Herbert Hoover served as the 31st President of the United States, serving between 1929 to 1933. This got me thinking, what are some fascinating facts about Herbert Hoover?
Today, Hoover is remembered for being one of the worst presidents in history. His inability to act during the onset of the Great Depression saw thousands of people become homeless.
Due to this, when Hoover came up for re-election in 1933, he lost in a landslide to Franklin D. Roosevelt, who is known for being one of the best presidents in history.
15. First Orphaned President
Herbert Hoover was born on August 10 1874 in Iowa. His father, Jesse was a blacksmith and his mother, Hulda was a homemaker.
In 1880, at the age of 34, Herbert’s father, Jesse died from a died heart attack. In 1884, Herbert’s mother, Hulda, would die after suffering from pneumonia and typhoid fever.
The death of both of Hoover’s parents made Herbert and his siblings orphans.
As orphans, the Hoover children were sent to live with their mother’s relatives. However, due to financial difficulties, the children were split up between Hulda’s relatives.
A young Herbert Hoover was initially sent to live with one of his grandmothers. He was later sent to live with his paternal uncle Allen for 18 months before being sent to his maternal uncle John Minthorn in Oregon.
14. Self-Made Multimillionaire
Despite being an orphan, Hoover was able to work a number of odd jobs that financed him going to the newly opened Stanford University. Here, he would graduate in 1895 with a geology degree.
From here, a 21 year old Herbert Hoover would struggle to find work in the US due to the then-ongoing Panic of 1893. As such, he would travel to the UK, where he secured a job with British mining company Bewick, Moreing and Co.
Over the next six years, Hoover would rise through the ranks, to become a successful mine operator. By the age of 27, Hoover had become one of the four partners of the firm (and the only non-cofounder!)
As a partner of the firm, Hoover would receive shares in the company. His shares in the company alone would make him a millionaire. By today’s standards, he was worth roughly $75 million, being one of the richer presidents in history.
13. Never Accepted His Salary
Herbert Hoover was one of the richest politicians of his day. His personal fortune was roughly 200 times that of the average American (at the time), and was more than enough to cover his living expenses whilst president.
Due to this, Hoover chose to forgo accepting his presidential salary. Instead, he chose to donate it to an orphans charity during his four years in office. This drew much media attention at the time, as this was rare for a president.
In 1958, Congress passed the Former Presidents Act. In part, this gives any president who wasn’t removed from office an annual pension, roughly the same as what the sitting president earns.
President Hoover was still alive at the time, so was entitled to receive his pension as the former president. Hoover would once again donate this money to charity, as he had 30 years previously.
12. Loved by Both Democrats and Republicans
During WWI, Herbert Hoover had faithfully served President Wilson as Director of the Food Administration. Following WWI, Hoover would help enact a number of progressive policies.
This made Hoover a favorite of both Conservatives and Progressives. In 1920, both the Democrats and Republicans would attempt to convince him to become their party’s candidate for president.
However, Hoover was only interested in the Republican Party nomination. Eventually, Hoover would lose out to then-US Senator Warren G. Harding. Harding would later win the presidency, but die shortly after, paving the way for Calvin Coolidge’s presidency.
Even in spite of declining the Democrat nomination, his approval ratings were still quite high with Democrats. Future rival FDR would even go as far to express that one day Hoover should actually become president!
11. Never Elected Before The Presidency
If you look at the roles that Hoover had before the presidency, you’ll see that he was the Director of the United States Food Administration as well as the Secretary of Commerce.
Looking at this, you’d have expected that Hoover had at least held one elected position. Perhaps, he was even a seasoned campaigner. But he wasn’t. Hoover had never been elected to office. At least, not directly anyway.
All of Hoover’s positions were appointed ones. During WWI, President Wilson appointed him to be the Director of the US Food Administration. However, when the war ended in 1918, Hoover stopped being the director.
Likewise, Hoover had gained the favor of the newly-elected President Harding. With his background as a businessman, Harding decided to appoint him as his Secretary of Commerce.
This means that the Presidency was Hoover’s first (and only!) time campaigning for the highest office in the country!
10. “Hooverball”
Today, it’s a well known fact that being president takes up the vast majority of your time. This leaves little time for play, education and in particular, exercise.
Modern science shows that in order to have a healthy mind, you must have a healthy body, and vice-versa. And as the leader of the free world, it is imperative that you have both.
Whilst president, Herbert Hoover tasked White House physician Admiral Joel T. Boone with inventing a sport that would take up very little time, but would still be physically exerting. Admiral Boone came up with Hooverball.
Hooverball is a sport somewhat like tennis, but can be played on grass, not a court. In fact, Hooverball is still played to this very day, with a national Hooverball championship being held in West Branch, Iowa each year.
9. The Hoover Dam
Whilst Hoover was Secretary of Commerce, he had worked on building a dam on the intersect of the Black Canyon and the Colorado River. Upon becoming president, Hoover would order construction to begin in 1931.
Originally, the idea was to name the dam in honor of Hoover, the man who’d helped design it, and late ordered its construction. Construction was completed in 1936, and would be opened by then-President FDR.
However, Harold Ikes, then-Secretary of the Interior, convinced FDR that Hoover had actually had very little to do with the Dam. As such, it was opened with the name Boulder Dam, a name it would have until 1947.
The Roosevelt Administration did not invite Hoover to the unveiling ceremony, and FDR did not mention Hoover in his speech. However, in 1947, President Truman would sign a law reverting the name back to the Hoover Dam.
8. Spoke Chinese in The White House
During his time as a mining engineer executive, Herbert Hoover spent a great deal of time abroad. His company focused particularly on China, having a number of mines dotted throughout the country.
