Herbert Hoover

**Herbert Clark Hoover** (10 August, 1874 - 20 October, 1964) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 30th President of the United States from March 4, 1929 to January 20, 1937. A member of the Republican Party, he held office during the height of the Great Depression, as well as the onset of the Second American Civil War. A self-made man who became wealthy as a mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the war-time Commission for Relief in Belgium during the First Weltkrieg, and served as the 26th Governor of California from January 4, 1927 to January 22, 1929. He was succeeded as president by Democrat John Nance Garner.

Born to a Quaker family in West Branch, Iowa, Hoover grew up in Oregon. He was one of the first graduates of the new Stanford University in 1895. He took a position with a London-based mining company working in Australia and China. He rapidly became a wealthy mining engineer. In 1914, the outbreak of World War I, he organized and headed the Commission for Relief in Belgium, an international relief organization that provided food to occupied Belgium. After the war, Hoover led the American Relief Administration, which provided food to the starving millions in Central and Eastern Europe, especially Russia. Hoover's wartime service made him a favorite of many progressives, and he unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination in the 1920 U.S. presidential election.

In 1927, Hoover assumed the governorship of California, and set to work on improving state infastructure and cutting the pay of government employees. He again received praise from progressives, and earned a national reputation as an efficient administrator. The "Draft Hoover" movement convinced him to enter the 1928 presidential election, with him winning the Republican nomination for president. Hoover would go on to defeat Democratic nominee Al Smith in a landslide victory. In 1929, Hoover assumed the presidency during a period of economic recession. However, during his first year in office, Hoover pursued the creation of protectionist tariffs which caused the economy to worsen significantly, becoming a full on depression. He responded to the depression by pursuing a series of pro-business economic policies in an attempt to stimulate the economy. He scapegoated Mexican Americans for the depression, and approximately one million were forcibly "repatriated" to Mexico in a forced migration campaign known as the Mexican Repatriation. Scholars contend the campaign meets modern legal standards of ethnic cleansing. Hoover also infamously vetoed the Garner-Wagner Bill, which would have expanded the size of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.

In the midst of the economic crisis, Hoover was primarily challenged again by Democrat Al Smith in the 1932 presidential election. No candidate received the needed majority of electoral votes, triggerring the first contingent presidential election in 108 years. Despite the House of Representatives being controlled by Democrats, Hoover won a surprising upset victory. Protests and riots broke out across America as a reaction to Hoover's re-election. During his second term, Hoover received minor praise from the press for signing a free trade agreement with Canada. During the lame duck period of his presidency, Hoover did little to fight back against the secession of states aligned with either the Combined Syndicates of America or the American Union State. Seven days after Hoover left office, the Second American Civil War began.

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 the Socialist Commonwealth of America. He became a staunch advocate for revanchist policies, being an example of early pacific nationalism. Hoover was mostly ostracized by other Republicans during his post-presidency, with Hoover also choosing to live a more private life at his home in Palo Alto, California. Historians and scholars rank Hoover as among the worst U.S. presidents in American history. He is often compared to fellow president James Buchanan for his failure to prevent civil war.

## Early life

Herbert Hoover was born in West Branch, Iowa on 10 August 1874 as the second child of Jesse Hoover and Hulda Randall Minthorn, a humble Quaker family that owned a local farm implement store. Hoover contracted a serious bout of croup at the age of two, and narrowly escaped death after being resuscitated by his maternal uncle, John Minthorn. Tragedy struck the family when Hoover’s father died in 1880 at the age of 34 followed shortly by his mother in 1884, leaving Hoover and his two siblings orphaned.

Hoover was sent to live with his uncle Minthorn in November 1885, and the Quaker physician and businessman instilled in the young Hoover a strong work ethic. Hoover attended Friends Pacific Academy until the age of thirteen, when he dropped out to become an office assistant for his uncle’s real estate office in Salem. Although he never attended high school, he did take classes in bookkeeping, typing, and mathematics at a local night school.

Hoover entered Stanford University in the fall of 1891, becoming a member of the inaugural class despite failing every entrance exam except mathematics. He switched his major from mechanical engineering to geology on the advice of John Casper Barner, the chair of Stanford’s geology department at the time. He co-founded the first student housing cooperative on campus and helped to organize the inaugural Big Game against  the University of California. During the summers before and after his senior year, his time interning under economic geologist Waldemar Lindgren of the United States Geological Survey convinced him to pursue a career as a mining geologist.

