Hoover was born to a Quaker family in West Branch, Iowa. Hoover's war-time service made him a favorite of many progressives, and he unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination in the 1920 presidential election. After a brief stay with one of his grandmothers in Kingsley, Iowa, Hoover lived the next 18 months with his uncle Allen Hoover in West Branch at a nearby farm. Though he did not attend high school, Hoover learned bookkeeping, typing, and mathematics at a night school. Hoover worked 14-hour days from London, administering the distribution of over two million tons of food to nine million war victims.