View source for Herbert Hoover

{{Short description|President of the United States from 1929 to 1933}}
{{about|the president of the United States|other uses}}
{{Redirect|President Hoover|the ship|SS President Hoover{{!}}SS ''President Hoover''}}
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{{Use American English|date=July 2020}}
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{{Infobox officeholder
| image               = President Hoover portrait.jpg
| caption             = Hoover in 1928
| office              = 31st [[President of the United States]]
| vicepresident       = [[Charles Curtis]]
| term_start          = March 4, 1929
| term_end            = March 4, 1933
| predecessor         = [[Calvin Coolidge]]
| successor           = [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]
| office1             = 3rd [[United States Secretary of Commerce]]
| president1          = {{plainlist|
* [[Warren G. Harding]]
* Calvin Coolidge}}
| term_start1         = March 5, 1921
| term_end1           = August 21, 1928
| predecessor1        = [[Joshua W. Alexander]]
| successor1          = [[William F. Whiting]]
| office2             = Director of the<br />[[United States Food Administration]]
| president2          = [[Woodrow Wilson]]
| term_start2         = August 21, 1917
| term_end2           = November 16, 1918
| predecessor2        = Position established
| successor2          = Position abolished
| birth_name          = Herbert Clark Hoover
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1874|8|10}}
| birth_place         = [[West Branch, Iowa]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1964|10|20|1874|8|10}}
| death_place         = New York City, U.S.
| restingplace        = [[Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum]]
| party               = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] (from 1920)
| otherparty          = [[Independent politician|Independent]] (before 1920)
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Lou Henry Hoover|Lou Henry]]|February 10, 1899|January 7, 1944|end=died}}
| children            = {{flatlist|
* [[Herbert Hoover Jr.|Herbert Jr.]]
* [[Allan Hoover|Allan]]}}
| education           = [[Stanford University]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]])
| signature           = Herbert Clark Hoover Signature.svg
| signature_alt       = Cursive signature in ink
| module              = {{Listen
|pos         = center
|embed       = yes
|filename    = Hoover moment.ogg
|title       = Hoover's voice
|type        = speech
|description = Announcing his [[Presidency of Herbert Hoover#Later response|1931 economic stimulus plan]]<br>Recorded October 1931}}
}}
{{Herbert Hoover series}}
'''Herbert Clark Hoover''' (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st [[president of the United States]], serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime [[Commission for Relief in Belgium]] and was the director of the [[U.S. Food Administration]], followed by post-war relief of Europe. As a member of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]], he served as the third [[United States secretary of commerce]] from 1921 to 1928 before being [[1928 United States presidential election|elected president in 1928]]. His presidency was dominated by the [[Great Depression]], and his policies and methods to combat it were seen as lackluster. Amid his unpopularity, he decisively lost reelection to [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] in [[1932 United States presidential election|1932]].

Born to a [[Quaker]] family in [[West Branch, Iowa]], Hoover grew up in [[Oregon]]. He was one of the first graduates of the new [[Stanford University]] in 1895. Hoover took a position with a London-based mining company working in Australia and China. He rapidly became a wealthy mining engineer. In 1914, the outbreak of [[World War I]], he organized and headed the Commission for Relief in Belgium, an international relief organization that provided food to [[German occupation of Belgium during World War I|occupied Belgium]]. When the U.S. entered the war in 1917, President [[Woodrow Wilson]] appointed Hoover to lead the Food Administration. He became famous as his country's "food dictator". After the war, Hoover led the [[American Relief Administration]], which provided food to the starving millions in Central and Eastern Europe, especially Russia. His wartime service made him a favorite of many [[progressivism in the United States|progressives]], and he unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination in the [[1920 United States presidential election]].

Hoover served as Secretary of Commerce under presidents [[Warren G. Harding]] and [[Calvin Coolidge]]. Hoover was an unusually active and visible Cabinet member, becoming known as "Secretary of Commerce and Under-Secretary of all other departments." He was influential in the development of air travel and radio. Hoover led the federal response to the [[Great Mississippi Flood of 1927]]. He won the Republican nomination in the [[1928 United States presidential election|1928 presidential election]] and defeated Democratic candidate [[Al Smith]] in a landslide. In 1929, Hoover assumed the presidency. However, during his first year in office, [[Wall Street Crash of 1929|the stock market crashed]], signaling the onset of the Great Depression. Hoover supported the [[Mexican Repatriation]] and his response to the Great Depression was widely seen as lackluster.

In the midst of the Great Depression, he was decisively defeated by Democratic nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt in the [[1932 United States presidential election|1932 presidential election]]. Hoover's retirement was over 31 years long, one of the longest presidential retirements. He authored numerous works and became increasingly [[conservatism in the United States|conservative]] in retirement. He strongly criticized Roosevelt's foreign policy and the [[New Deal]]. In the 1940s and 1950s, public opinion of Hoover improved, largely due to his service in various assignments for presidents [[Harry S. Truman]] and [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], including chairing the influential [[Hoover Commission]]. Critical assessments of his presidency by historians and political scientists generally [[Historical rankings of presidents of the United States|rank him]] as amongst the worst presidents in American history, although Hoover has received praise for his actions as a humanitarian and public official.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Levinson|first=Martin H.|title=Indexing and Dating America's 'Worst' Presidents |date=2011 |journal=ETC: A Review of General Semantics |volume=68 |issue=2 |pages=147–155 |jstor=42579110 |issn=0014-164X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Merry |first=Robert W. |date=January 3, 2021|title=RANKED: Historians Don't Think Much of These Five U.S. Presidents |url=https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/ranked-historians-dont-think-much-these-five-us-presidents-175654 |access-date=February 25, 2022 |magazine=The National Interest}}</ref><ref name="lemann" />

==Early life and education==
{{stack|float=left|[[File:Herbert Hoover birthplace.jpg|left|thumb|Hoover's birthplace cottage in [[West Branch, Iowa]]]]}}

Herbert Clark Hoover was born on August 10, 1874, in [[West Branch, Iowa]].{{efn|Hoover later became the first president born west of the [[Mississippi River]], and remains the only president born in Iowa.{{sfn|Burner|1996|p=4}}}} His father, Jesse Hoover, was a [[blacksmith]] and farm implement store owner of German, Swiss, and English ancestry.{{sfn|Burner|1996|p=4}} Hoover's mother, Hulda Randall Minthorn, was raised in [[Norwich, Ontario]], Canada, before moving to [[Iowa]] in 1859. Like most other citizens of West Branch, Jesse and Hulda were [[Quakers]].{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=5–10}} Around age two "Bertie", as he was called during that time, contracted a serious bout of [[croup]], and was momentarily thought to have died until resuscitated by his uncle, John Minthorn.<ref>Burner, p. 6.</ref> As a young child he was often referred to by his father as "my little stick in the mud" when he repeatedly got trapped in the mud crossing the unpaved street.<ref>Burner, p. 7.</ref> Herbert's family figured prominently in the town's public prayer life, due almost entirely to mother Hulda's role in the church.<ref>Burner, p. 9.</ref> As a child, Hoover consistently attended schools, but he did little reading on his own aside from the Bible.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=13–14, 31}} Hoover's father, noted by the local paper for his "pleasant, sunshiny disposition", died in 1880 at the age of 34 of a sudden heart attack.{{sfn|Burner|1996|p=10}} Hoover's mother died in 1884 of [[typhoid]], leaving Hoover, his older brother, Theodore, and his younger sister, May, as orphans.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=17–18}} Hoover lived the next 18 months with his uncle Allen Hoover at a nearby farm.<ref>{{cite web | last=Crippen | first=Ray | title=Column: President spent days of his boyhood only 90 miles away | website=Worthington Globe | date=August 19, 2017 | url=https://www.dglobe.com/community/column-president-spent-days-of-his-boyhood-only-90-miles-away | access-date=August 8, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/presidents/bio31.htm| title = National Park Service – The Presidents (Herbert Hoover)<!-- Bot generated title -->}}</ref>

[[File:Herbert Hoover in 1877.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.57|Hoover in 1877]]

In November 1885, Hoover was sent to [[Newberg, Oregon]], to live with his uncle John Minthorn, a Quaker physician and businessman whose own son had died the year before.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://hoover.archives.gov/timeline#event-/timeline/item/hoover-moved-newberg-oregon |title = Timeline|date = December 6, 2017}}</ref> The Minthorn household was considered cultured and educational, and imparted a strong work ethic.{{sfn|Burner|1996|p=12}} Much like West Branch, Newberg was a frontier town settled largely by Midwestern Quakers.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=20–21}} Minthorn ensured that Hoover received an education, but Hoover disliked the many chores assigned to him and often resented Minthorn. One observer described Hoover as "an orphan [who] seemed to be neglected in many ways".{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=22–24}} Hoover attended Friends Pacific Academy (now [[George Fox University]]), but dropped out at the age of thirteen to become an office assistant for his uncle's real estate office (Oregon Land Company)<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://hoover.archives.gov/timeline#event-/timeline/item/hoover-worked-oregon-land-company-salem-oregon |title = Timeline|date = December 6, 2017}}</ref> in [[Salem, Oregon]]. Though he did not attend high school, Hoover learned bookkeeping, typing, and mathematics at a night school.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=4–6}}

Hoover was a member of the inaugural "Pioneer Class" of [[Stanford University]], entering in 1891 despite failing all the [[Educational entrance examination|entrance exams]] except mathematics.{{sfn|Burner|1996|p=16}}{{efn|Hoover later claimed to be the first student at Stanford, by virtue of having been the first person in the first class to sleep in the dormitory.<ref name=e1>{{Citation | first = David 'Dave' | last = Revsine | url = https://www.espn.com/college-football/columns/story?columnist=revsine_dave&id=2680873 | title = One-sided numbers dominate Saturday's rivalry games | newspaper = ESPN | date = November 30, 2006 | publisher = Go | access-date = November 30, 2006}}</ref>}} During his freshman year, he switched his major from mechanical engineering to geology after working for [[John Casper Branner]], the chairman of Stanford's geology department. During his sophomore year, Sam Collins proposed founding, ''Romero Hall Boarding Club'', the first student cooperative boarding house at Romero Hall, for "sociability and economy", which Hoover and [[Hidden Houses|William Foster Hidden]] co-founded.<ref name="Lane">{{cite book |last1=Lane |first1=Rose Wilder |title=The Making of Herbert Hoover |date=1920 |publisher=The Century Co. |location=New York |pages=130–139 |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924030938983 |access-date=November 2, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Irwin |first1=Will |author1-link=Will Irwin |title=Herbert Hoover: A Reminiscent Biography |date=1928 |publisher=[[Century Company]] |url=<!-- https://books.google.com/books?id=7n1BAAAAIAAJ -->https://archive.org/details/herberthooverare007945mbp |access-date=September 15, 2024 |via=[[archive.org]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Lockley |first1=Fred |title=History of the Columbia River Valley from the Dalles to the Sea |date=1928 |publisher=[[S. J. Clarke Publishing Company]] |page=498 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7AxNswEACAAJ |access-date=September 15, 2024 |chapter=W. Foster Hidden (William Foster Hidden (1871–1963)) |quote=In 1891 he was among the first high school pupils to receive diplomas in  Vancouver and next matriculated in Leland Stanford University, becoming a  member of the class of 1895, with which Herbert Hoover was also identified.  While a sophomore in that institution he helped to establish the Romero Hall  Boarding Club, of which Mr. Hoover also became a member. |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ccgs-wa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/V45.pdf|title=Trail Breakers – Vol. 45, July 2018 to June 2019|access-date=October 29, 2024}}</ref> Hoover was a mediocre student, and he spent much of his time working in various part-time jobs or participating in campus activities.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=35–39}} Though he was initially shy among fellow students, Hoover won election as student treasurer and became known for his distaste for [[fraternities and sororities]].{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=6–9}} He served as student manager of both the [[Stanford Cardinal baseball|baseball]] and [[Stanford Cardinal football|football teams]], and helped organize the inaugural [[Big Game (American football)|Big Game]] versus the [[University of California, Berkeley|University of California]].<ref>Big Games: College Football's Greatest Rivalries&nbsp;– Page 222</ref> During the summers before and after his senior year, Hoover interned under economic geologist [[Waldemar Lindgren]] of the [[United States Geological Survey]]; these experiences convinced Hoover to pursue a career as a mining geologist.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=39–41}}

==Mining engineer==
===Bewick, Moreing===
[[File:Herbert Hoover in 1898.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Hoover, aged 23; taken in [[Perth]], Western Australia, in 1898]]

When Hoover graduated from Stanford in 1895, the country was in the midst of the [[Panic of 1893]] and he initially struggled to find a job.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=6–9}} He worked in various low-level mining jobs in the [[Sierra Nevada|Sierra Nevada Mountains]] until persuading prominent mining engineer Louis Janin to hire him.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=46–48}} After working as a mine scout for a year, Hoover was hired by Bewick, Moreing & Co. ("Bewick"), a London-based company that operated [[Gold mining|gold mines]] in [[Western Australia]].{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=48–50}} He first went to [[Coolgardie, Western Australia|Coolgardie]], then the center of the [[Eastern Goldfields]], which was actually in [[Western Australia]], receiving a $5,000 salary ({{Inflation|US|5000|1897|fmt=eq}}). Conditions were harsh in the goldfields; Hoover described the [[Coolgardie (biogeographic region)|Coolgardie]] and [[Murchison (biogeographic region)|Murchison]] [[rangeland]]s on the edge of the [[Great Victoria Desert]] as a land of "black flies, red dust and white heat".<ref name="Hoover biography">{{cite web|url=http://hooverinstitutionla.blogspot.com/2011/06/herbert-hoover-just-another-stanford.html?m=1|title=Herbert Hoover, the graduate: Have Stanford degree, will travel |date=June 15, 2011|publisher=Hoover Institution |access-date=January 24, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | url = http://hoover.archives.gov/info/faq.html#Australia | publisher = Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum | title = FAQ | contribution = What did the President do in Western Australia? | access-date = January 18, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120118014403/http://www.hoover.archives.gov/info/faq.html#Australia | archive-date = January 18, 2012 | url-status = dead | df = mdy-all }}</ref>

Hoover traveled constantly across the [[Outback]] to evaluate and manage the company's mines.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=54–55}} He convinced Bewick to purchase the [[Sons of Gwalia]] gold mine, which proved to be one of the most successful mines in the region.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|p=56}} Partly due to Hoover's efforts, the company eventually controlled approximately 50 percent of gold production in [[Western Australia]].{{sfn|Nash|1983|p=283}} Hoover brought in many [[Italian Australians|Italian immigrants]] to cut costs and counter the [[Australian labour movement|labour movement]] of the Australian miners.<ref name=HG>{{Citation | url = http://www.gwalia.org.au/ | title = Gwalia Historic Site | place = AU}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/programsales/studyguide/StG_Hoovers_Gold.pdf | publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|year=2005|title=Hoover's Gold|access-date=June 17, 2010}}</ref> During his time with the mining company, Hoover became opposed to measures such as a [[minimum wage]] and [[workers' compensation]], feeling that they were unfair to owners. Hoover's work impressed his employers, and in 1898 he was promoted to junior partner.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=10–13}} An open feud developed between Hoover and his boss, Ernest Williams, but Bewick's leaders defused the situation by offering Hoover a compelling position in [[Qing China|China]].{{sfn|Burner|1996|p=32}}

Upon arriving in China, Hoover developed gold mines near [[Tianjin]] on behalf of Bewick and the Chinese-owned [[Chinese Engineering and Mining Company]].{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=70–71, 76}} He became deeply interested in [[History of China|Chinese history]], but gave up on learning the [[Chinese language|language]] to [[List of multilingual presidents of the United States#Herbert Hoover|a fluent level]]. He publicly warned that Chinese workers were inefficient and racially inferior.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=72–73}} He made recommendations to improve the lot of the Chinese worker, seeking to end the practice of imposing long-term servitude contracts and to institute reforms for workers based on merit.{{sfn|Burner|1996|p=34}} The [[Boxer Rebellion]] broke out shortly after the Hoovers arrived in China, trapping them and numerous other foreign nationals until a [[Eight-Nation Alliance|multi-national military force]] defeated Boxer forces in the [[Battle of Tientsin]]. Fearing the imminent collapse of the Chinese government, the director of the Chinese Engineering and Mining Company agreed to establish a new Sino-British venture with Bewick. After they established effective control over the new Chinese mining company, Hoover became the operating partner in late 1901.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=77–81, 85–89}}