## Mining Engineer in Australia and China

After graduating from Stanford in 1895, Hoover worked various low-level jobs in the Sierra Nevada Mountains until he was hired by Bewick, Moreing & Co., a London-based mining company that operated several goldmines in the Eastern Goldfields of Australia. He made constant tours across the Outback to evaluate and manage the company’s mines, bringing in Italian immigrants to cut costs and counter the rising labour movement in Australia. Bewick, Moreing eventually controlled approximately fifty percent of gold production in Western Australia as a result of Hoover’s efforts. However, after an open feud developed between Hoover and his boss Ernest Williams, the owners of the company decided to send Hoover to China to defuse the situation.

In China, Hoover worked developing mines near Tianjin for both Bewick, Moreing and the Chinese-owned Chinese Engineering and Mining Company, Ltmd. The Boxer Rebellion broke out soon after his arrival, stranding Hoover along with many other foreign nationals in China until the Eight Nation Alliance managed to defeat the rebels at the Battle of Tientsin. Hoover first displayed his talent for humanitarian aid when he helped to organize relief for stranded foreign nationals and even assisted in the defense of Tientsin. After the director of CEMC, Ltmd. agreed to establish a new joint Sino-British venture with Bewick, Moreing, Hoover assisted the company in establishing effective control over the new venture and was elevated to operating partner in 1901.

Hoover continued to travel the world as an operating partner for Bewick, Moreing to manage mines owned on several different continents. In December 1902, however, the company was tarnished by scandal after one of its partners admitted to having fraudulently sold stock. Legal troubles continued to mount for the company in 1904, when the British government formed two commissions to investigate Bewick, Moreing’s labor practices and financial dealings in Australia. Hoover began looking for a way out of the partnership and quietly sold his shares in mid-1908.

After his departure from Bewick, Moreing, Hoover returned to London where he became an independent mining consultant and financier specializing in the rejuvenation of troubled mining operations. He helped to co-found the Zinc Corporation near Broken Hill, New South Wales in Australia, and he helped to increase copper production through the use of pyritic smelting in Kyshtym, Russia. By the outbreak of the Weltkrieg in 1914, Hoover had amassed a substantial personal fortune of four million dollars.

## Humanitarian Work

A week before Hoover’s 40th birthday, war broke out on the continent of Europe between the Great Powers, stranding tens of thousands of American tourists in Britain without means of returning home. Hoover, still living in London at the time, organized an “American committee” to help repatriate American nationals, making loans and cashing checks as necessary. When the project concluded in October 1914, Hoover’s American committee had successfully returned 120,000 Americans home with only $300 dollars in unpaid debt. His success brought him to the attention of US Ambassador to the United Kingdom Walter Hines Page, who proceeded to enlist Hoover in a much greater relief project.

Shortly after the 1914 invasion by Germany, the tiny nation of Belgium faced an imminent food crisis. One of the most urbanized countries in Europe, it could only grow enough agricultural product to meet 20-25% of its needs, most of which was requisitioned by German occupying forces. The British economic blockade prevented the transport of war materials, including food, into occupied Belgium to prevent its confiscation, threatening the country with starvation. Together with Page and US Ambassador to Belgium Brand Whitlock, Hoover would help to organize the Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB), one of the largest relief efforts of the war.

Headquartered in Brussels, the CRB bought and shipped 11.4 billion pounds, or 5.7 million tons, of foodstuffs over the course of the war and delivered it to 9.5 million civilians throughout occupied Belgium and Northern France. CRB offices located in London, Rotterdam, and New York helped to coordinate international relief efforts, supervising shipments of grains, flour, lentils, peas, beans, rice, and animal fats on chartered fleets of CRB-flagged vessels. The CRB was assisted in the distribution of relief by the Belgian *Comité National de Secours et d'Alimentation* headed by Émile Francqui. The United States government, though officially neutral during the war, praised Hoover’s efforts with the CRB and offered substantial support to the organization.

## Failed 1920 Presidential Campaign

Hoover had been little known among the American public before 1914, but his humanitarian work in Belgium and Europe made him a household name. Hoover's wartime push for higher taxes, criticism of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer's actions during the First Red Scare, and his advocacy for measures such as the minimum wage, forty-eight-hour workweek, and elimination of child labor made him appealing to progressives of both parties. Hoover had never been closely affiliated with either the Democrats or the Republicans. He initially sought to avoid committing to any party in the 1920 election, hoping that either of the two major parties would draft him for president at their national conventions. In March 1920, he changed strategy and declared himself a Republican; he was motivated in large part by the belief that the Democrats had little chance of winning. Despite his newfound national renown, Hoover still lacked the necessary connections and experience to truly break out, and his presidential candidacy fizzled out after his defeat in the California primary by favorite son Hiram Johnson. At the 1920 Republican National Convention, Warren G. Harding emerged as a compromise candidate after the convention became deadlocked between supporters of Johnson, Leonard Wood, and Frank Orren Lowden. Hoover backed Harding's campaign in the general election, with Harding going on to narrowly lose to Democrat William Gibbs McAdoo.

