Changes

At a young age, Hoover was self-reliant and ambitious. "My boyhood ambition was to be able to earn my own living, without the help of anybody, anywhere," he once said. As an office boy in his uncle's Oregon Land Company he excelled in bookkeeping and typing, while also attending business school in the evening. Thanks to a local schoolteacher, Miss Jane Gray, the young Hoover was introduced to the novels of [[Charles Dickens]] and [[Sir Walter Scott]]. ''[[David Copperfield]]'', the story of another orphan cast into the world, was Hoover's lifelong favorite.

At a young age, Hoover was self-reliant and ambitious. "My boyhood ambition was to be able to earn my own living, without the help of anybody, anywhere," he once said. As an office boy in his uncle's Oregon Land Company he excelled in bookkeeping and typing, while also attending business school in the evening. Thanks to a local schoolteacher, Miss Jane Gray, the young Hoover was introduced to the novels of [[Charles Dickens]] and [[Sir Walter Scott]]. ''[[David Copperfield]]'', the story of another orphan cast into the world, was Hoover's lifelong favorite.

===Stanford===

===Stanford===

In 1891, Hoover entered the new [[Stanford University]] in California. Hoover managed the baseball and football teams, started a laundry, and ran a lecture agency. With the support of other students from less wealthy backgrounds against campus "swells," he was elected student body treasurer on the "Barbarian" slate.  It was the only election he ran in until he ran for president.

In 1891, Hoover entered the new [[Stanford University]] in California. Hoover managed the baseball and football teams, started a laundry, and ran a lecture agency. With the support of other students from less wealthy backgrounds against campus "swells," he was elected student body treasurer on the "Barbarian" slate.  It was the only election he ran in until he ran for president.

Hoover majored in geology, studying with Professor John Casper Branner, who helped him get summer jobs mapping terrain in Arkansas and Colorado. Hoover met [[Lou Henry Hoover]], a banker's daughter from Waterloo, Iowa. They shared a love of geology and the environment, and were both remarkably strong willed. Lou said, "It isn't so important what others think of you as what you feel inside yourself".  She became a Quaker when they married in 1899; they had two sons.

Hoover majored in geology, studying with Professor John Casper Branner, who helped him get summer jobs mapping terrain in Arkansas and Colorado. Hoover met [[Lou Henry Hoover]], a banker's daughter from Waterloo, Iowa. They shared a love of geology and the environment, and were both remarkably strong willed. Lou said, "It isn't so important what others think of you as what you feel inside yourself".  She became a Quaker when they married in 1899; they had two sons.

===Mining engineer===

===Mining engineer===

After graduating in 1895 Hoover worked as a clerk with a San Francisco consulting firm of Louis Janin. He joined the British mining firm, Bewick, Moering & Co. which sent him to the new mines in far western Australia.

After graduating in 1895 Hoover worked as a clerk with a San Francisco consulting firm of Louis Janin. He joined the British mining firm, Bewick, Moering & Co. which sent him to the new mines in far western Australia.

===Reconstruction Finance Corporation===

===Reconstruction Finance Corporation===

The most successful Hoover program—one that continued under FDR—was the [[Reconstruction Finance Corporation]], proposed by Hoover and created by Congress in early 1932. The collapse in the value of  assets combined with demands from panicky depositors to get their money out meant that many banks that were otherwise solvent, hoarded their money and refused to make loans.  It was much like the [[Financial Crisis of 2008]]. The RFC could make loans to banks, insurance companies and railroads. The Emergency Relief and Construction Act of  July 21, 1932, enlarged its power to allow for loans to state government and to farm agencies. The immediate aim was to restore confidence in  financial institutions generally and encourage them to start lending again, prevent ruinous bankruptcies that would further destabilize the shaky economy, and—hopefully—revive the economy  through the restoration of credit.  The RFC was capitalized at $500 million (comparable in size to $130 billion in 2009), provided by the  federal government, and it was empowered to sell $3.3 billion (comparable to $850 billion in 2009) of debentures. Through  the end of the Hoover administration $2.2 billion was actually loaned to authorized  borrowers (comparable to $590 billion). The RFC saved many railroads, banks, and insurance companies. Democrats limited its effectiveness by overly stringent security requirements for loans and by the decision of Congress to require public disclosure of borrowers, which virtually forced a bank to admit publicly it was in trouble.

The most successful Hoover program—one that continued under FDR—was the [[Reconstruction Finance Corporation]], proposed by Hoover and created by Congress in early 1932. The collapse in the value of  assets combined with demands from panicky depositors to get their money out meant that many banks that were otherwise solvent, hoarded their money and refused to make loans.  It was much like the [[Financial Crisis of 2008]]. The RFC could make loans to banks, insurance companies and railroads. The Emergency Relief and Construction Act of  July 21, 1932, enlarged its power to allow for loans to state government and to farm agencies. The immediate aim was to restore confidence in  financial institutions generally and encourage them to start lending again, prevent ruinous bankruptcies that would further destabilize the shaky economy, and—hopefully—revive the economy  through the restoration of credit.  The RFC was capitalized at $500 million (comparable in size to $130 billion in 2009), provided by the  federal government, and it was empowered to sell $3.3 billion (comparable to $850 billion in 2009) of debentures. Through  the end of the Hoover administration $2.2 billion was actually loaned to authorized  borrowers (comparable to $590 billion). The RFC saved many railroads, banks, and insurance companies. Democrats limited its effectiveness by overly stringent security requirements for loans and by the decision of Congress to require public disclosure of borrowers, which virtually forced a bank to admit publicly it was in trouble.

==Presidency: Other actions==

==Presidency: Other actions==