In this role, Hoover continually traveled the world on behalf of Bewick, visiting mines operated by the company on different continents. Beginning in December 1902, the company faced mounting legal and financial issues after one of the partners admitted to having fraudulently sold stock in a mine. More issues arose in 1904 after the British government formed two separate [[Royal Commission|royal commissions]] to investigate Bewick's labor practices and financial dealings in Western Australia. After the company lost a lawsuit Hoover began looking for a way to get out of the partnership, and he sold his shares in mid-1908.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=88–93, 98, 102–104}}

===Sole proprietor===
[[File:HHoover (retouched).jpg|thumb|upright|Hoover in 1917 while a mining engineer]]

After leaving Bewick, Moreing, Hoover worked as a London-based independent mining consultant and financier. Though he had risen to prominence as a geologist and mine operator, Hoover focused much of his attention on raising money, restructuring corporate organizations, and financing new ventures.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=112–115}} He specialized in rejuvenating troubled mining operations, taking a share of the profits in exchange for his technical and financial expertise.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=11–13}} Hoover thought of himself and his associates as "engineering doctors to sick concerns", and he earned a reputation as a "doctor of sick mines".{{sfn|Nash|1983|p=392}} He made investments on every continent and had offices in San Francisco; London; New York City; Paris; Petrograd; and [[Mandalay]], [[Myanmar|British Burma]].<ref>Hoover, Herbert C. (1952). ''The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover Years of Adventure 1874–1920''. London: Hollis & Carter. p. 99</ref> By 1914, Hoover was a very wealthy man, with an estimated personal fortune of $4 million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|4|1914|r=2}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation-year|US}}).{{sfn|Nash|1983|p=569}}

Hoover co-founded the [[Consolidated Zinc|Zinc Corporation]] to extract [[zinc]] near the Australian city of [[Broken Hill]], [[New South Wales]].{{sfn|Whyte 2017|p=115}} The Zinc Corporation developed the [[froth flotation]] process to extract zinc from lead-silver ore{{sfn|Burner|1996|pp=24–43}} and operated the world's first selective ore differential flotation plant.<ref name="Blainey">{{cite book|last1=Blainey|first1=Geoffrey|title=The Rush That Never Ended|url=https://archive.org/details/rushthatneverend0000blai|url-access=registration|date=1963|publisher=Melbourne University Press|location=Melbourne|pages=[https://archive.org/details/rushthatneverend0000blai/page/265 265–268]}}</ref> Hoover worked with the Burma Corporation, a British firm that produced silver, lead, and zinc in large quantities at the [[Namtu]] [[Bawdwin Mine]].<ref name="Hoover" />{{rp|90–96,101–102}}{{sfn|Nash|1983|p=381}} He also helped increase [[Copper extraction|copper production]] in [[Kyshtym]], [[Russian Empire|Russia]], through the use of pyritic smelting. He also agreed to manage a separate mine in the [[Altai Mountains]] that, according to Hoover, "developed probably the greatest and richest single body of ore known in the world".<ref name="Hoover">Hoover, Herbert C. (1952). ''The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover Years of Adventure 1874–1920''. London: Hollis & Carter</ref>{{rp|102–108}}<ref name="Kennan">{{cite book|last1=Kennan|first1=George|title=Siberia and the Exile System|date=1891|publisher=James R. Osgood, McIlvaine & Co.|location=London|pages=165, 286}}</ref>

In his spare time, Hoover wrote. His lectures at [[Columbia University|Columbia]] and Stanford universities were published in 1909 as ''Principles of Mining'', which became a standard textbook. The book reflects his move towards [[Progressivism in the United States|progressive]] ideals, as Hoover came to endorse [[Eight-hour day|eight-hour workdays]] and [[Trade union|organized labor]].{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=18–20}} Hoover became deeply interested in the [[history of science]], and he was especially drawn to the ''[[De re metallica]]'', an influential 16th century work on mining and metallurgy by [[Georgius Agricola]]. In 1912, Hoover and his wife published the first English translation of ''De re metallica''.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=119–120}} Hoover also joined the board of trustees at Stanford, and led a successful campaign to appoint John Branner as the university's president.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=124–125}}

==Marriage and family==
[[File:Lou Henry Hoover House, 623 Mirada Rd., Stanford, CA 6-3-2012 3-31-07 PM.JPG|left|thumb|The [[Lou Henry Hoover House]] in [[Stanford, California]], the couple's first and only permanent residence]]

During his senior year at Stanford, Hoover became smitten with a classmate named [[Lou Henry Hoover|Lou Henry]], though his financial situation precluded marriage at that time.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=6–9}} The daughter of a banker from [[Monterey, California]], Lou Henry decided to study geology at Stanford after attending a lecture delivered by [[John Casper Branner|John C. Branner]].{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=43–44}} Immediately after earning a promotion in 1898, Hoover cabled Lou Henry, asking her to marry him. After she cabled back her acceptance of the proposal, Hoover briefly returned to the United States for their wedding.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=10–13}} They would remain married until Lou Henry Hoover's death in 1944.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|p=109}}

Though his Quaker upbringing strongly influenced his career, Hoover rarely attended Quaker meetings during his adult life.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=109, 123, 369–370}}<ref name="millerlbp">{{cite web |last1=Hamilton |first1=David E. |title=Herbert Hoover: Life Before the Presidency |url=https://millercenter.org/president/hoover/life-before-the-presidency |website=Miller Center |date=October 4, 2016 |access-date=February 19, 2019}}</ref> Hoover and his wife had two children: [[Herbert Hoover Jr.]] (born in 1903) and [[Allan Henry Hoover]] (born in 1907).{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=10–13}} The Hoover family began living in London in 1902, though they frequently traveled as part of Hoover's career.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=90, 96, 103}} After 1916, the Hoovers began living in the United States, maintaining homes in [[Stanford, California]], and Washington, D.C.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=182–183, 207–208, 312}} Hoover's great-granddaughter (through Allan) is [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] political commentator, strategist, media personality and author [[Margaret Hoover]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Hoover |first=Bob |title=Fox News contributor Margaret Hoover defends her great-grandfather: President Hoover |newspaper=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]] |date=July 24, 2011 |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/book-reviews/2011/07/24/Fox-News-contributor-Margaret-Hoover-defends-her-great-grandfather-President-Hoover/stories/201107240197 |access-date=November 15, 2018}}</ref>

Hoover's elder brother Theodore also studied mining engineering at Stanford, and returned there to become dean of the engineering school. In retirement, Theodore bought a large property on the remote north coast of Santa Cruz County. The [[Theodore J. Hoover Natural Preserve]] is now part of [[Big Basin State Park]].

==World War I and aftermath==

===Relief in Europe===
{{Further|Presidency of Woodrow Wilson}}
{{Main|Commission for Relief in Belgium}}
[[World War I]] broke out in August 1914, pitting Germany and its allies against France and its allies. The German [[Schlieffen plan]] was to achieve a quick victory by marching through neutral Belgium to envelop the French Army east of Paris. The maneuver failed to reach Paris, however the Germans were successful in taking nearly all of Belgium and would occupy the majority of nation for the remainder of the war. Hoover and other London-based American businessmen established a committee to organize the return of the roughly 100,000 Americans stranded in Europe. Hoover was appointed as the committee's chairman and, with the assent of Congress and the [[Presidency of Woodrow Wilson|Wilson administration]], took charge of the distribution of relief to Americans in Europe.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=132–136}} Hoover later stated, "I did not realize it at the moment, but on August 3, 1914, my career was over forever. I was on the slippery road of public life."<ref>{{cite web|title=The Humanitarian Years|url=http://hoover.archives.gov/exhibits/Hooverstory/gallery02/index.html|publisher=[[Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum]]|access-date=February 16, 2011|mode=cs2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110109151702/http://hoover.archives.gov/exhibits/Hooverstory/gallery02/index.html|archive-date=January 9, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> By early October 1914, Hoover's organization had distributed relief to at least 40,000 Americans.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=137–138}}

The [[German invasion of Belgium (1914)|German invasion of Belgium]] in August 1914 set a food crisis into motion in Belgium, a nation which relied heavily on food imports. The Germans refused to take responsibility for feeding Belgian citizens in captured territory, and the British refused to lift their [[Blockade of Germany (1914–1919)|blockade]] of [[German occupation of Belgium during World War I|German-occupied Belgium]] unless the U.S. government supervised Belgian food imports as a neutral party in the war.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=140–142}} With the cooperation of the Wilson administration and the [[Comité National de Secours et d'Alimentation|CNSA]], a Belgian relief organization, Hoover established the [[Commission for Relief in Belgium]] (CRB).{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=143–144}} The CRB obtained and imported millions of tons of foodstuffs for the CNSA to distribute, and helped ensure that the German army did not appropriate the food. Private donations and government grants supplied the majority of its $11-million-a-month budget, and the CRB became a veritable independent republic of relief, with its own flag, navy, factories, mills, and railroads.{{sfn|Burner|1996|p=79}}<ref>George H. Nash, "The "Great Humanitarian": Herbert Hoover, the Relief of Belgium, and the Reconstruction of Europe after War I." ''The Tocqueville Review'' 38.2 (2017): 55–70.</ref>{{Failed verification|date=December 2023}}

Hoover worked 14-hour days from London, administering the distribution of over two million tons of food to nine million war victims. In an early form of [[shuttle diplomacy]], he crossed the [[North Sea]] forty times to meet with German authorities and persuade them to allow food shipments.<ref name="Hudson2014">{{cite book|first=John|last=Hudson|title=Christmas 1914: The First World War at Home and Abroad|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a1YTDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT31|date=October 6, 2014|publisher=History Press|isbn=978-0-7509-6038-0|pages=31}}</ref> He also convinced British [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] [[David Lloyd George]] to allow individuals to send money to the people of Belgium, thereby lessening workload of the CRB.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=158–159}} At the request of the French government, the CRB began delivering supplies to the people of [[German occupation of north-east France during World War I|German-occupied Northern France]] in 1915.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|p=163}} In 1926, American diplomat [[Walter Hines Page|Walter Page]] described Hoover as "probably the only man living who has privately (i.e., without holding office) negotiated understandings with the British, French, German, Dutch, and Belgian governments".<ref name="HendrickWilson1926">{{cite book|first1=Burton Jesse|last1=Hendrick|first2=Woodrow|last2=Wilson|title=The life and letters of Walter H. Page|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wJonAQAAMAAJ|year=1926|publisher=Doubleday, Page|page=313}}</ref><ref name="WilsonLink1982">{{cite book|first1=Woodrow|last1=Wilson|first2=Arthur Stanley|last2=Link|title=The Papers of Woodrow Wilson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PjsJAQAAIAAJ|year=1982|publisher=Princeton University Press|page=369|isbn=978-0-691-04690-7}} vol 40 p 369.</ref>

===U.S. Food Administration===
{{Main |United States Food Administration}}
[[File:"Wanted Immediately. 2,000,000 Garments for destitute Men, Women, and children in occupied Northern France and... - NARA - 512616.jpg|upright|thumb|[[United States Food Administration|U.S. Food Administration]] poster]]
War upon Germany was declared in April 1917, and American food was essential to Allied victory. With the U.S. mobilizing for war, President Wilson appointed Hoover to head the [[United States Food Administration|U.S. Food Administration]], which was charged with ensuring the nation's food needs during the war.{{sfn|Burner|1996|pp=96–97}} Hoover had hoped to join the administration in some capacity since at least 1916, and he obtained the position after lobbying several members of Congress and Wilson's confidant, [[Edward M. House]].{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=178, 187–191}} Earning the appellation of "food czar", Hoover recruited a volunteer force of hundreds of thousands of women and deployed [[Propaganda in World War I|propaganda]] in movie theaters, schools, and churches.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=41–43}} He carefully selected men to assist in the agency leadership—[[Alonzo E. Taylor]] (technical abilities), [[Robert A. Taft|Robert Taft]] (political associations), [[Gifford Pinchot]] (agricultural influence), and Julius Barnes (business acumen).{{sfn|Burner|1996|p=101}}

[[World War I]] had created a global food crisis that dramatically increased food prices and caused food riots and starvation in the countries at war. Hoover's chief goal as food czar was to provide supplies to the Allied Powers, but he also sought to stabilize domestic prices and to prevent domestic shortages.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=183–185}} Under the broad powers granted by the [[Food and Fuel Control Act]], the Food Administration supervised food production throughout the United States, and the administration made use of its authority to buy, import, store, and sell food.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=198–199}} Determined to avoid rationing, Hoover established set days for people to avoid eating specified foods and save them for soldiers' rations: [[meatless Monday]]s, wheatless Wednesdays, and "when in doubt, eat potatoes". These policies were dubbed "Hooverizing" by government publicists, in spite of Hoover's continual orders that publicity should not mention him by name.{{sfn|Burner|1996|pp=104–109}} The Food Administration shipped 23 million metric tons of food to the Allied Powers, preventing their collapse and earning Hoover great acclaim.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=212–213}} As head of the Food Administration, Hoover gained a following in the United States, especially among progressives who saw in Hoover an expert administrator and symbol of efficiency.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=204–206}} He was elected to the [[American Philosophical Society]] during his tenure.<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Herbert+Hoover&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=October 2, 2023 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>

===Post-war relief in Europe===
{{Main|American Relief Administration}}
World War I came to an end in November 1918, but Europe continued to face a critical food situation; Hoover estimated that as many as 400 million people faced the possibility of starvation.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=214–215}} The United States Food Administration became the [[American Relief Administration]] (ARA), and Hoover was charged with providing food to Central and Eastern Europe.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=41–43, 57–58}} In addition to providing relief, the ARA rebuilt infrastructure in an effort to rejuvenate the economy of Europe.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=215–217}} Throughout the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]], Hoover served as a close adviser to President Wilson, and he largely shared Wilson's goals of establishing the [[League of Nations]], settling borders on the basis of [[self-determination]], and refraining from inflicting a harsh punishment on the defeated Central Powers.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=216–222}} The following year, the famed British economist [[John Maynard Keynes]] wrote in [[The Economic Consequences of the Peace]] that if Hoover's realism, "knowledge, magnanimity and disinterestedness" had found wider play in the councils of Paris, the world would have had "the Good Peace".{{sfn|Keynes|1919|p=247}} After U.S. government funding for the ARA expired in mid-1919, Hoover transformed the ARA into a private organization, raising millions of dollars from private donors.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=41–43, 57–58}} He also established the European Children's Fund, which provided relief to fifteen million children across fourteen countries.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|p=224}}

Despite the opposition of Senator [[Henry Cabot Lodge]] and other Republicans, Hoover provided aid to the defeated German nation after the war, as well as relief to [[Russian famine of 1921–1922|famine]]-stricken [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]].{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=41–43, 57–58}} Hoover condemned the [[Bolsheviks]] but warned President Wilson against an [[Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War|intervention]] in the [[Russian Civil War]], as he viewed the [[White movement|White Russian]] forces as little better than the Bolsheviks and feared the possibility of a protracted U.S. involvement.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=43–45}} The [[Russian famine of 1921–22]] claimed six million people, but the intervention of the ARA likely saved millions of lives.<ref>{{Citation | url = https://www.hoover.org/research/food-weapon| publisher = Hoover Institution | title = Hoover Digest | contribution = Food as a Weapon.}}</ref> When asked if he was not helping Bolshevism by providing relief, Hoover stated, "twenty million people are starving. Whatever their politics, they shall be fed!"{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=41–43, 57–58}} Reflecting the gratitude of many Europeans, in July 1922, Soviet author [[Maxim Gorky]] told Hoover that "your help will enter history as a unique, gigantic achievement, worthy of the greatest glory, which will long remain in the memory of millions of Russians whom you have saved from death".<ref>[http://news.stanford.edu/pr/2011/pr-famine-040411.html How the U.S. saved a starving Soviet Russia: PBS film highlights Stanford scholar's research on the 1921–23 famine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130064356/http://news.stanford.edu/pr/2011/pr-famine-040411.html |date=January 30, 2012 }}". Stanford University. April 4, 2011</ref>

