Hoover, Herbert (1874–1964)

HERBERT HOOVER WAS born on a farm outside of West Branch, Iowa, in 1874, raised by his uncle in Newberg, [Page 684]Oregon, and in 1891 he enrolled in the pioneer class of Stanford University as a geology student. In 1899, he married Lou Henry. Before he became the 31st president, Hoover made his name as a mining engineer initially with the British firm Bewick, Moreing and Co., working in China and then establishing his own consultancy firm in 1908 as a so-called doctor of sick mines.

Hoover's international reputation developed when he was asked by the American Consul General to aid American citizens stranded in London (where he was living) at the outbreak of World War I. His prowess as an administrator was ably demonstrated as his committee assisted 120,000 Americans in returning home within six weeks. Later in 1914, Hoover headed the Commission for Relief in Belgium, whose task it was to feed and clothe hundreds of thousands of displaced Belgians. His first foray into political life occurred when in 1917, President Woodrow Wilson appointed him as U.S. food administrator to coordinate the production of food for American and allied forces as well as civilians during World War I.

With such international humanitarian credentials, the millionaire engineer and administrator focused his attention on running for political office. In 1920, Hoover declared his Republicanism and unsuccessfully sought the GOP's nomination for president. However, a degree of political consolation came when President Warren Harding appointed Hoover secretary of commerce in 1921. When President Coolidge announced that he would not seek renomination by the Republican Party to contend the 1928 presidential election, Hoover was urged to run for the presidency. Hoover obliged and was elected as the Republican Party presidential candidate, and he named Charles Curtis as his running mate.

By most accounts, Hoover was a progressive. The term progressive in 1920s and 1930s American politics is significantly different from what it implies today. The progressive movement preceding and during Hoover's time in public office was, ideologically speaking, a mixed bag of policy issues and principles and encompassed both Republicans and Democrats. In some sense, the movement contained both conservative and liberal tendencies. For example, progressives or those who may term themselves progressives included individuals who believed in prohibition, immigration restriction, and “Americanization” of aliens, which would appear to be associated with variants of conservative political thought. However, progressive policy commitments at the time also included urban housing projects, federal regulation of business, labor laws protecting the rights of children, and improvements in industrial conditions such as factory regulation, issues that are underpinned by conceptions of social justice that we associate with political liberalism today.

Joan Hoff Wilson describes progressivism “a well-intentioned, if frantic, uncoordinated, and sometimes counterproductive movement … intended to produce both more democracy and more efficiency while preserving individualism and increasing cooperation.” In addition to the disparate characteristics of progressivism, there existed some uniform features, such as a desire for efficiency as an antidote to human and economic waste; a rationalist focus on the betterment of society; an emphasis on social responsibility; an anticorruption standpoint; and a desire to curb personal selfishness.

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