Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover
31st President of the United States
Term of office March 4, 1929 - March 4, 1933
Political party	Republican
Vice President	Charles Curtis
Preceded by	Calvin Coolidge
Succeeded by	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Born	August 10, 1874 West Branch, Iowa
Died	October 20, 1964 New York, New York
Spouse	Lou Henry Hoover
Religion	Quaker

Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States of America 1929-33, a Republican best known for his inability to prevent the collapse of the U.S. economy into the Great Depression. he was defeated for reelection by Franklin D. Roosevelt in a major realignment that marked the beginning of the New Deal and the Fifth party System. Hoover liveed another three decades, mostly as a bitterly reviled target of liberal and Democratic hatreds, while hailed by conservatives as a great, albeit tragic, American hero.

Hoover, building a orld reputation as a humanitarian for his successful efforts to prevent starvation in Europe in the wake of [{World War I]], and his remarkable leadership of the business community as Secretary of Commerce (1921-28), was the major political leader of the Progressive Era in the 1920s. His name was a byword for devotion to duty, efficiency, and humanitarian public service. His reputation fell when he was unable to reverse the Great Depression, and he became the object of attacks by Democrats for the next four decades. He was a hero to most conservatives, including senators Robert Taft and Barry Goldwater.

Early Life

Hoover was born in a small cottage in Iowa in 1874, and attended Stanford University, . After graduating with a degree in geology, he pursued a career in engineering. In 1900, this led him to China, where he became caught in the midst of the Boxer Rebellion .

Food Controller

Hoover was requested, by the neutral country of Belgium, to arrange its food supply through World War I. Hoover accepted the challenge. He was so successful in this position that Wilson asked him to serve as his food administrator. He served in that position successfully until the end of the war. He was among those considered for the Democratic nomination. However, he shut off all hopes by announcing he was a Republican.

Election to Presidency

Calvin Coolidge decided against running for reelection in 1928. As a member of his Cabinet, Hoover was nominated to the Republican ticket. He was able to use the popularity of the Coolidge Administration to win in the 1928 Presidential Election.

He held office from 1929 to 1933 during the Great Depression. Hoover's success in fighting the economic disaster that was upon the US was not evident during his presidency, and that cost him his popularity as well as re-election in the 1932 Presidential Election. Unemployment was near 25% by 1932.

Hoover's popularity takes a hit

Many people lost their jobs during the Great Depression and were forced to move into "shantytowns" that became known as "Hoovervilles", a mocking tribute to the President whom they blamed for their financial woes. (This link contains pictures of several "Hoovervilles".) Hoover's popularity took a further hit when a group of veterans from World War I known as the Bonus Army marched on Washington, D.C. to demand their cash bonuses that they were to receive in 1945 for their military service. Hoover deployed the Army to drive out these marchers, of whom there were up to 10,000, which was a further public relations nightmare. Hoover lost the United States presidential election of 1932 election by a landslide to Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, winning only 59 electoral votes.

Miscellaneous

The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum is located in West Branch, Iowa.

Hoover's wife, Lou Henry Hoover, served as the president of the Girl Scouts.

Bibliography

Basic readings

• Best, Gary Dean. The Politics of American Individualism: Herbert Hoover in Transition, 1918-1921 (1975) online edition, by a conservative scholar
• Bornet, Vaughn Davis, An Uncommon President. In: Herbert Hoover Reassessed. (1981), pp. 71-88, by conservative scholar
• Burner, David. Herbert Hoover: A Public Life. (1979). good one-volume biography by a liberal historian
• Fausold, Martin L. The Presidency of Herbert C. Hoover. (1985) standard scholarly overview.
• Fausold Martin L. and George Mazuzan, eds. The Hoover Presidency: A Reappraisal (1974).
• Hawley, Ellis. Herbert Hoover as Secretary of Commerce: Studies in New Era Thought and Practice (1981). A major reinterpretation.
• Hawley, Ellis. "Herbert Hoover, the Commerce Secretariat, and the Vision of an 'Associative State,' 1921-1928." Journal of American History 61 (1974): 116-140. in JSTOR
• Hoff-Wilson, Joan. Herbert Hoover: Forgotten Progressive. (1975). short favorable biography
• Kennedy, David M. Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 (1999), the major scholarly synthesis online edition
• Nash, George H. The Life of Herbert Hoover: The Engineer 1874-1914 (1983), the definitive scholarly biography, by a leading conservative scholar
  • Nash, George H. Life of Herbert Hoover: The Humanitarian, 1914-1917 (1988), vol. 2. excerpt and text search
  • Nash, George H. The Life of Herbert Hoover: Master of Emergencies, 1917-1918 (1996), vol. 3
• Robinson, Edgar Eugene and Vaughn Davis Bornet. Herbert Hoover: President of the United States. (1976), conservative views
• Romasco, Albert U. The Poverty of Abundance: Hoover, the Nation, the Depression (1965).
• Smith, Richard Norton. An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover, (1987), major biography, especially useful for 1933-64.
• Wilbur, Ray Lyman, and Arthur Mastick Hyde. The Hoover Policies. (1937). In depth description of his administration by two cabinet members.