In 1919, Hoover established the [[Hoover Institution Library and Archive|Hoover War Collection]] at Stanford University. He donated all the files of the Commission for Relief in Belgium, the U.S. Food Administration, and the American Relief Administration, and pledged $50,000 as an endowment ({{Inflation|US|50000|1919|fmt=eq}}). Scholars were sent to Europe to collect pamphlets, society publications, government documents, newspapers, posters, proclamations, and other ephemeral materials related to the war and the revolutions that followed it. The collection was renamed the Hoover War Library in 1922 and is now known as the [[Hoover Institution Library and Archives]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Hoover Institution Timeline |url=http://www.hoover.org/about/timeline |publisher=Hoover Institution |access-date=September 25, 2017}}</ref> During the post-war period, Hoover also served as the president of the Federated American Engineering Societies.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7e4eBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA67|title=Republicans and Labor: 1919—1929|first=Robert H.|last=Zieger|date=January 13, 2015|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|via=Google Books|isbn=978-0-8131-6499-1}}</ref><ref name=Himmelberg>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6KqqgTB8Q_wC&pg=PA169|title=Antitrust and Regulation During World War I and the Republican Era, 1917-1932|first=Robert F.|last=Himmelberg|date=1994|orig-date=1st pub. January 16, 1962|publisher=Taylor & Francis|via=Google Books|isbn=978-0-8153-1406-6}}</ref>

===1920 election===
{{Further|1920 United States presidential election}}
Hoover had been little known among the American public before 1914, but his service in the Wilson administration established him as a contender in the 1920 presidential election. Hoover's wartime push for higher taxes, criticism of Attorney General [[A. Mitchell Palmer]]'s actions during the [[First Red Scare]], and his advocacy for measures such as the [[Minimum wage in the United States|minimum wage]], forty-eight-hour workweek, and [[Child labor laws in the United States|elimination of child labor]] made him appealing to progressives of both parties.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=45–50}} Despite his service in the [[History of the Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] administration of Woodrow Wilson, Hoover had never been closely affiliated with either the Democrats or the [[History of the Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]]. He initially sought to avoid committing to any party in the 1920 election, hoping that either of the two major parties would draft him for president at their national conventions.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=232–234}} In March 1920, he changed strategy and declared himself a Republican; he was motivated in large part by the belief that the Democrats had little chance of winning.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=235–236}} Despite his national renown, Hoover's service in the Wilson administration had alienated farmers and the [[Old Right (United States)|conservative Old Guard of the GOP]], and his presidential candidacy fizzled out after his defeat in the California primary by [[favorite son]] [[Hiram Johnson]]. At the [[1920 Republican National Convention]], [[Warren G. Harding]] emerged as a compromise candidate after the convention became deadlocked among supporters of Johnson, [[Leonard Wood]], and [[Frank Orren Lowden]].{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=45–50}} Hoover backed Harding's successful campaign in the general election, and he began laying the groundwork for a future presidential run by building a base of strong supporters in the Republican Party.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=237–238}}

==Secretary of Commerce (1921–1928)==
{{Further|Presidency of Warren G. Harding|Presidency of Calvin Coolidge}}
[[File:HooverCommerce1926.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.15|Assistants William McCracken (left) and Walter Drake (right) with Secretary Hoover (center)]]
After his election as president in 1920, Harding rewarded Hoover for his support, offering to appoint him as either [[United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior]] or [[United States Secretary of Commerce|Secretary of Commerce]]. Secretary of Commerce was considered a minor Cabinet post, with limited and vaguely defined responsibilities, but Hoover decided to accept the position.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=51–52}} Hoover's progressive stances, continuing support for the [[League of Nations]], and recent conversion to the Republican Party aroused opposition to his appointment from many [[Senate Republican Conference|Senate Republicans]].{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=247–248}} To overcome this opposition, Harding paired Hoover's nomination with that of conservative favorite [[Andrew Mellon]] as [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury]], and the nominations of both Hoover and Mellon were confirmed by the Senate. Hoover would serve as Secretary of Commerce from 1921 to 1928, serving under Harding and, after Harding's death in 1923, President [[Calvin Coolidge]].{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=51–52}} While some of the most prominent members of the Harding administration, including Attorney General [[Harry M. Daugherty]] and Secretary of Interior [[Albert B. Fall]], were implicated in [[Presidency of Warren G. Harding#Administration scandals|major scandals]], Hoover emerged largely unscathed from investigations into the Harding administration.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=288–292}}

Hoover envisioned the Commerce Department as the hub of the nation's growth and stability.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=53–63}} His experience mobilizing the war-time economy convinced him that the federal government could promote efficiency by eliminating waste, increasing production, encouraging the adoption of data-based practices, investing in infrastructure, and conserving natural resources. He promoted the scheme of "Super Power" for electrical utility interconnection,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=DeGraaf |first=Leonard |date=1990 |title=Corporate Liberalism and Electric Power System Planning in the 1920s |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3115843 |journal=The Business History Review |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=1–31 |doi=10.2307/3115843 |jstor=3115843 |issn=0007-6805}}</ref> and accepted the first ceremonial [[Videotelephony|Picturephone]] call in Washington in April 1927 from Walter Gifford, the Chairman of AT&T in New York City.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Norcross |first=Amy |date=April 7, 2019 |title=Hoover joins 1st American demo of long-distance TV, April 7, 1927 |url=https://www.edn.com/hoover-joins-1st-american-demo-of-long-distance-tv-april-7-1927/ |access-date=September 12, 2025 |magazine=[[EDN (magazine)|EDN]]}}</ref>

Contemporaries described Hoover's approach as a "third alternative" between "unrestrained capitalism" and [[socialism]], which was becoming increasingly popular in Europe.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=254–257}} Hoover sought to foster a balance among labor, capital, and the government, and for this, he has been variously labeled a [[corporatism|corporatist]] or an [[associationalism|associationalist]].{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=106}} A high priority was economic diplomacy, including promoting the growth of exports, as well as protection against monopolistic practices of foreign governments, especially regarding rubber and coffee.<ref>Joseph Brandes, ''Herbert Hoover and Economic Diplomacy: Department of Commerce Policy, 1921–1928'' (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1970) pp 83–74. [https://archive.org/details/herberthoovereco00bran online].</ref>

Hoover endorsed much of Mellon's tax reduction program but favored a more [[progressive tax]] system and opposed the treasury secretary's efforts to eliminate the [[estate tax in the United States|estate tax]].{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=303–304}} He also demanded, and received, authority to coordinate economic affairs throughout the government. He created many sub-departments and committees, overseeing and regulating everything from manufacturing statistics to [[air travel]]. In some instances, he "seized" control of responsibilities from other Cabinet departments when he deemed that they were not carrying out their responsibilities well; some began referring to him as the "Secretary of Commerce and Under-Secretary of all other departments".{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=53–63}} In response to the [[Depression of 1920–21]], he convinced Harding to assemble a presidential commission on unemployment, which encouraged local governments to engage in countercyclical infrastructure spending.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=260–264}} A conference was held to discuss the unemployment situation in 1921, with Hoover arguing that there “is no economic failure so terrible in its import as that of a country possessing a surplus of every necessity of life in which members, willing and anxious to work are deprived of these necessities.”<ref>Herbert Hoover, Unemployment, and the Public Sphere A Conceptual History, 1919-1933 By Vincent Gaddis, 2005, P.19</ref> Nevertheless, Hoover argued that the solution to the nation’s unemployment situation lay not in federal intervention but in voluntary and local action.<ref>Herbert Hoover As Secretary of Commerce Studies in New Era Thought and Practice, Editor: Ellis Wayne Hawley, 1981, P.25</ref> He also opposed direct government payments to unemployed individuals, believing that this would not only lead to large deficit spending but also make people dependent on the government.<ref>Herbert Hoover, Unemployment, and the Public Sphere A Conceptual History, 1919-1933 By Vincent Gaddis, 2005, P.19</ref>
 
As Hoover put it during the conference:

{{Blockquote|It is not consonant with the spirit or institutions of the American people that a demand should be made upon the public treasury for the solution of every difficulty. The Administration has felt that a large degree of solution could be expected through the mobilization of the fine cooperative action of our manufacturers and employers and of our public bodies and local authorities. And that if a solution could be found in these directions we should accomplish even more than the care of our unemployed-that we will again demonstrate that independence and ability of action amongst our own people which saves our Government from that ultimate paternalism that would undermine our whole political system. In the other countries that have been primarily affected by the War, solution has been had by direct doles to individuals by their Governments. We have so far escaped this most vicious of solutions, and I am hopeful, and I believe you will be, that it is within the intelligence and initiative of our people that we may find remedies against hardship and bitterness that do not, except in exceptional cases, come within the range of charity.<ref>THE PRESIDENCY VS. HOOVER By Samuel Crowther, GARDEN CITY NEW YORK, DOUBLEDAY, DORAN AND COMPANY, INC. 1928, P.143-144</ref>}}

===Regulation of radio and transportation===
{{Main|Regulation of radio broadcast in the United States}}
[[File:HerbertClarkHoover.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Hoover listening to a [[radio receiver]], 1925]]

Between 1923 and 1929, the number of families with radios grew from 300,000 to 10 million,{{sfn|Ferrell|1998|pp=32–33}} and Hoover's tenure as Secretary of Commerce heavily influenced radio use in the United States. Between 1922 and 1925, Hoover organized conferences among radio manufacturers, news agencies, and government organizations which played a key role in the organization, development, and regulation of [[radio broadcasting]]. Hoover also helped pass the [[Radio Act of 1927]], which allowed the government to intervene and abolish [[Radio broadcasting|radio stations]] that were deemed "non-useful" to the public. Hoover's attempts at regulating radio were not supported by all congressmen, and he received much opposition from the Senate and from radio station owners.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Lepore |first=Jill |title=These Truths |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. |year=2018 |isbn=9780393635249 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=427–428 |chapter=A Constitution of the Air |lccn=2018019180}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Barnouw|first=Erik|title=A Tower In Babel; A history of Broadcasting in the United States to 1933|year=1966|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of 91st Congress, First Session. Volume 115, Part 4|journal=Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of 91st Congress}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|others=United States Congress|author-link=Edith Green|last=Green|first=Edith|title=Program Practices of Television Networks|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=85wTj3YZGL4C&q=Congressional+Record:+%22herbert+hoover%22+radio&pg=PA3558|journal=Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 87th Congress, Second Session|volume=108|issue=part 3 (Pages 2851 to 4340)|date=March 7, 1962|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=85wTj3YZGL4C&pg=PA3558&dq=Congressional+Record:+%22herbert+hoover%22+radio&hl=en 3558]|quote=Interestingly, ... an American ... recognized the problem that arose with general dissemination, as opposed to [[Point-to-point (telecommunications)|point-to-point transmission]], of messages by wireless. ... The American was Herbert Hoover.}}</ref>

Hoover was also influential in the early development of air travel, and he sought to create a thriving private industry boosted by government subsidies. He encouraged the development of emergency landing fields, required all runways to be equipped with lights and radio beams, and encouraged farmers to make use of planes for [[Aerial application|crop dusting]].{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=53–54}} Hoover also established the federal government's power to inspect planes and license pilots, setting a precedent for the later [[Federal Aviation Administration]].{{sfn|Whyte 2017|p=271}}

As Commerce Secretary, he hosted national conferences on street traffic collectively known as the National Conference on Street and Highway Safety. His chief objective was to address the growing casualty toll of [[Traffic collision|traffic accidents]], but the scope of the conferences grew and soon embraced motor vehicle standards, rules of the road, and urban traffic control. He left the invited interest groups to negotiate agreements among themselves, which were then presented for adoption by states and localities. Because automotive trade associations were the best organized, many of the positions taken by the conferences reflected their interests. The conferences issued a model Uniform Vehicle Code for adoption by the states and a Model Municipal Traffic Ordinance for adoption by cities. Both were widely influential, promoting greater uniformity among jurisdictions and tending to promote the automobile's priority in city streets.<ref>Peter D. Norton, ''Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City'' (MIT Press, 2008), pp. 178–197 {{ISBN|0-262-14100-0}}</ref>

=== Hoover's image building ===
[[Phillips Payson O'Brien]] argues that Hoover had a British problem. He had spent so many years living in Great Britain and Australia, as an employee of British companies, there was a risk that he would be labeled a British tool. There were three solutions, all of which he tried in close collaboration with the media, which greatly admired him.<ref>George H. Nash, "The Great Enigma and the Great Engineer", in John E. Haynes, ed., ''Calvin Coolidge and the Coolidge Era,'' (1998) pp 149–80.</ref> First came the image of the dispassionate scientist, emotionally uninvolved but always committed to finding and implementing the best possible solution. The second solution was to gain the reputation of a humanitarian, deeply concerned with the world's troubles, such as famine in Belgium, as well as specific American problems which he had solved as food commissioner during the world war. The third solution was to fall back on the old tactic of twisting the British tail, which he employed during the [[Stevenson Plan|1925–1926 worldwide rubber crisis]]. The [[Automotive industry in the United States|American auto industry]] consumed 70% of the world's output, but British investors controlled much of the supply. Their plan was to drastically cut back on output from [[British Malaya]], which had the effect of tripling rubber prices. Hoover energetically gave a series of speeches and interviews denouncing the [[Monopoly|monopolistic]] practice and demanding that it be ended. The [[United States Department of State|American State Department]] wanted no such crisis and compromised the issue in 1926. By then Hoover had solved his image problem, and during his 1928 campaign he successfully squelched attacks that alleged he was too close to British interests.<ref>Phillips Payson O'Brien, "Herbert Hoover, Anglo–American Relations and Republican Party Politics in the 1920s." ''Diplomacy & Statecraft'' 22.2 (2011): 200–218.</ref>

===Mississippi flood===
The [[Great Mississippi Flood of 1927]] broke the banks and [[levee]]s of the [[lower Mississippi River]] in early 1927, resulting in the flooding of millions of acres and leaving 1.5 million people displaced from their homes. Although disaster response did not fall under the duties of the [[United States Department of Commerce|Commerce Department]], the governors of six states along the Mississippi River specifically asked President Coolidge to appoint Hoover to coordinate the response to the flood.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=68–71}} Believing that disaster response was not the domain of the federal government, Coolidge initially refused to become involved, but he eventually acceded to political pressure and appointed Hoover to chair a special committee to help the region.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=328–329}} Hoover established over one hundred [[Tent city|tent cities]] and a fleet of more than six hundred vessels and raised $17 million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|17|1927|r=2}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation-year|US}}). In large part due to his leadership during the flood crisis, by 1928, Hoover had begun to overshadow President Coolidge himself.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=68–71}} Though Hoover received wide acclaim for his role in the crisis, he ordered the suppression of reports of mistreatment of African Americans in [[refugee camp]]s.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=333–335}} He did so with the cooperation of black American leader [[Robert Russa Moton]], who was promised unprecedented influence once Hoover became president.<ref name="pbs">[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/flood-moton-cac/ 'Robert Moton and the Colored Advisory Commission'], PBS.org</ref>

===Other initiatives===
[[File:Hoover and Harding at baseball game.jpg|thumb|Hoover (left) with [[Florence Harding]] and President [[Warren Harding]] at a baseball game in 1921]]

With the goal of encouraging wise business investments, Hoover made the Commerce Department a clearinghouse of information. He recruited numerous academics from various fields and tasked them with publishing reports on different aspects of the economy, including [[Iron and steel industry in the United States|steel production]] and films. To eliminate waste, he encouraged [[standardization]] of products like automobile [[tire]]s and baby bottle nipples.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=257–200}} Other efforts at eliminating waste included reducing labor losses from trade disputes and seasonal fluctuations, reducing industrial losses from accident and injury, and reducing the amount of [[crude oil]] spilled during extraction and shipping. He promoted international trade by opening overseas offices to advise businessmen. Hoover was especially eager to promote [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] films overseas.{{sfn|Hart|1998}} His "Own Your Own Home" campaign was a collaboration to promote ownership of single-family dwellings, with groups such as the Better Houses in America movement, the Architects' Small House Service Bureau, and the Home Modernizing Bureau. He worked with bankers and the [[Savings and loan association|savings and loan]] industry to promote the new long-term home mortgage, which dramatically stimulated home construction.<ref>{{Citation |last=Hutchison |first=Janet |title=Building for Babbitt: the State and the Suburban Home Ideal |journal=Journal of Policy History |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=184–210 |year=1997 |doi=10.1017/S0898030600005923 |issn=0898-0306 |s2cid=155048376}}</ref> Other accomplishments included winning the agreement of [[U.S. Steel]] to adopt an eight-hour workday, and the fostering of the [[Colorado River Compact]], a [[water right]]s compact among [[Southwestern United States|Southwestern states]].{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=269–271}}

