Herbert Hoover

The topic for our VIP Tuesday is Herbert Hoover. Herbert Clark Hoover was the President when the Great Depression swept through the United States. He became President after establishing himself as a millionaire business man and a successful public official. The United States was experiencing a period of great prosperity at the time Hoover became President, and Americans were expecting even better days. The stock market crashed and the Great Depression started seven months after Hoover took office. Hoover as well as many members of the business world expected the depression to be short and prosperity to return. He was a member of the Republican Party and was the first President "to use the power of the federal government to fight a depression." Hoover was shy and reserved. and he had a quiet sense of humor, laughing loudly on rare occasions. He enjoyed fishing, hiking, and reading biographies and detective stories. Herbert was the first President to be born west of the Mississippi River. He was born on August 10, 1874, in West Branch, Iowa. Andrew Huber (or Hoover), one of his ancestors, came from Germany in 1738 and settled in Pennsylvania but later moved to North Carolina. His son John became a Quaker whose descendants settled in Ohio and later moved to Iowa (1853). Herbert's father was a blacksmith and dealt in farm equipment. His mother was born in Canada. Herbert had an older brother and a younger sister. Herbert's father died when he was six years old, and his mother died when he was nine years old. Relatives raised the children, and Herbert did not live with his brother and sister most of the time. He lived with an uncle for two years of his childhood. Herbert had a pleasant childhood even though he was an orphan. He enjoyed playing in the woods and fishing and swimming in the streams. He earned money to buy fireworks by picking potato bugs - one cent for every hundred bugs. He went to Newberg, Oregon, in 1885 to live with another uncle and received his secondary school education at Newberg College, a small academy where his uncle served as principal. He worked to earn money and weeded onions one summer at fifty cents per day. When his uncle opened a real estate office in Salem, Oregon, in 1888, Hoover worked as an office boy for him while studying algebra and geometry at a business college. After talking with an engineer in 1890, Hoover became interested in engineering and decided to become a mining engineer. He enrolled in the first class of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, when he was seventeen years old. Hoover managed a laundry agency. delivered newspapers, and worked as a part-time secretary for the head of the geology department to pay his college expenses. He did geological work in Arkansas, California, and Nevada during his summer vacations and worked for a short time as a miner in California after he graduated in 1895. Hoover met Lou Henry, the daughter of a wealthy banker, in the geology laboratory at Stanford and married her in Monterey, California, on February 10, 1899. She was a brilliant woman who spoke several languages and was very interested in science, literature, and art. Herbert and Lou translated a famous old book about mining from Latin into English and were recognized for their work by Stanford with special degrees. Lou also wrote articles for many scientific and historical publications after her husband became President. The Hoovers had two sons. Hoover began his career in the office of well-known mining engineer in San Francisco in 1896. The next year at age 26, he was hired by a London company as an engineer to manage gold mines in Australia. He spent less than two years in Australia and in late 1898 accepted the position of chief engineer for the Chinese Imperial Bureau of Mines. Herbert and Lou spent their honeymoon sailing from California to China. Mrs. Hoover learned to speak Chinese while her husband made prospecting trips and directed engineering projects. When the Boxer Rebellion started in 1900, Herbert supervised the construction of defenses for the foreign settlement in Tianjin and directed the distribution of food and other supplies during the two-month Boxer siege of the settlement. After the rebellion, the Chinese government discontinued its Bureau of Mines and Hoover went to London where he helped to organize a private company to develop mines in China. He returned to China in 1901 as the company's general manager but resigned after a few months. He returned to London as a partner in a mining company with which he had been associated since 1897. He established his own engineering firm in 1908. By 1814, Hoover was a millionaire by reorganizing mines in many parts of the world. Hoover was in London in 1914 when thousands of Americans were stranded in Europe by the beginning of World War I. After being asked by United States officials in London to aid the stranded people, Hoover organized a committee that aided about 120,000 Americans to return home. Hoover was asked in August 1914 by the U.S. ambassador in London to organize food relief for Belgium, which had been conquered by German troops. He set up the Commission for Relief in Belgium and gathered and distributed food and helped to raise relief funds from October 1914 until April 1917. Many thousands of lives were saved by the efforts of his commission. When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, President Wilson asked Hoover to head the United States Food Administration where he