## Chairman of the California Republican Party

Following his defeat, Hoover began laying the groundwork for a future presidential run by first building a base of strong supporters in the California Republican Party. In his home state, he returned to the private sector, and began investing in the oil industry. Hoover ingratiated himself in conservatives circles, and was later elected Chairman of the California Republican Party. He would hold this position until 1926. Hoover also became friends with Governor Friend Richardson, despite Richardson being an avowed anti-progressive.

## California governorship

By 1926, frustration within inner Republican ranks with the fiscally conservative governorship of Richardson had reached its zenith. In the gubernatorial primary election, Progressive Republicans overcame conservative and corporate opposition to win the nomination for Hoover, knocking Richardson out of the general election. In the 1926 general election campaign, Hoover earned vocal support from former governor Hiram Johnson and prominent banker Amadeo Giannini. Hoover won in a landslide, garnering 71.3 percent of the vote and crushing his rivals, who included Democrat Justus S. Wardell and Socialist author Upton Sinclair.

Infrastructure was the central priority of Hoover's governorship. Under his predecessor, the roads in California had detiorated greatly. Hoover set to work repaving them, as well as creating new ones. His administration began financing a state highway system through state bonds, with Hoover opposing calls to fund the project through a fuel tax. He began the creation of seperate state penal facilities for female convicts. To combat the economic stagnation caused by the Great Depression, Hoover cut the payment of every California state employee by 8%, including himself. Additionally, statewide taxes were cut significantly, and state funding was made to abide by a strict budget.

On November 23, 1927, inmates at Folsom Prison rioted, taking control of a majority of the interior facilities, and took several prison guards as hostages. Hoover responded by mobilizing the California Army National Guard, ordering commanders to encircle the prison with their units, supported by heavy machine guns and two tanks shipped by train from Salinas. The heavy show of military force in full view of the rioters forced the revolting prisoners to capitulate peacefully.

Hoover signed a bill passed by the California State Legislature authorizing the creation of a California State Parks Commission. Headed by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., the survey commission investigated lands across the state suitable for state protection and developed plans for their future financing. In 1928, state voters approved the creation of the California State Park system.

## 1928 Presidential Election

By mid-1928, Hoover had garnered a national reputation as a competent administrator who was actively combating the Great Depression, in contrast to President McAdoo, who seemed cold and unable to fully alleviate the crisis. With the Democrats having controlled the White House since 1912, Republicans were eager to find someone who could lead them to victory. Hoover’s national profile and business acumen made him a frontrunner for the Republican nomination, which he easily won at the 1928 National Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. He was joined by Senator Charles Curtis of Kansas as his running mate. Hoover faced Democratic nominee Al Smith for the presidency, the Governor of New York and the first Catholic nominee from either major party. Hoover and Curtis campaigned on the promise of a grand rail construction program to combat unemployment. In the South, Hoover pursued a “lily-white” strategy of removing black Republicans from leadership in order to curry favor with white Southerners.

Hoover maintained a steady polling lead throughout the campaign and easily trounced Smith on election day. His Southern strategy succeeded in cracking the “Solid South”, and he carried many formerly Democratic strongholds. Hoover's victory was positively received by newspapers, with one paper declaring that he would "drive so forcefully at the tasks now before the nation that the end of his eight years as president will find us looking back on an era of prodigious achievement".
Hoover would resign as governor of California on January 22, 1929, being succeeded by his lieutenant governor, Buron Fitts.

## First Term as President

Due to the four months of complete government inactivity during the transition between the McAdoo and Hoover Administrations, the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution was proposed and quickly ratified by the required three-fourths majority of states, moving the Presidential Inauguration from March 4 to January 20. Hoover entered office amidst the Great Depression, the worst economic crisis ever seen in the United States. He believed that the primary cause of the Depression was a fundamental lack of confidence in the financial system, and sought to strengthen businesses such as banks and railroads while avoiding direct government intervention.

