that we know of
Why he was a good President: Despite not being the right President for the times, Hoover did try to do his best and he was certainly an idealist when it came to advocating world peace.
Why he was a bad President: Well, it was the Great Depression, wasn’t it? His political philosophy of not using Federal funds to help the people in need was disastrous to say the least and probably left his successor to deal with an even deeper crisis than necessary
What could have saved his Presidency: A more activist role in making the Great Depression a little less severe would have done wonders.
What could have destroyed his Presidency: Between the Great Depression and Emperor General MacArthur, the poor guy had no chance.
Election of 1928: Hoover came into the Republican Convention not very enamored by the party regulars who, no doubt, found Hoover as too progressive, but he had swept the primaries and was endorsed by powerful Andrew Mellon of Pennsylvania. He also happened to be the Treasury Secretary. Hoover won on the first ballot and was teamed with Majority leader Charles Curtis of Kansas. The Republicans ran on a fairly conservative platform with lower taxes, a protective tariff, and strong support of prohibition among other things. Plus, they had the wave of prosperity under their watch to run on.
The Democrats, on the other hands, needed someone to shake things up on their end. They went with Governor Al Smith of New York. He took a different stance on prohibition. By 1928, you were either a “wet” (for the repeal of prohibition) or a “dry” (a supporter of prohibition). Smith was, unmistakably, a wet, though the party made great pains in promising prohibition supporters they wouldn’t try to repeal the amendment. For proof, they nominated, for Vice-President, the pro- prohibitionist, Joseph Robinson of Arkansas.
Hoover had the upper hand throughout the campaign, and he campaigned cautiously making seven carefully worded radio message without even mentioning Al Smith. He also coined the slogan, ‘a chicken in every pot.” And “a car in every garage.” There was also another issue that hurt Smith. He was the first Catholic to have ever been nominated by a major party and the Anti-Catholic fervor remained strong in the United States. As such, Smith would have to endure some indignities in the South especially as he spoke to a jeering crowd in Oklahoma City while the KKK (still in power in Oklahoma) burned a cross within his sight. The religious intolerance was pretty ugly for Smith to say the least.
And it would show up in the vote in November as well as Hoover won in yet another landslide for the Republicans. The haters of anything non-white Anglo-Saxon protestant won yet again.
And, within a year, they were about to get their just rewards.
First term: President Hoover’s administration started quietly enough. The economy seemed to be flowing smoothly. He organized a strong cabinet and there was no reason to believe the government was in any way unstable. Yes, there were some tensions on the World front, both in Europe and Asia, but nothing that seemed as if a new world war was imminent. It seemed like a happy time.
But October 29, 1929, would change everything. While one can look back and see the tea leaves, no one thought about the warnings then as investors were speculating like it was the 1849 Gold Rush all over again. So, imagine their surprise when the stock market began to crash that previous Thursday, and now, on Tuesday, finished the free-fall that sparked the Great Depression.
It especially affected farmers, initially, but it also trigged a worldwide depression, one that especially affected Germany as they would make their slow descent into Nazism.
On the foreign front, Hoover did have some temporary successes at least, notably with the London Naval Treaty which limited the size of the navies. The US, Britain, and Japan signed the treaty while France and Italy didn’t. Italy, of course, had been led by the Fascist Benito Mussolini for years at this point. Japan would also, thanks to a couple of assassinations, go militaristic in late 1930. The Hoover Administration did get to celebrate a Nobel Peace Prize as a result of the Kellogg-Briand pact of 1928 (really a Coolidge victory but, well, you know).
But on the domestic front, it was all about the Great Depression. Within a year, banks began to fail, and, by the end of 1930, more than 1300 banks had shut its doors. Unemployment rates were skyrocketing and there were no safety nets of which to speak of. Basically, it was every man for himself.
President Hoover, needless to say was way in over his head as he didn’t know what to do, no one did to be fair. But it would take a while for him to even attempt anything. He finally did when he funded a public works project, but it would pale in comparison to the long reaching programs FDR would implement a few years later and the depression only got worse.
By 1931, there was a clamor within the Democratic Party as well as some Progressive Republicans from the Midwest for economic relief for farmers and others affected severely by the Depression. Hoover responded by vetoing at least two relief bills that would be overridden. He had believed that the worst had passed, and that the economy would work itself out. Of course, it didn’t, and it not only had a devastating effect on Americans, but it also had an effect on the World stage as well. Italy was full blown Fascist; Germany was well on its way as Hitler was rising from the ashes, and Japan was about to wage its expansionist war starting with Manchuria. The early 1930s was not a good time to be alive.
Perhaps the final nail on Hoover’s coffin though had to have been the advent of the Bonus Army. A large contingent of World War I veterans, many of whom were affected by the Great Depression, camped out near the White House with demands to receive their bonus pensions early. Hoover, as well as Congress, rejected their demands while supporting their right to demonstrate and even provided them shelter and supplies. So far, so good, right?
