Herbert Hoover Was an Admirable Person and President

Review of Glen Jeansonne’s Herbert Hoover: A Life (NY: New American Library, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2016), ISBN 9781101991008, 464 pages, hardbound, $28; $14.99 Kindle e-book (Amazon).

This probably is the most scholarly and informative biography of the entire long life of Herbert Clark Hoover (1874-1964). More than 700 endnotes include citations of prior biographies and of his autobiographical memoirs. Hoover was born in a small community of predominantly Quakers in Iowa. His initial family was shattered when he was four years old by the death of his father, then two years later by the death of his mother. These tragic deprivations certainly affected his personality development.

The adult Herbert Hoover was attracted to solitary activities, which was prominent in his chosen profession of mining engineer. A favorite hobby of his was fishing, using a fly instead of a worm as the lure. He was shy or withdrawn when in large crowds and with strangers.

It is uncertain whether his birth in 1874 was on August 10, shortly before midnight, or on August 11, shortly after midnight. Page 1 of this biography states “he chose the eleventh, yet his biographers selected the tenth.” Perhaps Hoover preferred to be a day younger. This uncertainty might have helped him to respond adaptively to difficult choices. His principal caretaker after the death of his mother was a maternal uncle in Oregon. Hoover enrolled in the very first class of Stanford University, where he diligently and effectively learned to become a mining engineer. His wife, Lou Henry, was a vivacious and attractive student of mining engineering at Stanford. They met and fell in love while undergraduates. His multiple marriage proposals were accepted two years after his graduation. They shared engineering projects throughout a mutually devoted life together until her death from a heart attack in 1944.

Herbert Hoover’s adult relationships with his two sons and

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his brother indicate his beneficial influence on these close family members. He frequently corresponded with his older brother, Theodore Jesse Hoover. Theodore imitated his younger brother by enrolling in Stanford Engineering School and eventually became Dean of that school. The first of Herbert Hoover’s two sons, Herbert Hoover, Jr., also graduated from Stanford University and had a productive career as a geophysical engineer. He mediated an oil dispute between Britain and Iran, and was appointed by President Eisenhower as undersecretary of state for Middle Eastern affairs from 1954 to 1957. The younger son, Allan Hoover, graduated from Stanford University and eventually became a mining engineer. In common with his father’s temperament, he shunned publicity.

Herbert Hoover began his successful and very profitable career as a mining engineer in Australia. His wife accompanied him during several very adventurous and profitable years in China. The onset of World War I threatened starvation of many inhabitants, especially children, in Belgium and northern France. Hoover accepted a plea to organize distribution of food. He felt an obligation to prevent the starvation of millions of people, chiefly children. He successfully organized the procurement and delivery of food and persuaded leaders of the warring nations to cooperate. Winston Churchill was a notable British government official who resisted feeding civilians in territory occupied by the enemy. Several years later, Hoover prevented starvation of millions of people, mainly children, in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

From 1921 to 1929, Hoover served Presidents Harding and Coolidge as Secretary of Commerce. He greatly increased the scope and effectiveness of that Cabinet position. When President Coolidge declined to be a candidate for reelection in 1928, Hoover rapidly became the consensus choice for the Republican nomination. He won the election by a large margin against the Democratic nominee, Alfred E. Smith.

In October 1929, six months after Hoover’s inauguration, severe losses in the stock market ended almost ten years of increasing prosperity. There was also almost ten years’ worth of increasing indebtedness faced by individuals and companies. The global financial crisis aggravated the financial crisis in the United States.

Hoover was a conservative libertarian. His frequent slogan during the 1928 presidential campaign was “rugged individualism.” Throughout his presidency, which ran from 1929-1933, he was en-

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ergetic and constructive in combating unemployment. The excessive indebtedness of many individuals and corporations during a worldwide financial collapse overwhelmed his efforts. After his presidency, he wrote and lectured frequently. He served Presidents Truman and Eisenhower by chairing committees that identified improvements in federal government organization. He also became a leader of the Boys Clubs of America.

The author characterizes Hoover as extraordinarily energetic and productive. He was shy and socially withdrawn but very compassionate. Hoover was a highly successful leader and organizer. Some outstanding achievers were his personal friends for many years. They included Henry Ford, Bernard Baruch, Robert

A. Taft, Joseph P. Kennedy, Alfred E. Smith, and Douglas MacArthur. Three of these friends, Baruch, Kennedy, and Smith, were Democrats.

Herbert Hoover died on October 29, 1964, less than a month before what would have been his 90^th birthday. John Adams was the only prior president of the United States with a longer life span. Recent improvements in health care, especially for Presidents of the United States, probably contribute to the fact that four recent Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, and George H. W. Bush—have exceeded the longevity of President John Adams.

Glen Jeansonne contributed a brief article, “A Tale of Two Presidents,” to Clio’s Psyche (2017, Volume 24, 27-33). He characterized Hoover and Trump as polar opposites. Hoover was shy and inhibited. Trump is confrontational. They are the only Presidents with no prior military service and no prior election to a federal, state, or local government position.

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