===Presidential election of 1928===
{{Main|1928 United States presidential election}}

Hoover quietly gathered support for a future presidential bid throughout the 1920s, but he carefully avoided alienating Coolidge, who possibly could have run for another term in the [[1928 United States presidential election|1928 presidential election]].{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=322–323}} Along with the rest of the nation, he was surprised when Coolidge in August 1927 declared "[[I do not choose to run]]" for another term. With the impending retirement of Coolidge, Hoover immediately emerged as the front-runner for the 1928 Republican nomination, and he quickly put together a strong campaign team led by [[Hubert Work]], [[Will H. Hays]], and [[Reed Smoot]].{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=335–338}} Coolidge was unwilling to anoint Hoover as his successor, and once remarked "for six years that man has given me unsolicited advice—all of it bad".{{sfn|Ferrell|1957|p=195}} Despite his lukewarm feelings towards Hoover, Coolidge had no desire to split the party by publicly opposing the popular Commerce Secretary's candidacy.{{sfnm|McCoy|1967|1pp=390–391|Wilson|1975|2pp=122–123}}

One public figure who endorsed Hoover for the Republican presidential candidacy was [[William Randolph Hearst]], who argued that "The present situation demands conservatism, and Secretary Hoover’s conservatism is of the constructive and not the reactionary type."<ref>[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GCNPAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA18&dq=Hearst+The+present+situation+demands+conservatism,+and+Secretary+Hoover%E2%80%99s+conservatism+is+of+the+constructive+and+not+the+reactionary+type&article_id=7187,2028328&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjrlcecnqOMAxVYUkEAHYW7G-gQ6AF6BAgFEAM#v=onepage&q=Hearst%20The%20present%20situation%20demands%20conservatism%2C%20and%20Secretary%20Hoover%E2%80%99s%20conservatism%20is%20of%20the%20constructive%20and%20not%20the%20reactionary%20type&f=falseSt. Petersburg Times 10 Jun 1928]</ref> 

Many wary Republican leaders cast about for an alternative candidate, such as Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon or former secretary of state [[Charles Evans Hughes]].<ref name="rusnak">{{cite journal|last1=Rusnak|first1=Robert J.|title=Andrew W. Mellon: Reluctant Kingmaker|journal=Presidential Studies Quarterly|date=Spring 1983|volume=13|issue=2|pages=269–278|jstor=27547924}}</ref> However, Hughes and Mellon declined to run, and other potential contenders like [[Frank Orren Lowden]] and Vice President [[Charles G. Dawes]] failed to garner widespread support.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=338–339}} Hoover won the presidential nomination on the first ballot of the [[1928 Republican National Convention]]. Convention delegates considered re-nominating Vice President Charles Dawes to be Hoover's [[running mate]], but Coolidge, who hated Dawes, remarked that this would be "a personal affront" to him. The convention instead selected Senator [[Charles Curtis]] of Kansas.<ref>{{Citation | last1 = Mencken | first1 = Henry Louis | last2= Nathan | first2= George Jean | title = The American Mercury | year = 1929 | page = 404 }}</ref> Hoover accepted the nomination at [[Stanford Stadium]], telling a huge crowd that he would continue the policies of the Harding and Coolidge administrations.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=71–72}} The Democrats nominated New York governor [[Al Smith]], who became the first [[Catholic Church in the United States|Catholic]] major party nominee for president.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=344–345, 350}}

[[File:ElectoralCollege1928.svg|right|thumb|upright=1.25|1928 electoral vote results]]

Hoover submitted his resignation as Commerce Secretary on July 7, but Coolidge kept him on until August 21 to wind up pending business.<ref>{{cite news |title=Coolidge Defers Action on Hoover; President's Wishes as to Date of Resignation's Acceptance Are Not Revealed. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1928/07/08/archives/coolidge-defers-action-on-hoover-presidents-wishes-as-to-date-of.html |access-date=July 24, 2024 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 8, 1928 |page=2 col. 2}}</ref>{{sfn|Clements|2010|pp=413–414}} Hoover centered his campaign around the Republican record of peace and prosperity, as well as his own reputation as a successful engineer and public official. Averse to giving political speeches, Hoover largely stayed out of the fray and left the campaigning to Curtis and other Republicans.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=343–346}} Smith was more charismatic and gregarious than Hoover, but his campaign was damaged by [[anti-Catholicism in the United States|anti-Catholicism]] and his overt opposition to Prohibition. Hoover had never been a strong proponent of Prohibition, but he accepted the Republican Party's plank in favor of it and issued an ambivalent statement calling Prohibition "a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose".{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=349–351}} In the South, Hoover and the national party pursued a "[[Lily-white movement|lily-white]]" strategy, removing black Republicans from leadership positions in an attempt to curry favor with white Southerners.{{sfn|Garcia 1980|pp=462–463}}

During the election campaign, Hoover denounced Democratic proposals for public control of water power, the modification of prohibition and farm relief as “state socialism”<ref>[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dbwwAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA1&dq=herbert+hoover+democratic+program+socialism&article_id=5712,2708952&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiT2pr50saRAxUmUEEAHbvRIhcQ6AF6BAgGEAM#v=onepage&q=herbert%20hoover%20democratic%20program%20socialism&f=false St. Petersburg Times 25 Oct 1928]</ref> and also compared what he called American “rugged individualism” to what he regarded negatively as European state socialism and paternalism:

{{Blockquote|When the war closed, the most vital of all issues, both in our own country and throughout the world, was whether governments should continue their wartime ownership and operation of many instrumentalities of production and distribution. We were challenged with a peace-time choice between the American system of rugged individualism and a European philosophy of diametrically opposed doctrines- doctrines of paternalism and state socialism. The acceptance of these ideas would have meant the destruction of self-government through centralization of government. It would have meant the undermining of the individual initiative and enterprise through which our people have grown to unparalleled greatness.'<ref>[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XNJbAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA6&dq=herbert+hoover+speech+new+york+paternalism&article_id=1524,4809789&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi-hsqk0caRAxU9V0EAHUy0BaMQ6AF6BAgOEAM#v=onepage&q=herbert%20hoover%20speech%20new%20york%20paternalism&f=false St. Joseph Gazette 23 Oct 1928]</ref>}}

Hoover maintained polling leads throughout the 1928 campaign, and he decisively defeated Smith on election day, taking 58 percent of the popular vote and 444 of the 531 electoral votes.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=355, 360}} Historians agree that Hoover's national reputation and the booming economy, combined with deep splits in the Democratic Party over religion and Prohibition, guaranteed his landslide victory.<ref>Elesha Coffman, 'The "Religious Issue" in Presidential Politics', ''American Catholic Studies'', (Winter 2008) 119#4 pp 1–20</ref> Hoover's appeal to Southern white voters succeeded in cracking the "[[Solid South]]", and he won five Southern states.{{sfn|Garcia 1980}} Hoover's victory was positively received by newspapers; one wrote that Hoover would "drive so forcefully at the tasks now before the nation that the end of his eight years as president will find us looking back on an era of prodigious achievement".{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=369–370}}

Hoover's detractors wondered why he did not do anything to [[United States congressional apportionment|reapportion congress]] after the [[1920 United States census]] which saw an increase in urban and immigrant populations. The 1920 census was the first and only decennial census where the results were not used to reapportion Congress, which ultimately influenced the 1928 Electoral College and impacted the presidential election.<ref name=slayton>{{cite book |last=Slayton |first=Robert A. |date=June 2, 2002 |title=Empire Statesman: The Rise and Redemption of Al Smith |url=https://archive.org/details/empirestatesmanr00robe/page/13 |location=New York |publisher=Simon and Schuster |page=[https://archive.org/details/empirestatesmanr00robe/page/13 13] |isbn=978-0-684-86302-3 }}</ref><ref name=finan>{{cite book |last=Finan |first=Christomer M. |date=June 2, 2002 |title=Alfred E. Smith: The Happy Warrior |url=https://archive.org/details/alfredesmithhapp00fina |publisher=Hill and Wang |isbn=0-8090-3033-0 }}</ref>

==Presidency (1929–1933)==
{{Main|Presidency of Herbert Hoover}}
[[File:Taft Hebert Hoover Oath.jpg|thumb|[[Inauguration of Herbert Hoover|Hoover's inauguration]]]]
{{conservatism US|politicians}}
Hoover saw the presidency as a vehicle for improving the conditions of all Americans by encouraging public-private cooperation—what he termed "volunteerism". He tended to oppose governmental coercion or intervention, as he thought they infringed on American ideals of individualism and self-reliance.<ref name="9iopl">{{Citation | title = Biography | date = October 4, 2016 | publisher = Miller center | url = http://millercenter.org/president/hoover/essays/biography/1}}</ref> Hoover did, however, advocate government-funded pensions for those over the age of 65, although this proposal was not acted on during his presidency. <ref>100 Turning Points in American History By Alan Axelrod, 2019, P.195</ref> The first major bill that he signed, the [[Agricultural Marketing Act of 1929]], established the [[Federal Farm Board]] in order to stabilize farm prices.{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=65–66}} Hoover made extensive use of commissions to study issues and propose solutions, and many of those commissions were sponsored by private donors rather than by the government. One of the commissions started by Hoover, the Research Committee on Social Trends, was tasked with surveying the entirety of American society.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=84–85}} He appointed a Cabinet consisting largely of wealthy, business-oriented conservatives,{{sfn|Fausold 1985|p=34}} including Secretary of the Treasury [[Andrew Mellon]].{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=81–82}} [[Lou Henry Hoover]] was an activist First Lady. She typified the [[New Woman|new woman]] of the [[Interwar period|post–World War I era]]: intelligent, robust, and aware of multiple female possibilities.<ref>See generally Nancy Beck Young, ''Lou Henry Hoover: Activist First Lady'' (University Press of Kansas, 2005)</ref>

===Great Depression===
{{See also|Great Depression in the United States}}

On taking office, Hoover said that "given the chance to go forward with the policies of the last eight years, we shall soon with the help of God, be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished from this nation".<ref>{{cite book|first1=James L. |last1=Roark |first2=Michael P.|last2=Johnson|first3=Patricia Cline|last3=Cohen|first4=Sarah|last4=Stage|first5=Susan M.|last5=Hartmann|title=The American Promise, Volume C: A History of the United States: Since 1890|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ozj_o6POIssC&pg=PA772|year=2012|publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's|page=772|isbn=978-0-312-56944-0}}</ref> Having seen the fruits of prosperity brought by technological progress, many shared Hoover's optimism, and the already bullish stock market climbed even higher on Hoover's accession.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=80–81}} This optimism concealed several threats to sustained U.S. economic growth, including a persistent [[Farm crisis of the 1920s|farm crisis]], a saturation of [[consumer goods]] like [[Car|automobiles]], and growing [[Income inequality in the United States|income inequality]].{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=65–68}} Most dangerous of all to the economy was excessive speculation that had raised [[Share price|stock prices]] far beyond their value.{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|pp=35–36}} Some regulators and bankers had warned Coolidge and Hoover that a failure to curb speculation would lead to "one of the greatest financial catastrophes that this country has ever seen," but both presidents were reluctant to become involved with the workings of the [[Federal Reserve System]], which regulated banks.{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=68–71}}

In late October 1929, the [[Stock Market Crash of 1929|stock market crashed]], and the worldwide economy began to spiral downward into the [[Great Depression]].{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=72–74}} The [[causes of the Great Depression]] remain a matter of debate,{{sfn|Kaufman|2012|p=502}} but Hoover viewed a lack of confidence in the financial system as the fundamental economic problem facing the nation.{{sfn|Houck|2000|pp=155–156}} He sought to avoid federal intervention, believing that the best way to bolster the economy was through the strengthening of businesses such as banks and railroads. He also feared that allowing individuals on the "[[welfare spending|dole]]" would permanently weaken the country,{{sfn|Carcasson|1998|pp=350–351}} and believed that "relief to individuals from the federal government would bring an inevitable train of corruption and waste such as our nation had never witnessed."<ref>History of the U.S., Vol. 2 By Thomas V. DiBacco, 1991, P.353</ref> Instead, Hoover strongly believed that local governments and private giving should address the needs of individuals.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009b}}

====Early policies====

Though he attempted to put a positive spin on [[Wall Street Crash of 1929|Black Tuesday]], Hoover moved quickly to address the [[Stock market crash|stock market collapse]].{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=74–75}} In the days following Black Tuesday, Hoover gathered business and labor leaders, asking them to avoid wage cuts and work stoppages while the country faced what he believed would be a short recession similar to the Depression of 1920–21.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=104105}} Hoover also convinced railroads and public utilities to increase spending on construction and maintenance, and the [[Federal Reserve]] announced that it would cut interest rates.{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|pp=53–55}} In early 1930, Hoover acquired from Congress an additional $100 million to continue the [[Federal Farm Board]] lending and purchasing policies.<ref>Harris Gaylord Warren, ''Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1959), p. 175.</ref> These actions were collectively designed to prevent a cycle of [[deflation]] and provide a [[Stimulus (economics)|fiscal stimulus]].{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|pp=53–55}} At the same time, Hoover opposed congressional proposals to provide federal relief to the unemployed, as he believed that such programs were the responsibility of state and local governments and philanthropic organizations.{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=147–149}}

Hoover had taken office hoping to raise agricultural tariffs in order to help farmers reeling from the farm crisis of the 1920s, but his attempt to raise agricultural tariffs became connected with a bill that broadly raised tariffs.{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=93–97}} Hoover refused to become closely involved in the congressional debate over the tariff, and Congress produced a tariff bill that raised rates for many goods.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=399–402, 414}} Despite the widespread unpopularity of the bill, Hoover felt that he could not reject the main legislative accomplishment of the Republican-controlled [[71st United States Congress|71st Congress]]. Over the objection of many economists, Hoover signed the [[Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act]] into law in June 1930.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=414–415}} Canada, France, and other nations retaliated by raising tariffs, resulting in a contraction of [[international trade]] and a worsening of the economy.<ref>Kumiko Koyama, "The Passage of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act: Why Did the President Sign the Bill?" ''Journal of Policy History'' (2009) 21#2 pp. 163–86</ref> Progressive Republicans such as Senator [[William E. Borah]] of Idaho were outraged when Hoover signed the tariff act, and Hoover's relations with that wing of the party never recovered.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=91–92}}

====Later policies====
[[File:Herbert Hoover and Ted Joslin.jpg|thumb|Hoover in the Oval Office with [[Theodore Joslin|Ted Joslin]], 1932]]

By the end of 1930, the [[Unemployment in the United States|national unemployment rate]] had reached 11.9 percent, but it was not yet clear to most Americans that the economic downturn would be worse than the [[Depression of 1920–1921|Depression of 1920–21]].{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|pp=58–59}} A series of [[bank failure]]s in late 1930 heralded a larger [[Economic collapse|collapse of the economy]] in 1931.{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|pp=65–66}} While other countries left the [[gold standard]], Hoover refused to abandon it;{{sfn|Kennedy|1999|pp=77–78}} he derided any other [[monetary system]] as "[[Collectivism and individualism|collectivism]]".{{sfn|Eichengreen|Temin|2000|pp=196–197}} Hoover viewed the weak [[Economy of Europe|European economy]] as a major cause of economic troubles in the United States.{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=143–144}} In response to the collapse of the [[Economy of Germany|German economy]], Hoover marshaled congressional support behind a one-year moratorium on European war debts.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=441–444, 449}} The [[Hoover Moratorium]] was warmly received in Europe and the United States, but Germany remained on the brink of [[Default (finance)|defaulting]] on its loans.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=450–452}} As the worldwide economy worsened, democratic governments fell; in Germany, [[Nazi Party]] leader [[Adolf Hitler]] assumed power and dismantled the [[Weimar Republic]].{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=485–486}}

