Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Lesser Known Presidents- Herbert Hoover

by Lexi Strange

February 19, 2016



Hoover was the 31st president. His serving time was 1929 to 1933. Hoover

was born in an Iowa village in 1874; he grew up in Oregon. He attended Stanford

University when it opened 1891 graduating as an engineer. When marrying his

wife Lou Henry, they packed up their things and moved to China where he then

worked for a private corporation as China’s leading engineer. During this time

Germany declared war on France. He was asked to get stranded tourists home. In

6 weeks he and his committee helped 120,000 Americans return to the United

States. While his wife Lou worked in hospitals, Hoover directed the building

barricades and risked his life rescuing Chinese children. Hoover decided to take

on a far more difficult task, to feed Belgium, which was overrun by the Germans.

After proving he was capable of serving as the Secretary of Commerce

under Presidents Harding and Coolidge, he became the Republican Presidential

nominee is 1928. Within months the stock market crashed, and the nation

spiraled down into depression. After the crash, Hoover reacted. He would keep

the Federal budget balanced, he would cut taxes and expand public works

spending. At this time he reiterated his view that while people must not suffer

from hunger and cold, caring for them must be primarily a local and voluntary

responsibility. His opponents in Congress felt he was sabotaging his program for

their own political gain, painting him as a cruel President. In 1932 when the

Presidential election came around, Hoover became very unpopular. He was

defeated by Democratic candidate Franklin Roosevelt.

After leaving office, he wrote articles and books outlining his conservative

political views and warnings about the dangers of too much power in the

Federal government. Hoover returned to public service in the 1950’s serving on

commissions. Hoover died at age 90 on October 20, 1964, in New York City. Even

though Hoover left the White House, the Great Depression continued for 8 years

despite Roosevelt’s active enrollment. Many people argued for a more

sympathetic appraisal of Hoover’s Presidency.

When writing this article I took a poll with a few students to see if people knew

who he was, or even knew he was a President. Below are the results from the

Students knowing

Herbert Hoover’s name: 4

Students knowing he was president: 9

Students having no clue what I am talking about: 3