Herbert Clover Hoover, 31st US president: biography, personal life, political career

The future US President Herbert Hoover was born on August 10, 1874 in the city of West Branch. His parents were Quakers from provincial Iowa with German roots. The father of the boy sold agricultural equipment and worked as a blacksmith. He died when Herbert was only six years old. Mother died after 4 years. The orphaned boy moved to his uncle in Oregon. In 1891, the young Hoover was enrolled on the eve of Stanford University. By profession, he became a mining engineer, and nothing foretold that this specialist will deal with politics.

Career of a mining engineer

In 1895, Herbert Hoover received a bachelor's degree. His professional career was extremely exciting. But everything began modestly. At first Stanford graduate got a job as a breed cleaner in the mining company Reward Gold Mine. Then the young specialist became interested in the British. English Bewick, Moreing and Company, specializing in gold, hired 23-year-old Hoover and seconded him to Australia. On the "green continent" an American taught his colleagues there a specific California method of mining precious metal. In Australia, Herbert Hoover has gained invaluable experience not only as a geologist, but also as a manager.

Then the specialist received an unexpected proposal from the Chinese government. In the Middle Kingdom mining of minerals was in a primitive state. The Chinese wanted to learn modern Western experience. That is why the capable and energetic Herbert Hoover was the best candidate for them. The American was "lucky" to be in China at the time when the infamous Boxer Uprising started there. It represented a wave of pogroms in foreign neighborhoods. Against the domination of strangers came first of all peasants. They did not like the missionary activity of Christians.

One day, Tianjin, in which the Hoover lived, fell under shelling. Rebel shells landed in a building located across the street from the home of an American engineer. That day, Herbert Clarke Hoover, risking his life, rushed to the ruined house and saved the Chinese girl. Many years later, in 1928, as a presidential candidate, he forbade journalists to advertise this story during the election campaign. During the Boxer uprising, the American not only engaged in his direct duties, but also rebuilt the destroyed railroads.

Personal life

The surprising prospect of working in China made Hoover think about his family future. The young man already had a bride who continued to live in California. In 1898, the future Lou Henry Hoover received from the groom a telegram in which he described the upcoming trip to Asia and invited her to marry. The girl agreed. The couple was married by marriage on February 10, 1899 in the city of Monterrey. Following the example of her husband, Lou Henry took Quaker faith. The newlyweds set sail on a ship to China the very next day after the wedding. The wife was always with Herbert. She died in 1964.

The Hoover had two children. Herbert was born in 1903, became an engineer and diplomat. Like his father, he graduated from Stanford University. He worked as an engineer in the field of aircraft construction, geophysicist, and in the 50s he was the state secretary responsible for Middle Eastern relations. The younger son Allan also became a mining engineer and spent most of his career in California.

Entrepreneur and benefactor

In 1901, Herbert Hoover left China. He became a co-owner of Bewick, Moreing & Co, a mining company. For a while he returned to Australia. In 1908, Hoover began his career as an independent consultant. There followed a period of cooperation with companies around the world. The specialist managed to work in San Francisco, London, New York, St. Petersburg, Paris and even in Burma, where he once picked up malaria. The future US president cooperated with the Urals tycoons. In particular, he helped develop the Kyshtym copper deposit, and then managed the mines in the Altai Mountains. Thanks to a successful investment by 1914, Herbert Hoover became a rich man. His personal fortune was about 4 million dollars.

The life of Hoover has changed dramatically since the outbreak of the First World War. In the summer of 1914 he was in London. The American consul in the United Kingdom asked Hoover to help organize the return to the homeland of US citizens trapped in Europe before the deadly danger. It was a huge mass of people - about 120 thousand people.

Then, the future president, Herbert Hoover, set up a commission to help occupied Belgium. The Germans even agreed to skip humanitarian supplies that were delivered to the mainland by sea. At that time, the British fleet held Germany in a naval blockade. The British also did not oppose the delivery of cargo to the civilian population. The Hoover commission quickly gained serious influence. She bought food in Australia and America, and her fleet amounted to several dozen ships.

The future 31-st US president several times crossed the front line and constantly risked his life. His active peacekeeping activity could not be ignored. In 1919, for numerous services in the service of humanity and engineering, Hoover was awarded the Washington Prize.

Minister of Trade

By the end of the war, Hoover became a famous and prominent figure. In 1918, by the decision of President Woodrow Wilson, he headed the American Administration of Assistance. It engaged in all the same: the organization of assistance to a destroyed Europe (most of the goods were delivered to Poland and Czechoslovakia). And although the First World War was already over, a new bloody conflict erupted in Russia, where the Civil War began.

In 1919, the Hoover organization began to help the white North-Western army. Americans delivered wheat and grain flour, beans, peas, condensed milk, lard. In 1921, Hoover became the US Secretary of Commerce. It was appointed by President Warren Harding, rightly appreciating the rich experience of a skilful organizer.

It is noteworthy that at this post Hoover played an important role in the formation of the American radio industry. At that time, broadcasting with the help of these devices was regulated by the Ministry of Trade and personally by Hoover. It was so large that the Federal Court limited the powers of the head of the department. Because of this, for several years, Americans have suffered from total chaos in their own radios, when different stations went on the air at one frequency.