was given broad powers over the prices, production, and distribution of food. His campaign to save food for people in war-torn Europe was well supported by the American people. The term "Hooverize" meant to economize and to save and do without various foods with the result of meatless and wheatless days being observed. Hoover was internationally famous when he returned to Europe after the war ended in 1918 to direct the feeding of millions of people. Many people were so impressed with Hoover by 1919 that they thought he should be President, and both Democrats and Republicans wanted him to be a candidate in the 1920 election. He announced that he was a Republican but didn't do well in the primary election. He was named in 1921 by President Warren G. Harding to be secretary of commerce and held this office under both Harding and President Calvin Coolidge. Serving as secretary of state showed Hoover's great skill as an administrator and planner. He reorganized the Department of Commerce and expanded the work of the department. He was so involved in many activities that one official said that he was "Secretary of Commerce and Under Secretary of everything else." Under Hoover's directions, many conferences were held to consider such problems as industrial production, labor relations, child welfare, foreign trade, and housing; he brought order into radio broadcasting, promoted commercial aviation, and helped to end the 12-hour workday for the steel industry. Hoover became the Republican candidate for President in February 1928 a few months after President Coolidge announced that he did not "choose to run" for reelection. Prohibition was a major issue of the campaign with the Democrats wanting to repeal Amendment 18 of the U.S. Constitution. Many Americans thought the Republicans better able to keep the nation prosperous and opposed Alfred E. Smith because he was a Roman Catholic. Hoover carried 40 of the 48 states and received 444 electoral votes to 87 for Smith. Hoover's good-will tour of Latin American helped lay the foundation for the "Good Neighbor Policy" of the FDR era. Hoover expected prosperity to continue in spite of the fact that the United States had been building up to a crash for a long time. Farmers did not share in the prosperity of the 1920's, and people in the coal-mining and textile-manufacturing industries had poor working conditions and low wages. There was widespread buying on credit, which weakened the economy; thousands of people bought stocks with borrowed money. Stock prices soared. and then the stock market crashed in October 1929. The Great Depression was here. Many people, including Hoover, thought the depression would be short and that the stock market would recover within a few weeks or months. When 1929 ended losses were estimated at $40 billion, and stock values on the New York Stock Exchanged had dropped 40 percent. Fortunes were destroyed, and thousands of workers lost their jobs. Hoover called business leaders, industrialists, and labor leaders together for conferences, and all agreed to cooperate in an effort to keep wages stable and to avoid strikes. Nevertheless, the economic conditions worsened. More than 12 million people were out of work by 1932. Factories closed, banks failed, and thousands of people lost their homes because they couldn't pay their mortgages. Clumps of shacks for homeless families became known as "Hoovervilles." Germany and other nations were affected by the Great Depression, and they could not pay their war debts. Hoover was reluctant to interfere with the American economy, believing that the depression was just temporary. He expected businesses and industries to solve their own problems and to help in the national stabilization efforts. In 1932 he requested Congress to pass several laws to enable the government to help businesses and to keep banks and other firms from going bankrupt. Even though Hoover believed that the states and local communities should provide relief for jobless workers, he realized that the unemployed needed more assistance. The federal government loaned $300 million to the states for relief and provided credit for homeowners and farmers. Improvement was made in court practices and bankruptcy procedures. Hoover supported many public works and conservation programs, which were designed in part to provide jobs. One such program was to build Boulder Dam (now known as Hoover Dam) on the Colorado River. The government also worked to develop inland waterways for navigation and flood control, added 3 million acres to national parks and monuments, and enlarged the national forests. The government also build more than 800 public buildings and helped states to build about 37,000 miles of major highways. In spite of everything Hoover did, unemployed workers staged hunger marches and demonstrations in several cities during the early 1930's. The White House received a new look during the Hoover Administration. They decorated it with souvenirs and art objects collected during their years of world travel. There was a large cage of canaries in the second-floor corridor surrounded by bamboo furniture and grass rugs from South America. The Hoovers entertained frequently but avoided personal publicity whenever possible. They escaped the summer heat by vacationing in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia where the President enjoyed fishing for trout. The Hoovers built a summer home in the mountains and later gave it to the Shenandoah National Park. The