Enter Douglas A. MacArthur, General and would be Emperor of the United States Army. By now, most of the protestors had gone home and only a handful remained in the abandoned buildings. Hoover wanted them relocated, peacefully mind you, and ordered the Secretary of War to move them to nearby camps. But the Secretary of War feared riots and ordered General McArthur to relocate the stragglers to the Anacostia River Flats.
But General MacArthur, that great lover of peace who would one day want to nuke China, had other ideas. He decided to drive the Bonus Army out of Washington altogether and burned the camp area down with the use of tear gas, bayonets, tanks, and guns. He probably would have used a nuclear weapon if it had existed then. One Bonus Army member was killed, and the incident horrified the public.
MacArthur and Hurley weren’t willing to stand up for their horrific error and denied responsibility, so President Hoover took the heat for them. Good for him, but maybe he should have done a Truman and, you know, fire their asses? Guess the buck didn’t stop with Hoover though.
Anyway, things were not looking good for Hoover come re-election time.
Election of 1932: No one really expected Hoover to be re-elected after the Bonus Army debacle. Now the word Hooverize stood for something else. Now people were living in Hoover Hotels (cardboard boxes) or in Hoovervilles (enclaves of makeshift shacks). People showed off their Hoover flags (pulled out empty pockets) while they stood in breadlines. This was not a man that was ripe for re-election.
Still, the defeated Republicans nominated Hoover and Curtis on the first ballot, and they took their chances, dim as they seemed. The platform changed though as had the times. Now they were supporting the repeal of Prohibition as they were feeling the political tide turn that way. It was about the only issue they were on the right side of.
The Democrats, on the other hand, were quite giddy at the chance of gaining the White House after twelve years, the only question on being who would be the candidate. It wasn’t as cut and dried as you would think given how the tide had turned, but we’ll get into that more on the next chapter.
For, in the end, Hoover had to deal with the charismatic Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the differing platforms wouldn’t really make a difference. Hoover was toast and he knew it. FDR was cautious in his campaigning, mentioning the New Deal but not really explaining what it meant. What it did mean though was a landslide loss for Hoover in the election, however.
Post Presidency: Herbert Hoover left a failed President but, like Jimmy Carter later, he would have an extraordinary post- Presidency. He was all but rejected by the Republican party and he was more or less demonized by the Democrats, his stinging criticisms of FDR’s New Deal not doing much to help. As such, he actively supported Alf Landon in the 1936 campaign.
Hoover’s post-Presidency really started at the onset of World War Two. He met with Adolf Hitler in Germany to give him a good dressing down basically. As someone who truly opposed war, he was against US involvement until the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. President Roosevelt dropped his less than enamored feelings for Hoover and appointed him to chair an international relief organization to help nations that had been overrun by Hitler. Unfortunately, thanks to the cruelty of the Nazis, he was unable to get food to the people that needed it most.
He fared better in the post war atmosphere, serving as coordinator of the Food Supply for World Famine. In 1947, the Republican controlled Congress appointed Hoover as chairman of what would become known as the Hoover Commission. This was done in hopes he could somehow dismantle the New Deal that he had been so critical of. Imagine their disappointment when he did anything but. Instead, he advocated reforms to strengthen the Executive Branch, some of his proposals even making their way into the Executive Reorganization Act in 1949. He returned in 1955 to suggest more reforms, though he would prove not to have been as successful as he had been in 1949.
On the international front, however, was where Hoover would flourish. He opposed the use of the Atomic Bomb on Japan and opposed American intervention in wars overseas, notably in Korea, preferring a stronger military stateside instead.
He remained active in Republican Party politics as well, supporting Robert Taft in 1948 and 1952 and Eisenhower in 1956. He was not a fan of Nixon in 1960 however and supported Goldwater just before Hoover’s death in 1964 as he shared many of Goldwater’s Libertarian views.
Herbert Hoover died of colon cancer in 1964 and is remembered for his activism in the humanitarian field post-presidency.
Odd notes: President Hoover donated his salary to charity
His son had two pet crocodiles
(https://www.ducksters.com/biography/uspresidents/herberthoover.php)
Final Summary: The only thing that really saves Herbert Hoover from being listed among the very worst Presidents in history was that at least he wasn’t corrupt. He really did try his best in his own way.
But ultimately, he was an abject failure. As someone who basically held Libertarian views, he did almost nothing to alleviate the pain of the average person. He did pass a bill to help the farmers but that was before the Wall Street crash, and he would make some halfway measures in attempts to boost the economy. But he seemed indifferent and even cold from a public standpoint at the plight of the people in need.
He did have a sense of idealism when it came to world events. He supported Kellogg-Briand and was disappointed when Japan broke the treaty. He also backed the London Naval Treaty.
But ultimately, he’ll always be remembered for the Great Depression and all the humanitarian efforts he made after his Presidency can never erase that. If I were rating Herbert Hoover as a man, I’d probably give him at least a solid B.
But as President, well…
Overall rating: D+
https://millercenter.org/president/hoover