Herbert Hoover Timeline 1874-1964

Title

Herbert Hoover Timeline 1874-1964

Description

Hoover, Herbert C. 1874-1964, mining engineer, humanitarian, U.S. secretary of commerce, and 31st president of the United States, was the son of Jesse Hoover, a blacksmith, and Hulda Minthorn Hoover, a seamstress and recorded minister in the Society of Friends (Quakers). Hoover was born in West Branch, Iowa, where he enjoyed fishing in the local creek and working in his father’s blacksmith shop. Hoover lived in Iowa only for the first decade of his life. Orphaned at the age of nine, he began an odyssey that would make him a multi-millionaire, international humanitarian, secretary of commerce, and 31st president of the United States. He left Iowa in November 1885, bound for Oregon and the home of his maternal uncle, Henry Minthorn. Hoover lived with the Minthorns for six years; at the age of 14 he left school to work as a clerk in his uncle's real estate business. Three years later, Hoover decided to pursue a career as mining engineer, Hoover sought to resume his studies and applied to a new school, Leland Stanford Junior University, set to open in 1891.

It was at Stanford that he made life long friends, found a mentor in Professor John Caspar Branner; and met his future wife, Lou Henry. He was active in extracurricular activities, serving as student body treasurer and as manager of both the baseball and football teams. In 1928, when President Coolidge chose not to run for another term, Hoover easily won the Republican nomination despite never having held an elective office. In the November election, he defeated Alfred E. Smith, the Democratic governor of New York, in a landslide.

As president, Hoover had hoped to govern in the progressive tradition of Theodore Roosevelt. And true to his dream, he devoted the first eight months of his presidency to a variety of social, economic, and environmental reforms. Following the stock market “crash” of October 1929, the president became increasingly preoccupied with the collapse of the American economy. He established new agencies such as the Federal Farm Board, the Federal Drought Relief Committee, and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.
The president would not, however, provide direct federal relief to the unemployed. As an alternative, he promoted indirect relief through public works projects and loans to the states. His programs proved inadequate, however, as the number of unemployed workers increased from seven million in 1931 to eleven million in 1933. The president’s political reputation as the “master of emergencies” plummeted in the face of rising unemployment. He nonetheless mounted a vigorous campaign for reelection in 1932 and traveled the country by train defending his policies at every stop. But it came as no surprise to Hoover that he lost to Franklin D. Roosevelt in the general election. Hoover departed Washington with a heavy heart on March 4, 1933.

Creator

Elmer Wesley Greene

Date

1956

Rights

White House Research

Publisher

White House Research

Contributor

Elmer Wesley Greene

Format

Medium: Painting

Language

English

Type

Portrait

Identifier

Timeline

Coverage

Historic

Files

Hhoover.jpeg

Reference

Elmer Wesley Greene, Herbert Hoover Timeline 1874-1964, White House Research, 1956

Cite As

Elmer Wesley Greene, “Herbert Hoover Timeline 1874-1964,” Virtual Museum of Public Service, accessed March 28, 2024, https://vmps.omeka.net/items/show/99.