Republicans had little hope of winning the election of 1932. New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt called for a "new deal" for the American people and promised to balance the budget, bring relief to the unemployed, help the farmers, and end Prohibition. Hoover defended his record, but Roosevelt carried 42 of the 48 states and won 472 electoral votes. Bank failures and unemployment increased during Hoover's last four months in office. Amendment 20 to the Constitution - the "lame duck amendment" - became law in January 1933 and took effect in October 1933. It provided that a President's term of office should end on January 20 instead of March 4. After Hoover left the White House, he spent much of his time traveling, reading, speaking and writing. He continued to develop the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace that he founded at Stanford in 1919. The Hoovers moved from Palo Alto, California, to New York City where Mrs. Hoover died on January 7, 1944. Hoover published three books: 1) The Challenge to Liberty (1934) - an attack on President Roosevelt's New Deal program, 2) The Problems of Lasting Peace (1942), and 3) The Basis of Lasting Peace (1945). He headed a committee to collect relief funds for Finland in 1940 during the first Russo-Finnish War. After World War II, Democratic President Harry S. Truman named Hoover chairman of the Famine Emergency Commission to survey the food needs of many nations. He traveled to Europe in 1947 to report on relief needs to President Truman. In addition, in 1947, Hoover was named chairman of the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government. The commission was called the Hoover Commission, and commission proposals that were adopted cut costs and stream-lined the federal government. Hoover was a director or a trustee of nine private educational, scientific, and charitable institutions. The Herbert Hoover Library that houses most of Hoover's official papers was dedicated in West Branch in 1962. Hoover published his three-volume Memoirs in 1951-1952 and The Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson in 1948. He also completed his four-volume work titled An American Epic in 1964. Hoover gave all his income from government employment, including his pension, to charity and to public service projects. He returned to popular favor because of his services to government and society. He lived longer after leaving the White House than any other former President. He died in New York City on October 20, 1964, at the age of 90. Our nation mourned him as a truly great American. He was buried on a rise overlooking the small house where he was born in West Branch, Iowa. Important events in the world of President Hoover are: 1) The stock market crash of October 29, 1929, which wiped out the savings of thousands of investors and helped to cause the Great Depression; 2) The Great Depression, a worldwide economic slump, caused thousands of businesses to fail, millions of workers to lose their jobs, and needy people to wait in bread lines to receive food; 3) The first practical all-electronic television system was demonstrated in 1929, and the first reliable analog computer was built in 1930; 4) Canada became an independent nation in 1931; 5) Japan invaded Manchuria on September 18, 1931, an attack that helped to start World War II; 6) The Nazi party, led by Adolf Hitler, gained power steadily in Germany during the early 1930's; 7) Labor union activity was encouraged in the United States by the passing of the Norris-LaGuardia Act of 1932. Facts and quotes for this post came from an article by Ellis W. Hawley in The World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 9, pp.326-331.

League of Nations

The League of Nations was created as an international association of countries designed to maintain peace among the nations of the world. Following the armistice of World War I (1914-1918) the victorious nations of the war - including Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States - composed a constitution or covenant for the League in 1919. The League was established in January 1920 with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The organization stopped functioning in 1939 after World War II started. It was dissolved formally in April 1945 when the United Nations replaced it. President Woodrow Wilson was the chief planner of the League of Nations. He "believed that world wars would continue to occur as long as each nation was responsible its own defense" and that "even a powerful nation, knowing it would face the united opposition of all other powerful nations, would not go to war." He wanted nations to form competing groups, each arming against the other. He also wanted the nations of the world to join together and pledge to defend the territory and independence of any member attacked by another nation. Wilson was successful in convincing other countries to agree to his plans for the League, but he had a difficult time convincing the U.S. Senate to ratify the plan. The U.S. Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles in March 1920; the treaty would have made the United States a member of the League. Most Americans decided within a few years that they had no need to concern themselves with conflicts overseas. The United States never did join the League of Nations. Facts and quotes for this post came from an article by Gary B. Ostrower in World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 12, pp 159-161.

Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) was the President of the United States during World War I. He became famous as a champion for world peace and democracy. In addition to being a world statesman, he also achieved success in two other careers. He had a great influence on the course of education as a scholar, teacher, and university principal. In the world of politics, he was a leader in bringing reforms to both state and national governments. Woodrow was of medium height and thin. He wore glasses and had a high Woodrow Wilson was our first progressive president. He had high forehead, firm mouth, and jutting jaw. He was a man of firm beliefs. He became a difficult opponent once his mind was made up or someone challenged his principles. He had great energy, a magnetic personality, and high ideals, all of which helped to win loyalty from friends and political supporters. Woodrow Wilson is considered by historians as one of the most successful Presidents even though he was the first progressive President of the United States. He was elected in 1912 by a minority of voters because the Republican vote was split between President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt. He was reelected in 1916 because people felt that "He kept us out of war." Three months later American ships were attacked by German submarines and Wilson asked Congress to declare war. After the war was over in 1918, Wilson fought for a peace treaty that included a League of Nations. Wilson's dream of U.S. leadership of the League ended when President Warren G. Harding opposed American membership in the new organization. Woodrow Wilson was probably born on December 29, 1856, at Stauton, Virginia. The confusion over the date of his birth comes from the family Bible that shows he was born at "12 3/4 o'clock" at night on December 28. His mother said that he was born "about midnight on the 28th." Wilson used December 28 as his birthday. He was born the third of four children and the first son. He was named Thomas Woodrow Wilson for his maternal grandfather and was known as "Tommy" as a child, but soon after he graduated from college he dropped the Thomas. Woodrow grew up in an atmosphere of religious piety and scholarly interests because he was surrounded by people who were deeply religious, believed in Presbyterian doctrines, and stressed the importance of education. His father and maternal grandfather were Presbyterian ministers. His paternal ancestry is Scotch-Irish and his maternal ancestry is Scotch. He was about four years old when the Civil War started and so grew up in the atmosphere caused by the Civil War. Wilson started school at age 9 because many of the schools were closed during the war. He eventually attended Princeton and the University of Virginia Law School. He opened a law office in 1882 in Atlanta, Georgia, but by the spring of 1883 he realized that he didn't want to be a lawyer. He decided to be a college teacher and began a graduate study in history and political science at Johns Hopkins University. He received his Ph.D. degree in June 1886. Woodrow married Ellen Louise Axson on June 24, 1885, and three daughters were born to the couple. Mrs. Wilson was the most influential person in Woodrow's life and devoted most of her time to making their home comfortable. Woodrow enjoyed playing and reading with his daughters. Woodrow was an associate professor of history at Bryn Mawr College for three years. He then became professor of history and political economy at Wesleyan University where he also coached football. In 1890 Princeton University invited him to become professor of jurisprudence and political economy. There he became a popular and distinguished lecturer. He became president of the university on June 9, 1902. Wilson decided to change careers and decided to run for Governor of New Jersey. He resigned from Princeton on October 20, 1910, to campaign for governor. As governor he pushed through the legislature a series of reforms that transformed New Jersey from one of the most conservative states into one of the most progressive ones. Wilson's reforms in New Jersey gained him national attention, particularly from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. He won the Democratic nomination, which meant almost certain victory for the White House because the Republican Party was split between conservative President William Howard Taft and progressive Theodore Roosevelt. The popular vote was overwhelmingly for Wilson and Roosevelt and was considered to be a clear endorsement for a liberal reform program. Wilson was the last President to ride to his inauguration in a horse-drawn carriage. The Wilsons did not give an inaugural ball because neither of them enjoyed large social affairs. Wilson gave the first regular presidential press conference just eleven days after his inauguration. Wilson asked Congress to pass a series of reforms including a new tariff bill and reform of the banking and currency laws. Congress passed a bill in 1913 to establish a central banking system designed to provide a new currency and to help the flow of capital through twelve reserve banks. All of this was to happen under the direction of a Federal Reserve Board. Congress established the Federal Trade Commission in 1914 to investigate and stop unfair trade practices. That same year under direction from Wilson Congress passed the Clayton Antitrust Act that increased the power of the federal government to police unfair practices of big business. Other reform bills were adopted by Congress in 1916. They included the Adamson Act (established the eight-hour working day for railroad employees), the Child Labor Act (limited work hours for children), and a new program of federal regulation of industry. Congress placed heavy