As one of his company’s highest-ranking executives, Hoover was tasked with overseeing the company’s Chinese mines. Due to spending so much time in China, Hoover and his wife, Lou, picked up the local language.
Years later, when Hoover became president in 1933, he would remain fluent in the language. Whenever Chinese delegates came to the White House, Hoover would conduct the entire meetings in Chinese!
Lou Hoover was one of Hoover’s closest advisors. However, Lou didn’t trust Hoover’s other advisors not to interject. As such, Lou Hoover would counsel her husband in Chinese, in order to prevent Hoover’s advisors from understanding them.
7. He Understood The Stock Market
As a businessman, Herbert Hoover had become quite familiar with the stock market. In fact, Hoover had played the stock market on multiple occasions, adding lots to his already considerable net worth.
Whilst serving as Secretary of Commerce, Hoover had given a number of speeches warning people about the dangers of speculative investing. Even as a cabinet member, his warnings fell on deaf ears.
Upon assuming the presidency in March 1929, Hoover would again make a series of speeches warning the public about the dangers of speculative investing. Even as president, his warnings would fall on deaf ears.
Before the year was out, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) would collpase. This would have a knock-on effect around the world, and would eventually lead to what we now know as the Great Depression.
6. Hoovervilles
Initially Hoover moved quite fast to address the stock market crash. He attempted to reassure the American public that this was similar to the minor crash of 1920/21.
However, this did little to quell people’s fears, and by 1930, a slew of bank collapses had cost millions their life’s savings. Seeing this, Hoover managed to convince railroad and utilities companies to expand their construction.
Regardless, this didn’t help everyone. Hoover refused congressional proposals to allow federal aid to the unemployed. To many, this cost them their livelihoods, and more importantly, their houses.
The Depression saw millions of people become homeless, forced to move into shantytowns all across the US. The people who lived in them mockingly nicknamed these shantytowns “Hoovervilles”.
5. First Quaker President
Herbert Hoover’s parents were devout Quakers. As a child, his father was one of the leading members of his local Quaker congregation. His mother was similarly a leading member of the local Quaker congregation.
Due to this, his parents pressed their Quaker religion onto their young children, including a Young Herbert Hoover. Years later, Hoover would claim that he did very little reading besides reading his Bible.
Once he went to live with his relatives, he would continue to be brought up as a devout Quaker. The uncle who raised him, John Minthorn, was similarly a very devout Quaker physician and businessman.
Upon becoming president, Hoover admitted that he had very little time for Church. This was something that often drew condemnation from Democrats and Republicans alike, especially once the Great Depression hit too.
4. Presidential Pets
Today, the concept of Presidential Pets is a well established one. Out of the 45 people who have served as president, only three haven’t had one. These are Andrew Johnson, James K. Polk and Donald Trump.
Most commonly, presidential pets have been dogs or cats, the further back you go, it was also common to keep horses too. Over time, there have been a few “odd ones out” such as parrots, snakes and even silkworms!
Herbert Hoover had one of the largest “collections” of pets of any past president! Prior to becoming president, Hoover had a number of fish, cats, dogs, frogs, chickens, rabbits and even two crocodiles!
Upon becoming president, Hoover would opt to donate a number of his pets to wildlife museums, or to family members. In their pace, Hoover would have nine dogs, one canary and an opossum during his presidency.
3. Served Under Lots of Presidents
Herbert Hoover was one of those politicians who didn’t really care for party politics. He got things done. Regardless of who was the president. From 1917 until his death, he would faithfully serve under five different presidents.
He would first serve under Woodrow Wilson between 1917 and 1918. Here, he would be the first (and only) Director of the United States Food Administration, where he would supply Europe with much of its food.
In 1921, Hoover would gain favor with Warren G. Harding, who would make him the Secretary of Commerce. Upon Harding’s death in 1923, Hoover would continue to faithfully serve President Coolidge in the same capacity.
Following WWII, in an attempt to rehabilitate his image, Hoover would serve under Presidents Truman and Eisenhower in a number of different roles. Most famously, his skills as a businessman were used to reduce the US government’s debt.
2. Saved Millions of People After WWI
During the war, President Wilson appointed Hoover as the the Director of the US Food Administration. In this capacity, he would feed American citizens, as German U-Boats were harassing American ships in British waters.
As the war in Europe progressed, millions of people in Western Europe were left without food. As such, his role progressed to helping feed them too, as the US understood that this may in fact harm the Allied war effort in the long term.
The war officially came to an end in November 1918. However, Hoover understood that the post-war world would not improve Europe’s food situation, with him estimating that as many as 400 million Europeans might starve.
As such, he managed to convince President Wilson that the USFA (now renamed the American Relief Administration) should continue to provide food to Eastern and Central Europe.
The ARA would also help to rebuilt a lot of Germany’s post-war infrastructure too!
1. First Native Vice President
In 1928, Herbert Hoover ran for the highest office in the country, running against Democrat Al Smith. Hoover’s running mate would be Charles Curtis, a man who had a large amount of Native American heritage.
Curtis’s father was of English, Welsh and Scottish ancestry, hence his Anglophonic name. His mother, on the other hand, was a descendant of the famed Native American chiefs, White Plume and Pawhuska.
On the campaign trail, Curtis’s “Americanness” was brought into question on a number of occasions. Hoover would repeatedly defend Curtiss, often very publicly, helping him to gain numerous votes.
Even today, Charles Curtis is the only Native American to have been Vice President. Curtis was also born on a Native American reservation, making him the most recent non-state-born Vice President too!
Which are your favorite facts about Herbert Hoover? Tell me in the comments!