Hoover asked business and labor leaders to avoid wage cuts and work stoppages,  requested railroads and other public utilities increase spending on construction and maintenance, and the Federal Reserve announced a cut in interest rates, which taken together Hoover hoped would prevent a cycle of deflation and provide fiscal stimulus. At the same time, however, he adamantly opposed congressional proposals to provide federal unemployment relief, believing such initiatives to be the domain of local governments and charity organizations. Hoover’s tactics proved insufficient to address the mounting economic crisis, and as a result his Republican Party was defeated in the House of Representatives in the 1930 midterm elections.

Hoover's administration faced a minor scandal in 1930, when newspapers began circulating rumors that Western Air Express, a California based Airline, was only winning favorable government contracts due to the fact that Hoover's son was employed by the Airline. Hoover denied these claims, and his son later resigned from Western Air Express.

As the Depression dragged on, Hoover’s critics developed colorful epithets to deride him and his policies: homeless encampments became “Hoovervilles”, cardboard used to mend holes in shoes was dubbed “Hoover leather”, and newspapers used to shelter from the cold were called “Hoover blankets”. Hoover finally heeded calls for more direct government intervention, proposing the establishment of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) to provide financial support to state and local governments by making loans to banks, railroads, and other businesses. Despite his support for the RFC, Hoover infamously vetoed the Garner-Wagner Bill in early 1932, a proposed expansion of the RFC that would have allowed for lending to small businesses and individuals that Hoover labeled “the most gigantic pork-bill ever proposed in the history of Congress”.

Hoover fared little better in foreign affairs than he did in domestic, as the United States continued to be eclipsed by the German Empire on the world stage. Hoover was forced to conclude the occupation of Haiti due to the ongoing economic pressure of the Depression, officially leaving the island in 1930. In February 1931, US troops were forced to withdraw from Nicaragua after stunning losses to the guerilla armies of Augusto César Sandino and Francisco Sequeira Moreno, a humiliating defeat that further eroded the status of the Monroe Doctrine.

Following Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.'s resignation from the Supreme Court, Hoover nominated Democrat Benjamin N. Cardozo Hughes was confirmed by the senate, becoming the second Jewish American to become an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Hoover received some praise for this bipartisan move.

## 1932 Presidential Election

By 1932 few observers believed Hoover had any serious chance of winning reelection, and Republican expectations were so bleak that he faced no serious opposition at the 1932 National Convention. Democrats also found themselves in an unfavorable position, however, as popular Louisiana Governor Huey Long had been defeated for the presidential nomination by Al Smith and subsequently left the party. In his campaigns across the country, Hoover faced perhaps the most hostile crowds ever seen by a sitting president. Besides having his train and motorcades pelted with eggs and rotten fruit, he was often heckled while speaking, and on several occasions, the Secret Service halted attempts to hurt Hoover, including capturing one man nearing Hoover carrying sticks of dynamite, and another already having removed several spikes from the rails in front of the president's train. Hoover's attempts to vindicate his administration fell on deaf ears, as much of the public blamed his administration for making the depression worse.

The 1932 election was the most chaotic in recent memory, with the somewhat recovered Democratic Party and insurgent Socialist Party of America peeling off several states from the Republican Party, ultimately leading to no candidate receiving a majority of electoral votes and the 12th Amendment being invoked. The 1933 contingent presidential election was the first contingent to be held since 1824. Despite the House of Representatives being controlled by Democrats, anti-Catholic sentiment among Southern and Southwestern Democrats led to them turning against Smith, and voting for Hoover as a form of protest. In a suprising upset, Hoover would win the contingent election despite widespread unpopularity. Public protests and riots took place all across the country following these results.

## Second Term as President

In March 1933, anti-Hoover demonstrators converged on Washington, D.C., with protestors marching outside of the White House. Many of the demonstrators were homeless, and blamed Hoover for their current condition. On March 15, fearing that the group could overwhelm the Secret Service and storm the White House, Hoover ordered Chief of Staff of the Army Douglas MacArthur to "surround the affected area and clear it without delay." MacArthur sent in tanks and armed soldiers to break up the demonstrators. The demonstrators fought back by throwing rocks and trash at the soldiers, with several of them being arrested and knocked over. MacArthur's crackdown was a personal relations disaster for Hoover's administration, with nearly ever newspaper in the country deriding his handling of th situation. Some newspapers even began referring to Hoover as a despot.