taxes on wealthy people and started programs to improve rural education and rural roads. The Wilson Administration was also involved in many foreign affairs. They included the repeal of the Panama Tolls Act (American ships could no longer use the Panama Canal toll -free.), preparing the Philippines for independence, and a crisis in relations between the United States and Mexico. Wilson also took over most of the control of revolution-torn Nicaragua, sent troops to occupy Haiti, and put the Dominican Republic under American control. World War I started in August 1914, and Wilson managed to keep America out of the battle - until after he was re-elected in 1916. In an eight-month period of time between November 1913 and July 1914, two of the Wilson daughters were married and Mrs. Wilson became very ill. She died on August 6, 1914, after a short illness. Wilson was so sad that he almost lost his will to live. He met Edith Bolling Galt in March 1915. She was the widow of a jeweler in Washington. They were married on December 18, 1915, in her home in Washington, D.C. Wilson gave to Congress what is considered to be his greatest speech and entitled it Fourteen Points. This speech undermined German morale during the final months of the World War I and gave Germany a basis upon which to appeal for peace. The Fourteen Points are: 1) Open covenants of peace - no secret international agreements in the future; 2) Freedom of the seas outside territorial waters in peace and in war; 3) removal of all possible economic barriers and establishment of equal trade conditions among nations; 4) Reduction of national armaments to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety; 5) Free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims; 6) Evacuation of German troops from all Russian territory giving Russia an opportunity to independently determine its own political development and national policy and welcoming Russia into the society of free nations; 7) Evacuation of German troops from Belgium and the rebuilding of that nation; 8) Evacuation of German troops from all French territory and the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France; 9) Readjustment of Italian frontiers along the clearly recognized lines of nationality; 10) Limited self-government for the peoples of Austria-Hungary; 11) Evacuation of German troops from Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro, and independence guaranteed for the Balkan countries; 12) Independence for Turkey, but an opportunity to develop self-government for other nationalities under Turkish rule, and guarantees that the Dardanelles be permanently opened as a free passage to ships of all nations; 13) Independence for Poland; 14) "A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike." Wilson was the first President to cross the Atlantic Ocean while in office when he attended the Paris Peace Conference in early 1919 following the end of World War I. At the peace conference he campaigned for the adoption of his Fourteen Points because he considered them important for world peace. He won support for only part of the treaty provisions he wanted. In order to gain support for the League of Nations and other provisions in the Fourteen Points, he compromised on several major issues. These concessions weakened his moral position in the eyes of the world but insured establishment of the League of Nations. The Constitution required that two-thirds of the Senators approve peace treaties, and Wilson soon discovered that the Senate was not going to ratify the League of Nations without some amendments to the provisions. He returned to Paris in March 1919 where conference delegates accepted several of his provisions. He returned to the USA only to discover active public debate on the peace terms and mounting congressional opposition to the treaty and the League of Nations. The President decided to take his case for the League to the American people and planned a speaking tour through the Midwest and the West. His doctor did not approve the trip, but Wilson went anyway. On September 25 after Wilson spoke at Pueblo, Colorado, he collapsed from fatigue and nervous tension. He cancelled the remainder of his tour and returned to Washington, D.C. where he suffered a paralytic stroke on October 2. Wilson remained an invalid for the remainder of his life. He did not resign the Presidency even though he was so ill that he was not functioning as the President should. He watched helplessly as he lost his fight for the treaty. In the 1920 presidential campaign, the Democratic platform endorsed the League, and the Republican platform opposed it. The Republican nominee, Warren G. Harding, overwhelmingly defeated his opponent. The League of Nations was dead as far as the United States was concerned. Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 1920, for his work in establishing the League of Nations and seeking a fair peace agreement. Wilson's term of office ended in March 1921. Wilson regained partial use of his arms and legs, but his physical condition did not permit any actual work in the law partnership he formed. He lived in quiet retirement in Washington where he spent his time seeing an occasional movie or play, listening to books and magazines read aloud to him, and sometimes lunching with friends. He was confident that he would be proved correct by future events regarding the terms of the peace treaty and the League of Nations. Wilson grew "tired of swimming upstream" and died in his sleep on February 3, 1924. He was buried two days later in the Washington Cathedral, the only President to be buried in Washington, D.C. Facts and quotes for this post came from an article by John M. Mulder in World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 21, pp 320-330.