By mid-1931, the unemployment rate had reached 15 percent, giving rise to growing fears that the country was experiencing a depression far worse than recent economic downturns.{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=140–141}} A reserved man with a fear of public speaking, Hoover allowed his opponents in the Democratic Party to define him as cold, incompetent, reactionary, and out-of-touch.{{sfn|Carcasson|1998|pp=351–352}} Hoover's opponents developed defamatory [[epithet]]s to discredit him, such as "[[Hooverville]]" (the shanty towns and homeless encampments), "Hoover leather" (cardboard used to cover holes in the soles of shoes), and "Hoover blanket" (old newspaper used to cover oneself from the cold).<ref>{{cite book| title=The Great War and the Origins of Humanitarianism, 1918–1924| last=Cabanes| first=Bruno| page=206| publisher=Cambridge University Press| date=2014|isbn=978-1-107-02062-7}}</ref> While Hoover continued to resist federal relief efforts, Governor [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] of New York launched the [[Federal Emergency Relief Administration|Temporary Emergency Relief Administration]] to provide aid to the unemployed. Democrats positioned the program as a kinder alternative to Hoover's alleged apathy towards the unemployed, despite Hoover's belief that such programs were the responsibility of state and local governments.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=457–459}}

The economy continued to worsen, with unemployment rates nearing 23 percent in early 1932,{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=162–166}} and Hoover finally heeded calls for more federal intervention.{{sfn|Olson 1972|pp=508–511}} In January 1932, he convinced Congress to authorize the establishment of the [[Reconstruction Finance Corporation]] (RFC), which would provide government-secured loans to financial institutions, railroads, and local governments.{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=153–154}} The RFC saved numerous businesses from failure, but it failed to stimulate commercial lending as much as Hoover had hoped, partly because it was run by conservative bankers unwilling to make riskier loans.{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=162–163}} The same month the RFC was established, Hoover signed the [[Federal Home Loan Bank Act]], establishing 12 district banks overseen by a Federal Home Loan Bank Board in a manner similar to the Federal Reserve System.{{sfn|Rappleye|2016|pp=309}} He also helped arrange passage of the [[Glass–Steagall Act of 1932]], emergency banking legislation designed to expand banking credit by expanding the collateral on which Federal Reserve banks were authorized to lend.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=483–484}} As these measures failed to stem the economic crisis, Hoover signed the [[Emergency Relief and Construction Act]], a $2 billion public works bill, in July 1932.{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=162–166}}

===Budget policy===
[[File:Debt1929-50.jpg|thumb|left|National debt as a fraction of GNP up from 20% to 40% under Hoover. From ''Historical Statistics US'' (1976).]]

After a decade of [[budget surplus]]es, the federal government experienced a [[Budget deficits|budget deficit]] in 1931.{{sfn|Rappleye|2016|p=303}} Though some economists, like [[William Trufant Foster]], favored [[deficit spending]] to address the Great Depression, most politicians and economists believed in the necessity of keeping a [[balanced budget]].{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=158–159}} In late 1931, Hoover proposed a tax plan to increase [[tax revenue]] by 30 percent, resulting in the passage of the [[Revenue Act of 1932]].{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=472, 488–489}} The act increased taxes across the board, rolling back much of the [[tax cut]] reduction program Mellon had presided over during the 1920s. Top earners were taxed at 63 percent on their net income, the highest rate since the early 1920s. The act also doubled the top [[Estate tax in the United States|estate tax]] rate, cut [[Income tax in the United States|personal income tax]] exemptions, eliminated the [[Corporate tax in the United States|corporate income tax]] exemption, and raised corporate tax rates.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ippolito |first1=Dennis S. |title=Deficits, Debt, and the New Politics of Tax Policy |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-85157-2 |page=35}}</ref> Prior to its passage, the legislation included a sales tax, but this part of the bill was defeated in the House of Representatives by 211 to 178 votes.<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/LaGuardia_in_Congress/2hNdePcjrdUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=la+guardia+in+congress+sales+tax+211+votes&pg=PA224&printsec=frontcover LaGuardia in Congress By Howard Zinn, 2010, P.224]</ref> Despite the passage of the Revenue Act, the federal government continued to run a budget deficit.{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=159–161}}

{{Clear left}}

===Civil rights and Mexican Repatriation===
{{Further|Lily-white movement|Mexican Repatriation}}
[[File:President & Mrs Hoover in Belvidere IL cph.3b12319.jpg|thumb|upright|Herbert and [[Lou Henry Hoover]] aboard a train in Illinois]]
Hoover seldom mentioned [[Civil rights movement (1896–1954)|civil rights]] while he was president. He believed that African Americans and other races could improve themselves with education and individual initiative.<ref>Lisio, Donald J. ''Hoover, Blacks, & Lily-Whites: A Study of Southern Strategies'', University of North Carolina Press, 1985 ([https://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst?docId=105110361 excerpt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605043201/http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst?docId=105110361 |date=June 5, 2011 }})</ref> Hoover appointed more African Americans to federal positions than Harding and Coolidge combined, but many African American leaders condemned various aspects of the Hoover administration, including Hoover's unwillingness to push for a federal [[Anti-lynching movement|anti-lynching law]].{{sfn|Garcia 1980|pp=471–474}} Hoover also continued to pursue the lily-white strategy, removing African Americans from positions of leadership in the Republican Party in an attempt to end the Democratic Party's [[Solid South|dominance in the South]].{{sfn|Garcia 1980|pp=462–464}} Though [[Robert Russa Moton|Robert Moton]] and some other black leaders accepted the lily-white strategy as a temporary measure, most African American leaders were outraged.{{sfn|Garcia 1980|pp=464–465}} Hoover further alienated black leaders by nominating conservative Southern judge [[John J. Parker]] to the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]]; Parker's nomination ultimately failed in the Senate due to opposition from the [[NAACP]] and organized labor.{{sfn|Garcia 1980|pp=465–467}} Many black voters switched to the Democratic Party in the 1932 election, and African Americans would later become an important part of Franklin Roosevelt's [[New Deal coalition]].{{sfn|Garcia 1980|pp=476–477}}

As part of his efforts to limit unemployment, Hoover sought to cut [[immigration to the United States]], and in 1930 he promulgated an executive order requiring individuals to have employment before migrating to the United States.{{sfn|Rappleye|2016|p=247}} The Hoover Administration began a campaign to prosecute [[Illegal immigration to the United States|illegal immigrants in the United States]], which most strongly affected [[Mexican Americans]], especially those living in [[Southern California]].{{sfn|Hoffman 1973|pp=206–207}} The federal government also supported the Mexican repatriation which saw anywhere from 300,000 to two million Mexicans and Mexican Americans repatriated, deported, or expelled to Mexico during the 1930s primarily during Hoover's term. Forty to sixty percent of them were [[Citizenship of the United States|American citizens]].<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Byza6YM2bukC|title=The Praeger Handbook of Latino Education in the U.S.|last=Rosales|first=F. Arturo|date=January 1, 2007|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9780313338304|editor-last=Soto|editor-first=Lourdes Diaz|pages=400–403|chapter=Repatriation of Mexicans from the US}}</ref><ref name="gratton">{{cite news|url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/102163/imre12054.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|title=Immigration, Repatriation, and Deportation: The Mexican-Origin Population in the United States, 1920–1950|last1=Gratton|first1=Brian|last2=Merchant |first2=Emily|date=December 2013|pages=944–975|publisher=The International migration review|issue=4|volume=47}}</ref>{{sfn|Johnson 2005|p=4–5}} While the federal government encouraged repatriations, they were largely organized by state and local authorities with support from private entities. The Hoover administration deported 34,000 people to Mexico between 1930 to 1933. It was however more common for people to repatriate voluntarily.{{sfn|Hoffman 1973|pp=208, 217–218}}<ref name="gratton" /> Some scholars argue that the mass repatriations was a policy of Hoover's administration.<ref name="gratton" /> According to legal professor Kevin R. Johnson, the repatriation campaign meets the modern legal standards of [[ethnic cleansing]], as it involved the forced removal of a racial minority by government actors.{{sfn|Johnson 2005|p=6}}

Hoover reorganized the [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]] to limit exploitation of Native Americans.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 15, 2016 |title=The Ordeal of Herbert Hoover |url=https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/summer/hoover-1.html |access-date=May 2, 2022 |website=National Archives}}</ref>

===Prohibition===

On taking office, Hoover urged Americans to obey the [[Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Eighteenth Amendment]] and the [[Volstead Act]], which had established [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] across the United States.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=372–373}} To make public policy recommendations regarding Prohibition, he created the [[Wickersham Commission]].{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|p=85}} Hoover had hoped that the commission's public report would buttress his stance in favor of Prohibition, but the report criticized the enforcement of the Volstead Act and noted the growing public opposition to Prohibition. After the Wickersham Report was published in 1931, Hoover rejected the advice of some of his closest allies and refused to endorse any revision of the Volstead Act or the Eighteenth Amendment, as he feared doing so would undermine his support among Prohibition advocates.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=433–435}} As public opinion increasingly turned against Prohibition, more and more people flouted the law, and a grassroots movement began working in earnest for Prohibition's repeal.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Repealing National Prohibition|last=Kyvig|first=David E.|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|year=1979|location=Chicago, IL|pages=49}}</ref> In January 1933, a constitutional amendment repealing the Eighteenth Amendment was approved by Congress and submitted to the states for ratification. By December 1933, it had been ratified by the requisite number of states to become the [[Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution]].<ref name=DCHuckabee>{{cite web|last=Huckabee|first=David C.|title=Ratification of Amendments to the U.S. Constitution|url=http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/crs/97-922.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040627015810/http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/crs/97-922.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 27, 2004|publisher=[[Congressional Research Service reports]]|date=September 30, 1997}}</ref>

===Foreign relations===

According to Leuchtenburg, Hoover was "the last American president to take office with no conspicuous need to pay attention to the rest of the world". Nevertheless, during Hoover's term, the world order established in the immediate aftermath of World War I began to crumble.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|p=117}} As president, Hoover largely made good on his pledge made prior to assuming office not to interfere in Latin America's internal affairs. In 1930, he released the [[Clark Memorandum]], a rejection of the [[Roosevelt Corollary]] and a move towards non-interventionism in Latin America. Hoover did not completely refrain from the use of the military in [[Latin America–United States relations|Latin American affairs]]; he thrice threatened intervention in the [[Dominican Republic]], and he sent warships to [[El Salvador]] to support the government against a left-wing revolution.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=120–121}} Notwithstanding those actions, he wound down the [[Banana Wars]], ending the [[United States occupation of Nicaragua|occupation of Nicaragua]] and nearly bringing an end to the [[United States occupation of Haiti|occupation of Haiti]].{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=183–186}}

Hoover placed a priority on [[disarmament]], which he hoped would allow the United States to shift money from the military to domestic needs.{{sfn|Fausold 1985|p=58}} Hoover and Secretary of State [[Henry L. Stimson]] focused on extending the 1922 [[Washington Naval Treaty]], which sought to prevent a naval [[arms race]].{{sfn|Herring|2008|pp=479–480}} As a result of Hoover's efforts, the United States and other major naval powers signed the 1930 [[London Naval Treaty]].{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=175–176}} The treaty represented the first time that the naval powers had agreed to cap their tonnage of [[Auxiliary ship|auxiliary vessels]], as previous agreements had only affected [[capital ship]]s.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=117–119}}

At the 1932 [[World Disarmament Conference]], Hoover urged further cutbacks in armaments and the outlawing of [[tank]]s and [[bomber]]s, but his proposals were not adopted.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=117–119}}

In 1931, Japan [[Japanese invasion of Manchuria|invaded]] [[Manchuria]], defeating the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]]'s [[National Revolutionary Army]] and establishing [[Manchukuo]], a puppet state. The Hoover administration deplored the invasion, but also sought to avoid antagonizing the Japanese, fearing that taking too strong a stand would weaken the moderate forces in the Japanese government and alienate a potential ally against the [[Soviet Union]], which he saw as a much greater threat.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=122–123}} In response to the Japanese invasion, Hoover and Secretary of State Stimson outlined the [[Stimson Doctrine]], which held that the United States would not recognize territories gained by force.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 1844715|title = The Stimson Doctrine and the Hoover Doctrine|journal = The American Historical Review|volume = 59|issue = 3|pages = 513–542|last1 = Current|first1 = Richard N.|year = 1954|doi = 10.2307/1844715}}</ref>

===Bonus Army===
{{Main|Bonus Army}}

Thousands of World War I veterans and their families demonstrated and camped out in Washington, DC, during June 1932, calling for immediate payment of bonuses that had been promised by the [[World War Adjusted Compensation Act]] in 1924; the terms of the act called for payment of the bonuses in 1945. Although offered money by [[Congress of the United States|Congress]] to return home, some members of the "Bonus Army" remained. Washington police attempted to disperse the demonstrators, but they were outnumbered and unsuccessful. Shots were fired by the police in a futile attempt to attain order, and two protesters were killed while many officers were injured. Hoover sent U.S. Army forces led by General [[Douglas MacArthur]] to the protests. MacArthur, believing he was fighting a [[Communist revolution]], chose to clear out the camp with military force. Though Hoover had not ordered MacArthur's clearing out of the protesters, he endorsed it after the fact.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=136–138}} The incident proved embarrassing for the Hoover administration and hurt his bid for re-election.<ref name="dickson1">{{cite magazine|last1=Dickson|first1=Paul|last2=Allen|first2=Thomas B.|title=Marching on History|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/marching-on-history-75797769/|access-date=February 7, 2017|magazine=Smithsonian|date=February 2003}}</ref>

===1932 re-election campaign===
{{Main|1932 United States presidential election}}
By mid-1931 few observers thought that Hoover had much hope of winning a second term in the midst of the ongoing economic crisis.{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=193–194}} The Republican expectations were so bleak that Hoover faced no serious opposition for re-nomination at the [[1932 Republican National Convention]]. Coolidge and other prominent Republicans all passed on the opportunity to challenge Hoover.{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=194–195}} Franklin D. Roosevelt won the presidential nomination on the fourth ballot of the [[1932 Democratic National Convention]], defeating the 1928 Democratic nominee, Al Smith. The Democrats attacked Hoover as the cause of the Great Depression, and for being indifferent to the suffering of millions.{{sfn|Carcasson|1998|pp=353}} As Governor of New York, Roosevelt had called on the New York legislature to provide aid for the needy, establishing Roosevelt's reputation for being more favorable toward government interventionism during the economic crisis.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=138–140}} The Democratic Party, including Al Smith and other national leaders, coalesced behind Roosevelt, while progressive Republicans like George Norris and [[Robert M. La Follette Jr.|Robert La Follette Jr.]] deserted Hoover.{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=211–212}} Prohibition was increasingly unpopular and wets offered the argument that states and localities needed the tax money. Hoover proposed a new constitutional amendment that was vague on particulars. Roosevelt's platform promised repeal of the 18th Amendment.<ref>"Prohibition After the 1932 Elections" [https://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1932081100 ''CQ Researcher'']</ref><ref>Herbert Brucker, "How Long, O Prohibition?" ''The North American Review'', 234#4 (1932), pp. 347–357. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25114102 online]</ref>

[[File:ElectoralCollege1932.svg|thumb|upright=1.25|1932 electoral vote results]]
Hoover originally planned to make only one or two major speeches and to leave the rest of the campaigning to proxies, as sitting presidents had traditionally done. However, encouraged by Republican pleas and outraged by Democratic claims, Hoover entered the public fray. In his nine major radio addresses Hoover primarily defended his administration and his [[Political philosophy|philosophy of government]], urging voters to hold to the "foundations of experience" and reject the notion that government interventionism could save the country from the Depression.{{sfn|Carcasson|1998|pp=359}} Historians contend that his radio speeches were not received well in part due to his monotone, awkward delivery.<ref name=":0" /> In his campaign trips around the country, Hoover was faced with perhaps the most hostile crowds ever seen by a sitting president. Besides having his train and motorcades pelted with eggs and rotten fruit, he was often heckled while speaking, and on several occasions, the [[United States Secret Service|Secret Service]] halted attempts to hurt Hoover, including capturing one man nearing Hoover carrying sticks of dynamite, and another already having removed several spikes from the rails in front of the president's train.<ref name="time 2008">{{Cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1857862,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081111030347/http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1857862,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 11, 2008|magazine=Time|date=November 10, 2008|title=When New President Meets Old, It's Not Always Pretty|first= Nancy|last=Gibbs}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=April 2025}} Hoover's attempts to vindicate his administration fell on deaf ears, as much of the public blamed his administration for the depression.{{sfn|Carcasson|1998|pp=361–362}} In the electoral vote, Hoover lost 59–472, carrying six states.{{sfn|Fausold 1985|pp=212–213}} Hoover won 39.6 percent of the popular vote, a plunge of 18.6 percentage points from his result in the 1928 election.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=142}}