Secondary sources

• Long annotated bibliography via University of Virginia.
• Barber, William J. From New Era to New Deal: Herbert Hoover, the Economists, and American Economic Policy, 1921-1933. (1985). excerpt and text search
• Barry, John M. Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America (1998), Hoover played a major role.
• Best, Gary Dean. The Politics of American Individualism: Herbert Hoover in Transition, 1918-1921 (1975) online edition
• Bornet, Vaughn Davis, An Uncommon President. In: Herbert Hoover Reassessed. (1981), pp. 71-88.
• Britten, Thomas A. "Hoover and the Indians: the Case for Continuity in Federal Indian Policy, 1900-1933" Historian 1999 61(3): 518-538. Issn: 0018-2370
• Burner, David. Herbert Hoover: A Public Life. (1979). good one-volume biography.
• Calder, James D. The Origins and Development of Federal Crime Control Policy: Herbert Hoover's Initiatives Praeger, 1993.
• Carcasson, Martin. "Herbert Hoover and the Presidential Campaign of 1932: the Failure of Apologia" Presidential Studies Quarterly 1998 28(2): 349-365.
• Clements, Kendrick A. Hoover, Conservation, and Consumerism: Engineering the Good Life. U. Press of Kansas, 2000.
• Darling, Jay N. As Ding Saw Herbert Hoover (1996) editorial cartoons by Darling (mostly pro-Hoover) excerpt and text search
• DeConde, Alexander. Herbert Hoover's Latin American Policy. (1951).
• Dodge, Mark M., ed. Herbert Hoover and the Historians. (1989).
• Doenecke, Justus D. "Anti-Interventionism of Herbert Hoover" Journal of Libertarian Studies, Summer 1987, 8(2), pp. 311-340. online version
• Fausold, Martin L. The Presidency of Herbert C. Hoover. (1985) standard scholarly overview.
• Fausold Martin L. and George Mazuzan, eds. The Hoover Presidency: A Reappraisal (1974).
• Ferrell, Robert H. American Diplomacy in the Great Depression: Hoover-Stimson Foreign Policy, 1929-1933. (1957).
• Gaddis, Vincent. Herbert Hoover, Unemployment, and the Public Sphere: A Conceptual History, 1919–1933. (University Press of America, 2005. xxx, 180 pp. isbn 0-7618-3235-1.)
• Gelfand, Lawrence E. ed., Herbert Hoover: The Great War and Its Aftermath, 1914-1923 (1979).
• Goodman, Mark and Gring, Mark. "The Ideological Fight over Creation of the Federal Radio Commission in 1927" Journalism History 2000 26(3): 117-124.
• Hamilton, David E. From New Day to New Deal: American Farm Policy from Hoover to Roosevelt, 1928-1933. (1991).
• Hart, David M. "Herbert Hoover's Last Laugh: the Enduring Significance of the 'Associative State' in the United States." Journal of Policy History 1998 10(4): 419-444.
• Hatfield, Mark. ed. Herbert Hoover Reassessed (2002).
• Hawley, Ellis. Herbert Hoover as Secretary of Commerce: Studies in New Era Thought and Practice (1981). A major reinterpretation.
• Hawley, Ellis. Herbert Hoover and the Historians (1989).
• Hawley, Ellis. "Herbert Hoover, the Commerce Secretariat, and the Vision of an 'Associative State,' 1921-1928." Journal of American History 61 (1974): 116-140.
• Hoff-Wilson, Joan. Herbert Hoover: Forgotten Progressive. (1975). short biography
• Houck, Davis W. "Rhetoric as Currency: Herbert Hoover and the 1929 Stock Market Crash" Rhetoric & Public Affairs 2000 3(2): 155-181. Issn: 1094-8392
• Hutchison, Janet. "Building for Babbitt: the State and the Suburban Home Ideal" Journal of Policy History 1997 9(2): 184-210

