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