==Post-presidency (1933–1964)==
===Roosevelt administration===
====Opposition to the New Deal====
{{Further|Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1941)}}
[[File:Franklin D. Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover on the way to U.S. Capitol for Roosevelt's inauguration, March 4, 1933.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.05|Hoover with [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], March 4, 1933]]
Hoover departed from Washington in March 1933, bitter at his election loss and continuing unpopularity.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=147–149}} As Coolidge, Harding, Wilson, and Taft had all died during the 1920s or early 1930s and Roosevelt died in office (in 1945), Hoover was the sole living former president from 1933 to 1953. He and his wife lived in Palo Alto until her death in 1944, at which point Hoover began to live permanently at the [[Waldorf Astoria New York|Waldorf Astoria hotel]] in New York City.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=155–156}} During the 1930s, Hoover increasingly self-identified as a [[Conservatism|conservative]].{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=555–557}} He closely followed national events after leaving public office, becoming a constant critic of Franklin Roosevelt. In response to continued attacks on his character and presidency, Hoover wrote more than two dozen books, including ''The Challenge to Liberty'' (1934), which harshly criticized Roosevelt's [[New Deal]]. Hoover described the New Deal's [[National Recovery Administration]] and [[Agricultural Adjustment Act|Agricultural Adjustment Administration]] as "fascistic", and he called the [[1933 Banking Act]] a "move to gigantic socialism".{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=147–151}}

Only 58 when he left office, Hoover held out hope for another term as president throughout the 1930s. At the [[1936 Republican National Convention]], Hoover's speech attacking the New Deal was well received, but the nomination went to Kansas governor [[Alf Landon]].{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=151–153}} In [[1936 United States presidential election|the general election]], Hoover delivered numerous well-publicized speeches on behalf of Landon, but Landon was defeated by Roosevelt.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 27550722|title = The Rhetoric of the Post-Presidency: Herbert Hoover's Campaign against the New Deal, 1934–1936|journal = Presidential Studies Quarterly|volume = 21|issue = 2|pages = 333–350|last1 = Short|first1 = Brant|year = 1991}}</ref> Though Hoover was eager to oppose Roosevelt at every turn, Senator [[Arthur Vandenberg]] and other Republicans urged the still-unpopular Hoover to remain out of the fray during the debate over Roosevelt's proposed [[Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937|Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937]]. At the [[1940 Republican National Convention]], he again hoped for the presidential nomination, but it went to the internationalist [[Wendell Willkie]], who lost to Roosevelt in the general election.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=147–154}} Hoover was the last president to seek public office after leaving office until 2022 when [[Donald Trump]] announced [[Donald Trump 2024 presidential campaign|his successful bid]] for president in the [[2024 United States presidential election|2024 presidential election]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/11/15/why-they-ran-again-00066579 |title=4 Ex-Presidents Who Ran Again — And What They Mean for Trump |newspaper=[[Politico]] |access-date=June 8, 2023 |last=Zeitz |first=Joshua |date=November 15, 2022}}</ref>

====World War II====
{{Further|Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1941–1945)}}

During a 1938 trip to Europe, Hoover met with [[Adolf Hitler]] and stayed at [[Hermann Göring]]'s hunting lodge.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=558–559}} He expressed dismay at the persecution of Jews in Germany and believed that Hitler was mad, but did not present a threat to the U.S. Instead, Hoover believed that Roosevelt posed the biggest threat to peace, holding that Roosevelt's policies provoked Japan and discouraged France and the United Kingdom from reaching an "accommodation" with Germany.<ref name=wsj10282017>{{cite news|first=Edward|last=Kosner|title=A Wonder Boy on the Wrong Side of History|newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|location=New York City|date=October 28, 2017}}</ref> After the September 1939 [[invasion of Poland]] by Germany, Hoover opposed U.S. involvement in [[World War II]], including the [[Lend-Lease]] policy.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=152–154}} He was active in the isolationist [[America First Committee]].<ref>Katznelson, Ira (2013). ''Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of our Time. New York'', NY: Liveright Publishing Corporation. {{ISBN|978-0-87140-450-3}}. {{OCLC|783163618}}.</ref> He rejected Roosevelt's offers to help coordinate relief in Europe,{{sfn|Whyte 2017|p=565}} but, with the help of old friends from the CRB, helped establish the [[Commission for Polish Relief]].{{sfn|Jeansonne 2016|pp=328–329}} After the beginning of the [[German occupation of Belgium during World War II|occupation of Belgium]] in 1940, Hoover provided aid for Belgian civilians, though this aid was described as unnecessary by German broadcasts.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cornellcollege.edu/history/courses/stewart/his260-3-2006/01%20one/befr.htm|title=The Great Humanitarian: Herbert Hoover's Food Relief Efforts|publisher=Cornell College|access-date=February 28, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1940-the-finest-hour/the-few/|last=Churchill|first=Winston|title='The Few' Speech|date=August 20, 1940|publisher=International Churchill Society|access-date=February 28, 2020}}</ref>

In December 1939, sympathetic Americans led by Hoover formed the [[Finnish Relief Fund]] to donate money to aid Finnish civilians and refugees after the [[Soviet Union]] had started the [[Winter War]] by attacking Finland, which had outraged Americans.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,763540,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101014061233/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,763540,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=October 14, 2010 | magazine=Time | title=FOREIGN TRADE: Amtorg's Spree | date=February 19, 1940}}</ref> By the end of January, it had already sent more than two million dollars to the Finns.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,849150,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101014065449/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,849150,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=October 14, 2010 | magazine=Time | title=THE CONGRESS: Sounding Trumpets | date=January 29, 1940}}</ref>

During a radio broadcast on June 29, 1941, one week after the [[Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union]], Hoover disparaged any "tacit alliance" between the U.S. and the USSR, stating, "if we join the war and Stalin wins, we have aided him to impose more communism on Europe and the world... War alongside Stalin to impose freedom is more than a travesty. It is a tragedy."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|first=Edgar Eugene|last=Robinson|chapter=Hoover, Herbert Clark|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|volume=11|publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]]|location=Chicago, Illinois|date=1973|pages=676–77}}</ref> Much to his frustration, Hoover was not called upon to serve after the [[Military history of the United States during World War II|United States entered World War II]] due to his differences with Roosevelt and his continuing unpopularity.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=155–156}} He did not pursue the presidential nomination at the [[1944 Republican National Convention]], and, at the request of Republican nominee [[Thomas E. Dewey]], refrained from campaigning during the general election.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|p=572}} In 1945, Hoover advised President [[Harry S. Truman]] to drop the United States' demand for the [[unconditional surrender]] of Japan because of the high projected casualties of the [[Operation Downfall|planned invasion of Japan]], although Hoover was unaware of the [[Manhattan Project]] and the [[Nuclear weapons of the United States|atomic bomb]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cohen |first=Jared |title=Accidental presidents : eight men who changed America|date=April 9, 2019 |publisher= Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-1-5011-0982-9|edition=First hardcover |location=New York|pages=313|oclc=1039375326}}</ref>

In 1943, Hoover expressed his support for [[Zionism]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Herbert Hoover's Plan for Palestine | url=https://cooperative-individualism.org/medoff-rafael_herbert-hoover's-plan-for-palestine-1990-summer.pdf | access-date=December 29, 2024}}</ref>

===Post-World War II===
{{Further|Presidency of Harry S. Truman|Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower}}
[[File:Hoover men Allan Herbert Sr Andrew 1950.jpg|thumb|Hoover with his son [[Allan Hoover|Allan]] (left) and his grandson Andrew (above), 1950]]

Following World War II, Hoover befriended President Truman despite their ideological differences.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=157–158}} Because of Hoover's experience with Germany at the end of World War I, in 1946 Truman selected the former president to tour [[Allied-occupied Germany]] and [[Rome]], Italy to ascertain the food needs of the occupied nations. After touring Germany, Hoover produced [[The President's Economic Mission to Germany and Austria|a number of reports]] critical of U.S. occupation policy.<ref>{{cite book | first = Michael R. | last = Beschloss | title = The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941–1945 | url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780743244541 | url-access = registration | publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|location=New York City|date = 2002 |isbn=978-0-7432-4454-1|page = [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780743244541/page/277 277]}}</ref> He stated in one report that "there is the illusion that the New Germany left after the [[Historical Eastern Germany#Potsdam Conference|annexations]] can be reduced to a '[[Morgenthau Plan|pastoral state]].' It cannot be done unless we exterminate or move 25,000,000 people out of it."<ref>{{cite web|author=UN Chronicle |url=https://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2008/webarticles/080103_marshallplan.html |title=The Marshall Plan at 60: The General's Successful War on Poverty |publisher=The United Nations |date=March 18, 1947 |access-date=June 17, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080414103548/http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2008/webarticles/080103_marshallplan.html |archive-date=April 14, 2008 }}</ref> On Hoover's initiative, a school meals program in the [[Bizone|American and British occupation zones of Germany]] was begun on April 14, 1947; the program served 3,500,000 children.<ref>{{cite book |last=Shephard |first=Roy J. |author-link=Roy J. Shephard |year=2014 |title=An Illustrated History of Health and Fitness, from Pre-History to our Post-Modern World |publisher=[[Axel Springer SE]]|location=New York City|page=782 }}</ref>

{{external media | width = 210px | float = right
 | audio1 = [https://www.loc.gov/rr/record/pressclub/hoover.html National Press Club Luncheon Speakers], Herbert Hoover, March 10, 1954, 37:23, Hoover speaks starting at 7:25 about the second reorganization commission, [[Library of Congress]]<ref name="loc">{{cite web | title =National Press Club Luncheon Speakers, Herbert Hoover, March 10, 1954 | publisher =[[Library of Congress]] | url =https://www.loc.gov/rr/record/pressclub/hoover.html | access-date =October 20, 2016 }}</ref> }}

Even more important, in 1947 Truman appointed Hoover to lead the [[Hoover Commission|Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government]] a new high level study. Truman accepted some of the recommendations of the "Hoover Commission" for eliminating waste, fraud, and inefficiency, consolidating agencies, and strengthening White House control of policy.<ref>Richard Norton Smith, ''An Uncommon Man,'' (1984) pp 371–380.</ref><ref>Christopher D. McKenna, "Agents of adhocracy: management consultants and the reorganization of the executive branch, 1947–1949." ''Business and Economic History'' (1996): 101–111.</ref> Though Hoover had opposed Roosevelt's concentration of power in the 1930s, he believed that a stronger presidency was required with the advent of the [[Atomic Age]].{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=158–159}} During the [[1948 United States presidential election|1948 presidential election]], Hoover supported Republican nominee [[Thomas E. Dewey]]'s unsuccessful campaign against Truman, but he remained on good terms with Truman.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=587–588}} Hoover favored the United Nations in principle, but he opposed granting membership to the [[Soviet Union]] and other [[Communist state]]s. He viewed the Soviet Union to be as morally repugnant as Nazi Germany and supported the efforts of [[Richard Nixon]] and others to expose Communists in the United States.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=592–594}}
[[File:President John F. Kennedy and former President Herbert Hoover.jpg|thumb|Hoover with President [[John F. Kennedy]] in 1961]]
In 1949, Dewey, as governor of New York, offered Hoover the Senate seat vacated by [[Robert F. Wagner]]. It was a matter of being senator for only two months and he declined.<ref>Herbert Hoover, ''The Crusade Years, 1933–1955: Herbert Hoover's Lost Memoir of the New Deal Era and Its Aftermath'', edited by George H. Nash,  (Hoover Institution Press, 2013) p 13.</ref>
[[File:Hoover Truman Eisenhower.jpg|thumb|left|Hoover with President [[Harry S. Truman]] and General [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] at [[Princeton University]]]]
Hoover backed conservative leader [[Robert A. Taft]] at the [[1952 Republican National Convention]], but the party's presidential nomination instead went to [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], who went on to win the [[1952 United States presidential election|1952 election]].{{sfn|Whyte 2017|p=595}} Though Eisenhower appointed Hoover to another presidential commission, Hoover disliked Eisenhower, faulting the latter's failure to roll back the New Deal.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg 2009|pp=158–159}} Hoover's public work helped to rehabilitate his reputation, as did his use of self-deprecating humor; he occasionally remarked that "I am the only person of distinction who's ever had a depression named after him."{{sfn|Whyte 2017|p=592}} In 1958, Congress passed the [[Former Presidents Act]], offering a $25,000 yearly pension ({{Inflation|US|25000|1958|fmt=eq}}) to each former president.<ref name="Smith 2008">{{cite web |title=Former Presidents: Federal Pension and Retirement Benefits |date=March 18, 2008 |website=[[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] |publisher=[[Congressional Research Service]] |url=https://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/98-249.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110120224024/https://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/98-249.pdf |archive-date=January 20, 2011 |access-date=November 18, 2008 |first=Stephanie |last=Smith }}</ref> Hoover took the pension even though he did not need the money, possibly to avoid embarrassing Truman, whose allegedly precarious financial status played a role in the law's enactment.<ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Joseph William Jr. |author-link=Joseph William Martin Jr. |year=1960 |title=My First Fifty Years in Politics as Told to Robert J. Donovan |publisher=McGraw-Hill |page=249 }}</ref> In the early 1960s, President [[John F. Kennedy]] offered Hoover various positions; Hoover declined the offers but defended the Kennedy administration after the [[Bay of Pigs Invasion]], [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] and was personally distraught by the [[assassination of John F. Kennedy]] in 1963.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|p=601}}

Hoover wrote several books during his retirement, including ''The Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson'', in which he strongly defended Wilson's actions at the Paris Peace Conference.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=571, 604–605}} In 1944, he began working on ''Freedom Betrayed'', which he often referred to as his "[[magnum opus]]". In ''Freedom Betrayed'', Hoover strongly critiques [[Foreign policy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration|Roosevelt's foreign policy]], especially Roosevelt's decision to recognize the Soviet Union in order to provide aid to that country during World War II.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|p=606}} The book was published in 2012 after being edited by historian [[George H. Nash]].<ref>{{Citation|last=Yerxa|first=Donald A|title=Freedom Betrayed: An interview with George H. Nash about Herbert Hoover's Magnum Opus|journal=Historically Speaking|date=September 2012|volume=XIII| issue = 4}}</ref>