• Lee, David D. "Herbert Hoover and the Development of Commercial Aviation, 1921-1926," Business History Review, Vol. 58, No. 1, Transportation (Spring, 1984), pp. 78-102 in JSTOR
• Lichtman, Allan J. Prejudice and the Old Politics: The Presidential Election of 1928 (1979), statistical analysis of voting patterns
• Liebovich, Louis W. Bylines in Despair: Herbert Hoover, the Great Depression, and the U.S. News Media (1994) excerpt and text search
• Lisio, Donald J. The President and Protest: Hoover, MacArthur, and the Bonus Riot, 2d ed. (1994).
• Lisio, Donald J. Hoover, Blacks, and Lily-whites: A Study of Southern Strategies (1985)
• Lloyd, Craig. Aggressive Introvert: A Study of Herbert Hoover and Public Relations Management, 1912-1932 (1973).
• Nash, George H. The Life of Herbert Hoover: The Engineer 1874-1914 (1983), the definitive scholarly biography.
• Nash, George H. Life of Herbert Hoover: The Humanitarian, 1914-1917 (1988), vol. 2. excerpt and text search
• Nash, George H. The Life of Herbert Hoover: Master of Emergencies, 1917-1918 (1996), vol. 3
• Nash, Lee, ed. Understanding Herbert Hoover: Ten Perspectives (1987)
• Olson, James S. Herbert Hoover and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, 1931-1933 (1977).
• Ortiz, Stephen R. "Rethinking the Bonus March: Federal Bonus Policy, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Origins of a Protest Movement," Journal of Policy History, 18 (no. 3, 2006), 275–303.
• Robinson, Edgar Eugene and Vaughn Davis Bornet. Herbert Hoover: President of the United States. (1976).
• Romasco, Albert U. The Poverty of Abundance: Hoover, the Nation, the Depression (1965).
• Schwarz, Jordan A. The Interregnum of Despair: Hoover, Congress, and the Depression. (1970). Hostile to Hoover.
• Smith, Richard Norton. An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover, (1987) covers 1933-64.
• Sobel, Robert. Herbert Hoover and the Onset of the Great Depression 1929-1930 (1975).
• Tracey, Kathleen. Herbert Hoover--A Bibliography. His Writings and Addresses (1977).
• Walch, Timothy. ed. Uncommon Americans: The Lives and Legacies of Herbert and Lou Henri Hoover Praeger, 2003.
• Weissman, Benjamin M. Herbert Hoover and Famine Relief to Soviet Russia: 1921-1923 (1974)
• Wilbur, Ray Lyman, and Arthur Mastick Hyde. The Hoover Policies. (1937). In depth description of his administration by two cabinet members.
• Wueschner, Silvano A. Charting Twentieth-Century Monetary Policy: Herbert Hoover and Benjamin Strong, 1917-1927. Greenwood, 1999. edition
• Zalewski, David A. "A Reconsideration of the Revenue Act of 1932," Essays in Economic and Business History, 24 (2006), 56–68.

Primary sources

• Myers, William Starr and Walter H. Newton, eds. The Hoover Administration; a documented narrative. 1936.
• Hawley, Ellis, ed. Herbert Hoover: Containing the Public Messages, Speeches, and Statements of the President, 4 vols. (1974-1977)
  • available online
• Hoover, Herbert Clark and Lou Henry Hoover, trans., De Re Metallica, by Agricola, G., The Mining magazine, London, 1912
• Hoover, Herbert C. The Challenge to Liberty, 1934
• Hoover, Herbert C. Addresses Upon The American Road, 1933-1938, 1938
• Hoover, Herbert C. Addresses Upon The American Road, 1940-41, (1941) online edition
• Hoover, Herbert C. The Problems of Lasting Peace, with Hugh Gibson, 1942
• Hoover, Herbert C. Addresses Upon The American Road, 1945-48, (1949) online edition
• Hoover, Herbert C. The Hoover Commission Report on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government (1949) online edition
• Hoover, Herbert C. 40 Key Questions about Our Foreign Policy: Answered in Important Addresses and Statements Delivered between 1941 and 1952 (1952) online edition
• Hoover, Herbert C. Memoirs. New York, 1951–52. 3 vol; v. 1. Years of adventure, 1874–1920; v. 2. The Cabinet and the Presidency, 1920–1933; v. 3. The Great Depression, 1929–1941. vol 2 online edition
• Dwight M. Miller and Timothy Walch, eds; Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Documentary History. Greenwood Press. 1998. online edition

External links

• Herbert Hoover Presidential Library
• Inaugural Address
• Audio clips of Hoover's speeches
• Herbert Hoover First State of the Union Address
• Herbert Hoover Second State of the Union Address
• Herbert Hoover Third State of the Union Address
• Herbert Hoover Fourth State of the Union Address
• Herbert Hoover Links
• Herbert Hoover's 1946 - 1947 factfinding mission to Germany. (Report No.1), (Report No.3)
• Hoover and Truman