Hoover did receive some praise for signing a free trade agreement with Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King in December 1935. Protectionist tariffs, which were at first a hallmark of Hoover's administration, were removed for Canada. After the signing of this treaty, Hoover briefly saw a slight rise in support for his policies. Additionally, in 1935, construction finished on a new dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River. The dam was a new way to provide electricity for the Arizona and Nevada, which had received further funding from the Hoover administration. Hoover dedicated the dam on September 30, 1935. His administration also received minor praise for this project.

The Mexican Repatriation that had begun during Hoover's first term, was expanded slightly during his second term. The Mexican government, under President Emiliano Zapata began sending many of these Mexican laborers back, and increasing security on the Mexican-American border. This caused a diplomatic dispute between the two countries, with Mexico claiming that the United States had created a refugee crisis. This diplomatic dispute would eventually be settled in early 1936, with Hoover agreeing to end the process of repatriation.

The popularity of radical politicians like Socialist Senator Jack Reed and America First Senator Huey Long made Hoover nervous. Director of the Bureau of Investigation, J. Edgar Hoover (no relation), was orderd by the president to place Reed under surveillance, fearing that he may be an anti-government agitator. Hoover also had the Internal Revenue Service heavily audit Long's finances. Hoover considered Long a radical demagogue and privately said of him that, "[Long] is one of the two most dangerous men in America".

## Post-Presidency

Hoover made no attempt to run for a third term as president. The national reputation of the Republican Party had been badly damaged by Hoover's presidecny, with most political analysts and newspapers believing that the party had little chance at retaining the White House. The eventual 1936 Republican presidential nominee, Kansas Governor Alf Landon, intentionally distanced himself from Hoover in order to appeal to voters. This tactic ultimately failed though, with the Republicans coming in fourth place in the general election. During his lame duck period, Hoover hesitated when responding to the secession of states following John Nance Garner's victory in the 1937 contingent presidential election. Hoover was present at Garner's inauguration, feeling tired and extremely bitter about his continued unpopularity. The presidency had visibly aged him. Seven days after leaving office, the Second American Civil War began with the Battle of Philadelphia. Hoover had returned to California by the time the battle had begun.

Hoover completely retired from public life during the Second American Civil War. He privately supported the Provisional Pacific Coalition, and voiced his hatred for MacArthur to friends and family. He feared that his life and the lives of his family would be in danger if the war were to reach California. These fears only increased after John Nance Garner was assassinated by Syndicalist revolutionaries. During this time, Hoover became friends with fellow former president and Californian William Gibbs McAdoo. In 1944, Hoover's wife, Lou Henry Hoover, would die of a heart attack.

Hoover remained active in Republican politics following the end of the war. Though he was respected as a former president, Republicans in West America generally avoided associating themselves too much with Hoover. In 1960, Hoover publicly endorsed Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater.

## Death

Hoover faced three major illnesses during the last two years of his life, including an August 1962 operation in which a growth on his large intestine was removed. He died in his home in Palo Alto, California on October 20, 1964, following massive internal bleeding. He was survived by his two sons: Herbert Hoover Jr. and Allan Hoover.

## Legacy

Historians have criticized Hoover for his unwillingness or inability to act in the face of secession, as well as naivety regarding the economic crisis facing the country. His presidency was directly responsible for the further decline of American power on the world stage, leaving office during a time of absolute national chaos. Historical rankings of presidents of the United States without exception place Hoover among the least successful presidents. According to Professor David E. Hamilton, historians have credited Hoover for his genuine belief in voluntarism and cooperation, as well as the innovation of some of his programs. However, Hamilton also notes that Hoover was politically inept and failed to recognize the severity of the Great Depression. Although Hoover is generally regarded as having had a failed presidency, he has also received praise for his actions as a humanitarian and public official. Biographer Glen Jeansonne writes that Hoover was "one of the most extraordinary Americans of modern times," adding that Hoover "led a life that was a prototypical Horatio Alger story, except that Horatio Alger stories stop at the pinnacle of success". Biographer Kenneth Whyte writes that, "the question of where Hoover belongs in the American political tradition remains a loaded one to this day. While he clearly played important roles in the development of both the progressive and conservative traditions, neither side will embrace him for fear of contamination with the other." In the Socialist Commonwealth, Hoover is generally depicted as a puppet of the capitalist class.

Historian Richard Pipes, on his actions leading the American Relief Administration, said of him "Many statesmen occupy a prominent place in history for having sent millions to their death; Herbert Hoover, maligned for his performance as President, and soon forgotten in Russia, has the rare distinction of having saved millions."