===Death===
{{anchor|Death}}
[[File:Herbert Hoover Presidential Library 009.jpg|thumb|right|The gravesite of Herbert and [[Lou Henry Hoover]]]]
Hoover faced three major illnesses during the last two years of his life, including an August 1962 operation in which a growth on his [[large intestine]] was removed.{{sfn|Whyte 2017|pp=606–607}}<ref name=Hoover90NYT>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/08/10/archives/hoover-marks-90th-year-today-predicts-new-gains-for-nation-because.html| title=Hoover Marks 90th Year Today; Predicts New Gains for Nation Because of Its Freedoms| newspaper=The New York Times| date=August 10, 1964| access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref> He died in New York City on October 20, 1964, following massive [[internal bleeding]].<ref>{{Cite news| title=Herbert Hoover Is Dead; Ex-President, 90, Served Country in Varied Fields| last=Phillips| first=McCandlish| date=October 21, 1964|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0810.html| newspaper=[[The New York Times]] on the web| access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref><ref name=bbupidan>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FzxYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=aPcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1272%2C2733112 |via=[[The Bulletin (Bend)|''The Bulletin'']] |agency=United Press International |last=Justice |first=Charles J. |title=Ex-President Herbert Hoover dead at 90 |date=October 20, 1964 |page=1}}</ref><ref name=hdanali>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wH1IAAAAIBAJ&sjid=g2wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5537%2C2967559 |via=''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' |agency=Associated Press |last=Everett |first=Arthur |title=Hoover dies at 90 after long illness |date=October 21, 1964 |page=1}}</ref> Though Hoover's last spoken words are unknown, his last-known written words were a get-well message to his friend former President Harry S. Truman, six days before his death, after he heard that Truman had sustained injuries from slipping in a bathroom:<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mancini |first1=Mark |title=Harry Truman and Herbert Hoover: An Unlikely Friendship |url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/52420/harry-truman-and-herbert-hoover-unlikely-friendship |website=Mentalfloss.org |date=August 30, 2013 |publisher=Mentalfloss |access-date=April 6, 2019}}</ref>  {{blockquote|"Bathtubs are a menace to ex-presidents for as you may recall a bathtub rose up and [[Fractured vertebra|fractured my vertebrae]] when I was in [[Venezuela]] on your world famine mission in 1946. My warmest sympathy and best wishes for your recovery."}}Two months earlier on August 10, Hoover reached the age of 90,<ref name=bbaugtn>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=M_hYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TvcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1352%2C5635225 |newspaper=The Bulletin |agency=United Press International |last=Wilson |first=Lyle |title=Hoover, 90 years today, wants no honors |date=August 10, 1964 |page=4}}</ref><ref name=pipgnin>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NtgNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yGwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7143%2C1046713 |via=''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' |agency=Associated Press |last=Daniell |first=Raymond |title=Hoover marking 90th birthday |date=August 10, 1964 |page=7}}</ref> only the second U.S. president (after [[John Adams]]) to do so. When asked how he felt on reaching the milestone, Hoover replied, "Too old."<ref name=Hoover90NYT/> At the time of his death, Hoover had been out of office for over 31 years ({{age in days|1933|3|4|1964|10|20|format=commas}} days all together). This was the longest retirement in presidential history, surpassing Adams' 25 years, until [[Jimmy Carter]] broke that record in September 2012.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=John| last=Dillon| title=The Record-Setting Ex-Presidency of Jimmy Carter| url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/09/the-record-setting-ex-presidency-of-jimmy-carter/262143/| magazine=[[The Atlantic]]|date=September 9, 2012|access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref>

President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] ordered flags flown at half-staff and was among the 500 guests invited for the funeral service held at [[St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church (Manhattan)|St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church]]. Other dignitaries included former Vice President and future President Richard Nixon, Representative [[William E. Miller]], Governor [[Nelson Rockefeller]], former Governor Thomas E. Dewey, former Attorney General [[Robert F. Kennedy]], former Postmaster General [[James A. Farley]], Rear Admiral [[Lewis L. Strauss]] and Senators [[Hubert Humphrey]], [[Barry Goldwater]], [[Kenneth Keating]], and [[Jacob Javits]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 23, 1964 |title=LEADERS ATTEND HOOVER FUNERAL |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/23/archives/leaders-attend-hoover-funeral-johnson-and-goldwater-join-city-in.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713124424/https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/23/archives/leaders-attend-hoover-funeral-johnson-and-goldwater-join-city-in.html |archive-date=July 13, 2024 |access-date=October 30, 2025 |newspaper=The New York Times |pages=1 }}</ref>

Hoover was honored with a [[State funerals in the United States|state funeral]] in which he [[lying in state#United States|lay in state]] in the [[United States Capitol rotunda]].<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.aoc.gov/nations-stage/lying-state-honor| title=Lying in State or in Honor | publisher=Architect of the Capitol| location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref> President Johnson and First Lady [[Lady Bird Johnson]] attended, but former presidents Truman and Eisenhower were both too ill to attend. Then, on October 25, he was buried in West Branch, Iowa, near his [[Presidential library system|presidential library]] and birthplace on the grounds of the [[Herbert Hoover National Historic Site]]. Afterwards, Hoover's wife, Lou Henry Hoover, who had been buried in Palo Alto, California, following her death in 1944, was re-interred beside him.<ref>{{cite web| title=Gravesite| website=nps.gov| url=https://www.nps.gov/heho/learn/historyculture/gravesite.htm| publisher=National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior| access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref>

The state funeral was the third in a span of twelve months, following those of [[State funeral of John F. Kennedy|President John F. Kennedy]] and [[General of the Army]] [[Douglas MacArthur]]. [[Black Jack (horse)|Black Jack]] was the riderless horse in all three funerals.{{citation needed|date=September 2025}}

==Legacy==

===Historical reputation===
Hoover was extremely unpopular when he left office after the 1932 election, and his historical reputation would not begin to recover until the 1970s. According to Professor David E. Hamilton, historians have credited Hoover for his genuine belief in voluntarism and cooperation, as well as the innovation of some of his programs. However, Hamilton also notes that Hoover was politically inept and failed to recognize the severity of the Great Depression.<ref name="millerlegacy">{{cite web|last1=Hamilton|first1=David E.|title=HERBERT HOOVER: IMPACT AND LEGACY|url=https://millercenter.org/president/hoover/impact-and-legacy|website=Miller Center|access-date=December 5, 2017|date=October 4, 2016}}</ref> [[Nicholas Lemann]] writes that Hoover has been remembered "as the man who was too rigidly conservative to react adeptly to the Depression, as the hapless foil to the great Franklin Roosevelt, and as the politician who managed to turn a Republican country into a Democratic one".<ref name="lemann">{{cite magazine |last1=Lemann |first1=Nicholas |title=Hating on Herbert Hoover |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/23/hating-on-herbert-hoover |access-date=February 18, 2019 |magazine=The New Yorker |date=October 23, 2017}}</ref> Polls of historians and political scientists have generally [[Historical rankings of presidents of the United States|ranked]] Hoover in the bottom third of presidents. A 2018 poll of the [[American Political Science Association]]'s Presidents and Executive Politics section ranked Hoover as the 36th best president.<ref>{{cite news|first1=Brandon|last1=Rottinghaus|first2=Justin S.|last2=Vaughn|title=How Does Trump Stack Up Against the Best — and Worst — Presidents?|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/19/opinion/how-does-trump-stack-up-against-the-best-and-worst-presidents.html/|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=February 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190310203020/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/19/opinion/how-does-trump-stack-up-against-the-best-and-worst-presidents.html/|archive-date=March 10, 2019}}</ref> A 2017 [[C-SPAN]] poll of historians also ranked Hoover as the 36th best president.<ref>{{cite web|title=Presidential Historians Survey 2017|url=https://www.c-span.org/presidentsurvey2017/?page=overall|website=[[C-SPAN]]|access-date=May 14, 2018}}</ref>

Although Hoover is generally regarded as having had a failed presidency, he has also received praise for his actions as a humanitarian and public official.<ref name="lemann"/> Biographer Glen Jeansonne wrote in 2016 that Hoover was "one of the most extraordinary Americans of modern times," adding that Hoover "led a life that was a prototypical [[Horatio Alger]] story, except that Horatio Alger stories stop at the pinnacle of success".{{sfn|Jeansonne 2016|pp=1–2}} Biographer [[Kenneth Whyte]] writes that, "the question of where Hoover belongs in the American political tradition remains a loaded one to this day. While he clearly played important roles in the development of both the progressive and conservative traditions, neither side will embrace him for fear of contamination with the other."{{sfn|Whyte 2017|p=610}}

Historian [[Richard Pipes]], on his actions leading the [[American Relief Administration]], said of him: "Many statesmen occupy a prominent place in history for having sent millions to their death; Herbert Hoover, maligned for his performance as President, and soon forgotten in Russia, has the rare distinction of having saved millions."<ref>{{cite book|first=Richard|last=Pipes|title=Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime|year=1993|publisher=Knopf|page=419}}</ref>

===Views of race===
Although racist remarks and humor were common at the time, Hoover never indulged in them while president, and deliberate discrimination was [[anathema]] to him. Like many of his peers, Hoover considered white people to be inherently superior to black people, considering the "mixture of bloods disadvantageous". He did think education and work would improve black people's standing, hence his support for the [[Tuskegee University|Tuskegee Institute]].<ref name="garcia"/> His wife [[Lou Henry Hoover]] broke the color bar as first lady by inviting [[Jessie De Priest]], wife of the first black congressman elected in several decades, to a [[Jessie De Priest tea at the White House|traditional tea for the wives of congressmen]], as well as later inviting the Tuskegee Institute choir (then under the direction of [[William L. Dawson (composer)|William Dawson]]).<ref>{{cite web |title=William L. Dawson Tribute {{!}} Tuskegee University |url=https://www.tuskegee.edu/student-life/student-organizations/choir/william-l-dawson-tribute |website=www.tuskegee.edu |access-date=March 5, 2023}}</ref>

Although he thought of himself as a friend to black people and an advocate for their progress,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jeansonne |first=G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gQZfAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT257 |title=The Life of Herbert Hoover: Fighting Quaker, 1928–1933 |date=April 3, 2012 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-137-11189-0}}</ref> many of his black contemporaries had a different view. [[W. E. B. Du Bois]] described him as an "undemocratic racist who saw blacks as a species of 'sub-men{{' "}}.<ref name="garcia">{{Cite journal| doi = 10.17077/0003-4827.8609| issn = 0003-4827| volume = 44| issue = 7| pages = 507–515| last = Garcia| first = George F.| title = Herbert Hoover and the Issue of Race| journal = The Annals of Iowa| access-date = May 11, 2019| date = 1979| url = https://pubs.lib.uiowa.edu/annals-of-iowa/article/id/3996/| doi-access = free}}</ref> Some historians trace the disaffection of African-Americans with the Republican party to his time in office especially due to his attempt to remove African-Americans from leadership in the Republican party in the South.<ref name="garcia"/>

Hoover's time in China shaped his views of Asian people and Asian-Americans. He erroneously wrote that "no world-startling mechanical invention" had come from China, claiming this was due to Chinese people not possessing the same mechanical instincts as Europeans.<ref name="garcia" /> This may have influenced his decision to reduce immigration through restrictions on visas.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Howard |first=Spencer |date=August 4, 2016 |title=Hoover on Immigration |url=https://hoover.blogs.archives.gov/2016/08/04/hoover-on-immigration/ |access-date=August 24, 2024 |publisher=[[Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum]]}}</ref>

===Memorials===
The [[Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum]] is located in West Branch, Iowa next to the [[Herbert Hoover National Historic Site]]. The library is one of thirteen [[Presidential library system|presidential libraries]] run by the [[National Archives and Records Administration]]. The [[Hoover–Minthorn House]], where Hoover lived from 1885 to 1891, is located in [[Newberg, Oregon|Newberg]], Oregon. His [[Rapidan Camp|Rapidan fishing camp]] in Virginia, which he donated to the government in 1933, is now a National Historic Landmark within the [[Shenandoah National Park]]. The [[Lou Henry Hoover House|Lou Henry and Herbert Hoover House]], built in 1919 in [[Stanford, California]], is now the official residence of the president of Stanford University, and a [[National Historic Landmark]]. Also located at Stanford is the [[Hoover Institution]], a think tank and research institution started by Hoover.{{citation needed|date=September 2025}}

Hoover has been memorialized in the names of several things, including the [[Hoover Dam]] on the [[Colorado River]] and numerous elementary, [[Middle school|middle]], and [[High school (North America)|high schools]] across the United States. Two minor planets, [[932 Hooveria]]<ref>{{cite book  |last       = Schmadel | first = Lutz D.  |title = Dictionary of Minor Planet Names |publisher  = Springer Berlin Heidelberg  |page  = 83 |date  = 2007  |isbn=978-3-540-00238-3   |doi = 10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_933 |chapter = (932) Hooveria }}</ref> and [[1363 Herberta]], are named in his honor.<ref>{{cite book  |last       = Schmadel | first = Lutz D.  |title = Dictionary of Minor Planet Names |publisher  = Springer Berlin Heidelberg  |page  = 110  |date  = 2007  |isbn=978-3-540-00238-3   |doi = 10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_1364 |chapter = (1363) Herberta }}</ref> The Polish capital of [[Warsaw]] has a square named after Hoover,<ref>{{cite web|title=An American Friendship: Herbert Hoover and Poland |url=http://www.hoover.org/library-and-archives/exhibits/27245 |date=August 1, 2005 |publisher=[[Hoover Institution]] |access-date=February 17, 2011 |mode=cs2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110101224506/http://www.hoover.org/library-and-archives/exhibits/27245 |archive-date=January 1, 2011 }}</ref> and the historic townsite of [[Gwalia, Western Australia]] contains the Hoover House Bed and Breakfast, where Hoover resided while managing and visiting the mine during the first decade of the twentieth century.<ref>[http://www.gwalia.org.au/bed_and_breakfast/ Gwalia House] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130409140250/http://www.gwalia.org.au/bed_and_breakfast/ |date=April 9, 2013}}. Gwalia.org.au. Retrieved on July 14, 2013.</ref> A [[medicine ball]] game known as [[Hooverball]] is named for Hoover; it was invented by White House physician Admiral [[Joel T. Boone]] to help Hoover keep fit while serving as president.<ref name=Hooverball>{{cite web|title=History of Hoover-Ball|url=http://hoover.archives.gov/education/hooverball.html|publisher=[[Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum]]|access-date=June 30, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025164910/http://hoover.archives.gov/education/hooverball.html|archive-date=October 25, 2012}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:Herbert Hoover Presidential Library 003.jpg|Hoover Presidential Library located in West Branch, Iowa
File:Hoover Plaque Poznan.JPG|A plaque in [[Poznań]] honoring Hoover
File:Dupont KBS-FRB(2).jpg|Medal depicting Hoover, by Devreese Godefroi
</gallery>

===Other honors===

Hoover was inducted into the [[National Mining Hall of Fame]] in 1988 (inaugural class).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://mininghalloffame.org/inductee/hoover-0 |title=Hoover &#124; MiningHallOfFame.org |access-date=June 11, 2020 |archive-date=June 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611180629/https://mininghalloffame.org/inductee/hoover-0 |url-status=dead }}</ref> His wife was inducted into the hall in 1990.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://mininghalloffame.org/inductee/hoover |title=Hoover &#124; MiningHallOfFame.org |access-date=June 11, 2020 |archive-date=November 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191123101729/https://mininghalloffame.org/inductee/hoover |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Hoover was inducted into the Australian Prospectors and Miners' Hall of Fame in the category Directors and Management.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mininghalloffame.com.au/hall-of-fame/inductee.php?id=46 |title=Hoover, Herbert Clark |website=mininghalloffame.com.au |access-date=June 21, 2021 |archive-date=March 16, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250316172449/http://www.mininghalloffame.com.au/hall-of-fame/inductee.php?id=46 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Hoover was awarded an honorary doctorate by the [[Charles University in Prague]] and [[University of Helsinki]] in March 1938.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://temata.rozhlas.cz/herbert-hoover-z-chudeho-synka-nejmocnejsim-muzem-planety-7983574 |title=Herbert Hoover − z chudého synka nejmocnějším mužem planety |date=July 26, 2017 |publisher=Témata |language=Czech |access-date=June 21, 2021}}</ref><ref name="promotionceremonypic">{{cite web |url=https://finna.fi/Record/museovirasto.2F64AB0EA7BB4B1B76CE38FAE0B7A363 |website=Finna archive |publisher=National Library of Finland |access-date=November 9, 2020 |date=1938|title=USA:n entinen presidentti Herbert Hoover vastaanottaa tohtorinmiekan ja vihitään kunniatohtoriksi |language=fi}}</ref><ref name="oululehti">{{cite news |last1=Panu |title=Kunniatohtori Hoover |url=http://kirjastolinkit.ouka.fi/panu/oululehti1986/Oululehti26011986.pdf |access-date=November 9, 2020 |publisher=Oulu-lehti |date=January 26, 1986 |location=Oulu}}</ref> The ceremonial sword is today on display in the lobby of the Hoover tower.

==See also==
* [[List of presidents of the United States]]
* [[List of presidents of the United States by previous experience]]
* [[Progressive Era]]
* [[Roaring Twenties]]

== Explanatory notes ==
{{notelist}}

==References==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

===Works cited===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last=Burner |first=David |title=Herbert Hoover: A Public Life |date=1996 |orig-year=1979 |publisher=Easton Press }} Originally published as {{cite book |last=Burner |first=David |title=Herbert Hoover: A Public Life |date=1979 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday |isbn=978-0-394-46134-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/herberthooverpub00burn |ref=none}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Carcasson |first1=Martin |title=Herbert Hoover and the Presidential Campaign of 1932: The Failure of Apologia |journal=Presidential Studies Quarterly |date=Spring 1998 |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=349–365 |jstor=27551864}}
* {{cite book |last1=Clements |first1=Kendrick A. |title=Imperfect Visionary, 1918–1928 |series=The Life of Herbert Hoover |volume=4 |date=June 2010 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-0-230-10308-5 |doi=10.1057/9780230107908 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Eichengreen |first1=Barry |last2=Temin |first2=Peter |title=The Gold Standard and the Great Depression |journal=Contemporary European History |date=2000 |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=183–207 |jstor=20081742 |doi=10.1017/S0960777300002010 |s2cid=158383956 |url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w6060.pdf }}
* {{cite book |last1=Fausold |first1=Martin L. |title=The Presidency of Herbert C. Hoover |date=1985 |publisher=University Press of Kansas |isbn=978-0-7006-0259-9 |ref={{sfnRef|Fausold 1985}} |url=https://archive.org/details/presidencyofherb00faus }}
* {{Cite book |last=Ferrell |first=Robert H. |title=The Presidency of Calvin Coolidge |publisher=[[University Press of Kansas]] |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-7006-0892-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/presidencyofcalv0000ferr }}
* {{cite book |last=Ferrell |first=Robert H. |title=American Diplomacy in the Great Depression: Hoover–Stimson Foreign Policy, 1929–1933 |url=https://archive.org/details/americandiplomac0000ferr |url-access=registration |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1957 }}
* {{Cite journal|last=Garcia|first=George F.|date=January 1, 1980|title=Black Disaffection From the Republican Party During the Presidency of Herbert Hoover, 1928–1932|journal=The Annals of Iowa|volume=45|issue=6|issn=0003-4827|pages=462–477|ref={{sfnRef|Garcia 1980}}|doi=10.17077/0003-4827.8734|doi-access=free}}
* {{Citation |last=Hart |first=David M. |title=Herbert Hoover's Last Laugh: the Enduring Significance of the 'Associative State' in the United States |journal=Journal of Policy History |year=1998 |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=419–444 |doi=10.1017/S0898030600007156|s2cid=154120555 }}
* {{cite book|last1=Herring|first1=George C.|title=From Colony to Superpower; U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776|date=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-507822-0|url=https://archive.org/details/fromcolonytosupe00herr}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Hoffman |first1=Abraham |title=Stimulus to Repatriation: The 1931 Federal Deportation Drive and the Los Angeles Mexican Community |journal=Pacific Historical Review |date=May 1973 |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=205–219 |jstor=3638467|ref={{sfnRef|Hoffman 1973}}|doi=10.2307/3638467 }}
* {{citation|last=Houck|first=Davis W.|title=Rhetoric as Currency: Herbert Hoover and the 1929 Stock Market Crash|journal=Rhetoric & Public Affairs|date=2000|volume=3|issue=2|pages=155–181|doi=10.1353/rap.2010.0156|s2cid=154447214|issn=1094-8392}}
* {{cite journal|last=Johnson|first=Kevin|url=http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1147&context=plr|title=The Forgotten Repatriation of Persons of Mexican Ancestry and Lessons for the War on Terror|date=Fall 2005|journal=Pace Law Review|issue=1|volume=26|pages=1–26|doi=10.58948/2331-3528.1147 |s2cid=140417518 |ref={{sfnRef|Johnson 2005}}|doi-access=free}}
* {{cite book |last1=Jeansonne |first1=Glen |title=Herbert Hoover: A Life |date=2016 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-1-101-99100-8 |ref={{sfnRef|Jeansonne 2016}}}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Kaufman |first1=Bruce E. |title=Wage Theory, New Deal Labor Policy, and the Great Depression: Were Government and Unions to Blame? |journal= Industrial and Labor Relations Review |date=2012 |volume=65 |issue=3 |pages=501–532 |jstor=24368882 |hdl=10072/48703 |doi=10.1177/001979391206500302 |s2cid=54877676 |hdl-access=free }}
* {{cite book|last1=Kennedy|first1=David M.|title=Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945|date=1999|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-503834-7|url=https://archive.org/details/freedomfromfeara00kenn}}
* {{Cite book|first=John Maynard|last=Keynes|author-link=John Maynard Keynes|title=The Economic Consequences of the Peace|publisher=Harcourt Brace and Howe|year=1919}}
* {{cite book |last1=Leuchtenburg |first1=William E. |title=Herbert Hoover |date=2009 |publisher=Times Books (Henry Holt and Company) |isbn=978-0-8050-6958-7 |ref={{sfnref|Leuchtenburg 2009}} |url=https://archive.org/details/herberthoover00leuc }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Leuchtenburg |first1=William E. |title=The Wrong Man at the Wrong Time |journal=American Heritage |date=Summer 2009 |volume=59 |issue=2 |url=http://www.americanheritage.com/content/wrong-man-wrong-time?page=show |ref={{sfnRef|Leuchtenburg 2009b}}}}
* {{Cite book |last=McCoy |first=Donald R. |title=Calvin Coolidge: The Quiet President |publisher=Macmillan |year=1967 |isbn=978-1-4680-1777-9 }}
* {{cite book |last=Nash |first=George H. |title=The Life of Herbert Hoover: The Engineer 1874–1914 |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofherberthoo0001nash |url-access=registration |publisher=W W Norton |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-393-01634-5 }} Book 1 in The Life of Herbert Hoover Series.
* {{cite journal |last1=O'Brien |first1=Patrick G. |last2=Rosen |first2=Philip T. |title=Hoover and the Historians: the Resurrection of a President |journal=The Annals of Iowa |date=1981 |volume=46|issue=2 |pages=83–99 |doi=10.17077/0003-4827.8816 |doi-access=free |ref=none}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Olson |first1=James S. |title=Gifford Pinchot and the Politics of Hunger, 1932–1933 |journal=Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography |date=October 1972 |volume=96 |issue=4 |pages=508–520 |jstor=20090681 |ref={{sfnRef|Olson 1972}}|url=https://journals.psu.edu/pmhb/article/view/42893 }}
* {{cite book |last=Rappleye|first=Charles |title=Herbert Hoover in the White House: The Ordeal of the Presidency |year=2016 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1-4516-4869-0 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Whyte |first1=Kenneth |title=Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times |date=2017 |publisher=Knopf |isbn=978-0-307-59796-0|ref={{sfnRef|Whyte 2017}}}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Joan Hoff |title=Herbert Hoover, Forgotten Progressive |publisher=Little, Brown |year=1975 |isbn=978-0-316-94416-8 }}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
{{Main|Bibliography of Herbert Hoover}}

===Biographical===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Best, Gary Dean. ''The Politics of American Individualism: Herbert Hoover in Transition, 1918–1921'' (1975)
* Best, Gary Dean. ''The Life of Herbert Hoover: Keeper of the Torch, 1933–1964.'' Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
* Edwards, Barry C. "Putting Hoover on the Map: Was the 31st President a Progressive?" ''Congress & the Presidency'' 41#1 (2014) pp 49–83
* Hatfield, Mark. ed. ''Herbert Hoover Reassessed'' (2002)
* {{Citation | last = Hawley | first = Ellis | title = Herbert Hoover and the Historians | year = 1989|ref=none}}.
* Jeansonne, Glen. ''The Life of Herbert Hoover: Fighting Quaker, 1928–1933.'' Palgrave Macmillan; 2012.
* Lloyd, Craig. ''Aggressive Introvert: A Study of Herbert Hoover and Public Relations Management, 1912–1932'' (1973).
* [[George H. Nash|Nash, George H.]] ''The Life of Herbert Hoover: The Engineer 1874–1914'' (1983); in-depth scholarly study
** {{Citation | last = Nash | author-mask = 2 | series = The Life of Herbert Hoover | title = The Humanitarian, 1914–1917 | year = 1988 | volume = 2|ref=none}}.
** {{Citation | last = Nash | author-mask = 2 | series = The Life of Herbert Hoover | title = Master of Emergencies, 1917–1918 | year = 1996 | volume = 3|ref=none}}.
* Nash, Lee, ed. ''Understanding Herbert Hoover: Ten Perspectives'' (1987); essays by scholars
* Smith, Richard Norton. ''An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover'', (1987), biography concentrating on post 1932.
* Walch, Timothy. ed. ''Uncommon Americans: The Lives and Legacies of Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover'' Praeger, 2003.
* West, Hal Elliott. ''Hoover, the Fishing President: Portrait of the Man and his Life Outdoors'' (2005).
{{refend}}

===Scholarly studies===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Arnold, Peri E. "The 'Great Engineer' as Administrator: Herbert Hoover and Modern Bureaucracy." ''Review of Politics'' 42.3 (1980): 329–348. {{JSTOR|1406794}}.
* Barber, William J. ''From New Era to New Deal: Herbert Hoover, the Economists, and American Economic Policy, 1921–1933''. (1985)
* {{BBKL|h/hoover_h_c|band=30|autor=Claus Bernet|artikel=Hoover, Herbert|spalten=644–653|ref=none}}
* Brandes, Joseph. ''Herbert Hoover and Economic Diplomacy: Department of Commerce Policy, 1921–1928.'' (U of Pittsburgh Press, 1970).
* 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}}.
* Clements, Kendrick A. ''Hoover, Conservation, and Consumerism: Engineering the Good Life''. University Press of Kansas, 2000
* Dodge, Mark M., ed. ''Herbert Hoover and the Historians''. (1989)
* Fausold Martin L. and George Mazuzan, eds. ''The Hoover Presidency: A Reappraisal'' (1974)
* Goodman, Mark, and Mark Gring. [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mark_Gring/publication/236816005_The_Radio_Act_of_1927_Progressive_Ideology_Epistemology_and_Praxis/links/5663a34008ae192bbf8ef2c3.pdf "The Radio Act of 1927: progressive ideology, epistemology, and praxis"]. ''Rhetoric & Public Affairs'' 3.3 (2000): 397–418.
* Hawley, Ellis."Herbert Hoover and the Historians—Recent Developments: A Review Essay" ''Annals of Iowa'' 78#1 (2018) pp.&nbsp;75–86 {{doi|10.17077/0003-4827.12547}}
* Hawley, Ellis. {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20210110012508/http://www.trinityhistory.org/AmH/Hawley-Hoover.pdf "Herbert Hoover, the Commerce Secretariat, and the Vision of an 'Associative State', 1921–1928"]}}. ''Journal of American History'', (June 1974) 61#1: 116–140.
* Jansky Jr, C. M. "The contribution of Herbert Hoover to broadcasting." ''Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media'' 1.3 (1957): 241–249.
* Lee, David D. "Herbert Hoover and the Development of Commercial Aviation, 1921–1926." ''Business History Review'' 58.1 (1984): 78–102.
* Lichtman, Allan J. ''Prejudice and the Old Politics: The Presidential Election of 1928'' (1979)
* 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)
* Parafianowicz, Halina. [https://www.e-ir.info/2019/03/17/herbert-c-hoover-and-poland-1929-1933-between-myth-and-reality 'Herbert C. Hoover and Poland: 1919–1933. Between Myth and Reality']
* Polsky, Andrew J., and Olesya Tkacheva. "Legacies Versus Politics: Herbert Hoover, Partisan Conflict, and the Symbolic Appeal of Associationalism in the 1920s." ''International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society'' 16.2 (2002): 207–235. [https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/43975/10767_2004_Article_452810.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y online]
* Short, Brant.  "The Rhetoric of the Post-Presidency: Herbert Hoover's Campaign against the New Deal, 1934–1936" ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' (1991) 21#2   pp.&nbsp;333–350 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27550722 online]
* Sibley, Katherine A.S., ed. ''A Companion to Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover'' (2014); 616pp; essays by scholars stressing historiography
* Wueschner, Silvano A. ''Charting Twentieth-Century Monetary Policy: Herbert Hoover and Benjamin Strong, 1917–1927''. Greenwood, 1999
{{refend}}

===Primary sources===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Myers, William Starr; Walter H. Newton, eds. (1936). ''The Hoover Administration; a documented narrative''.
* Hawley, Ellis, ed. (1974–1977). ''Herbert Hoover: Containing the Public Messages, Speeches, and Statements of the President'', 4 vols.
* {{Citation |last=Hoover|first=Herbert Clark | title = The Challenge to Liberty | year = 1934 |ref=none}}.
* {{Citation |last = Hoover | first = Herbert Clark | author-mask = 2 | title = Addresses Upon The American Road, 1933–1938 | year = 1938|ref=none}}.
* {{Citation | last = Hoover | first = Herbert Clark | author-mask = 2 | title = Addresses Upon The American Road, 1940–41 | year = 1941|ref=none}}.
* {{Citation | last1 = Hoover | first1 = Herbert Clark | title = The Problems of Lasting Peace | first2 = Hugh | last2 = and Gibson | year = 1942 | author-mask = 2 |ref=none}}.
* {{Citation | last = Hoover | first = Herbert Clark | author-mask = 2 | title = Addresses Upon The American Road, 1945–48 | year = 1949|ref=none}}.
* {{Citation | last = Hoover | first = Herbert Clark | author-mask = 2 | series = Memoirs | place = New York |publisher=Macmillan | volume = 1 | title = Years of adventure, 1874–1920  | year = 1952a | df = mdy-all |ref=none}}.
* {{Citation | last = Hoover | first = Herbert Clark | author-mask = 2 | series = Memoirs | place = New York |publisher=Macmillan | volume = 2 | title = The Cabinet and the Presidency, 1920–1933 | year = 1952b | df = mdy-all |ref=none}}.
* {{Citation|last=Hoover |first=Herbert Clark |author-mask=2 |series=Memoirs |place=New York |publisher=Macmillan |volume=3 |title=The Great Depression, 1929–1941  |year=1952c |ref=none}}.
* {{Citation|editor-first=Dwight M. |editor-last=Miller |editor2-first=Timothy |editor2-last=Walch |title=Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Documentary History |publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, CT|year=1998|series=Contributions in American History|isbn=978-0-313-30608-2|ref=none}}
* {{Citation | last = Hoover | first = Herbert Clark | title = Freedom Betrayed: Herbert Hoover's Secret History of the Second World War and Its Aftermath | editor-first = George H. | editor-last = Nash |editor-link=George H. Nash| place = Stanford, CA| publisher = Hoover Institution Press | year = 2011 |isbn=978-0-8179-1234-5 |ref=none}}.
* {{Citation | last = Hoover | first = Herbert Clark | title = The Crusade Years, 1933–1955: Herbert Hoover's Lost Memoir of the New Deal Era and Its Aftermath | editor-first = George H. | editor-last = Nash |editor-link=George H. Nash| place = Stanford, CA| publisher = Hoover Institution Press | year = 2013 |isbn=978-0-8179-1674-9 |ref=none}}.
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{Gutenberg author|id=1662}}
* {{C-SPAN|3474}}
* [https://www.hoover.archives.gov/ Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200528160601/https://hoover.archives.gov/ |date=May 28, 2020 }}
* [https://www.nps.gov/heho/index.htm Herbert Hoover National Historic Site], [[National Park Service]]
*''[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29489 Herbert Hoover: The Man and His Work]'' (1920) by [[Vernon Lyman Kellogg]]
* {{New York Times topic|new_id=person/herbert-hoover}}
* {{IMDb name}}
* {{Librivox author |id=11298}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname= Herbert Hoover}}

{{Herbert Hoover}}
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{{s-ttl|title=[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[List of United States Republican Party presidential tickets|nominee]] for President of the United States|years=[[1928 United States presidential election|1928]], [[1932 United States presidential election|1932]]}}
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{{s-ttl|title=Persons who have [[lying in state|lain in state or honor]] in the [[United States Capitol rotunda]]|years=1964}}
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{{Navboxes
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{{US Presidents}}
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{{United States presidential election, 1920}}
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{{subject bar|Biography|1920s|Conservatism|Geology|Politics|Iowa|United States|wikt=Hooverize|d=y|auto=1}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoover, Herbert}}
[[Category:Herbert Hoover| ]]
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