Confusion settled in 1927. The Congress adopted the famous Radio-act, according to which a special Federal Commission on Radio was established.

Assistance to Soviet Russia

In 1921, a terrible famine began in Russia, which hit hardest in the Volga region. The reason for this was the Civil War, the tough policy of the surplus-appropriation and complete devastation in the countryside. Writer Maxim Gorky, who had considerable influence abroad, asked the American government for help. Hoover was known for his anti-Bolshevik position, but agreed to support the hungry. In August 1921 in Riga, the American Administration of Assistance and People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Maxim Litvinov signed an agreement on the supply of humanitarian supplies to Soviet Russia.

Initially, assistance was provided exclusively to children and the sick. The Americans organized canteens, where only the most starving hungry could go. They received a special entrance card.

In Petrograd alone, the Americans opened 120 canteens, in which more than 42,000 children were nourished. The main streams of food were sent to the Volga region: Samara, Kazan, Saratov and Simbirsk provinces (there were about 7,000 cuisines in total). A few months after the start of the supplies, Hoover in Washington managed to persuade the congressmen to expand the financing of the program.

The problem was that at that time the US authorities did not recognize the Soviet government. Deliveries to Russia ceased in 1923. During this time, according to the People's Commissariat of Foreign Trade, about 585 thousand tons of products, medicines and clothing were imported.

Presidency

In 1928, Hoover (as a member of the Republican Party of the United States) joined the next presidential race. His main rival was Democrat Alfred Smith. Hoover was able to win thanks to his reputation. Behind him was personal success as a businessman and aid to Europe during the war. In addition, the Americans considered the personal achievement of the Minister of Trade an amazing economic boom of the 1920s.

However, the presence in the main state office of Hoover was marked by the beginning of the Great Depression. The stock market crisis caused the collapse of the entire economy. Hoover had to cope with the economic storm, equal to which there was not yet either in the US or in Europe. The president's anti-crisis policy boiled down to several main points. First, he tried to give additional development to small-scale private business. Secondly, Hoover persuaded entrepreneurs not to reduce their own production. A serious irritant in the society was the conflict between trade unions and employers. The president tried to soften this confrontation.

In addition, Hoover proposed a program of mass public works, which was supposed to solve the problem with the growing unemployment. In 1930, Congress approved the plan and allocated $ 750 million for its implementation. But, despite the state's attempts to intervene in the situation, the situation continued to deteriorate. In the summer of 1930 employers began to massively reduce their production.

At Hoover's suggestion, Congress created a fund that financed the most important railways, as well as credit and banking organizations. At the same time, the president vetoed the law on direct financial assistance to the unemployed, believing that excessive cash injections would deprive such people of initiative in finding a new job. By 1932, their number had reached an unprecedented 12 million people, and all American production during the crisis decreased by 50%.

Unrealized reforms

It is curious that when Hoover only came to power in early 1929, he was going to carry out economic reforms that were to further weaken the state's influence on the economy. This was a progressive course of libertarianism, or the so-called principle of non-intervention. While drafting an economic program, Hoover relied on the experience of an entrepreneur who worked in many countries around the world.

Other important events of domestic policy in 1929-1933. Became the establishment of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the reorganization of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Also Hoover strongly advocated pension reform, as a result of which every American over 65 should receive $ 50 a month. Because of the Great Depression, this initiative was not implemented.

Foreign policy

In 1928, Herbert Hoover conducted an unprecedented tour of the ten countries of Latin America. During the trip, he delivered 25 speeches, and the visits themselves led to a relaxation of relations with the countries of the continent. While in Argentina, Hoover almost fell victim to an attempt by a local anarchist.

Despite all the difficulties, the president managed to lay the foundations of a new policy of a "good neighbor", which came to replace the numerous "banana wars". This cliche was called US action against the countries of the Caribbean and Central America, when the Americans, in particular, controlled Puerto Rico and Cuba. The policy of a "good neighbor" was continued under Roosevelt. It was then, in 1934, that American troops left Haiti.

The failure of the re-election

The catastrophic situation in the economy undermined Hoover's authority. The presidential elections of 1932 were approaching, and the level of his support was extremely low. During traditional pre-election speeches before the voters, Hoover had to face a hostile, angry audience. The president's rival was Franklin Roosevelt. He won the election, becoming the next head of the United States.

The Republican candidate suffered a natural defeat. Contemporaries accused Hoover of being unable to adopt an anti-crisis program that could calm the economic storm. Roosevelt, taking extreme measures and proposing a new course, straightened the situation. At the same time, even today's historians note that Hoover was hostage to the situation. He was not lucky to become president on the eve of the crisis, which broke out not through his fault, but for objective reasons, accumulated for decades. Hoover's supporters noted and noted that during the peak of the Great Depression, no measures of the president could help America.

Late years and heritage

The radicalism of Roosevelt was that he exaggerated the role of the state in the economy, which was contrary to the usual US market model.

Hoover, becoming a private individual, for many years criticized the policies of his successor. When the Second World War began, he advocated not interfering in European affairs.

Hoover returned to the public service during the presidency of Truman and Eisenhower. An experienced manager has headed the commission, which is leading the reform of the state apparatus. He wrote many articles and books, including memoirs, in which he described his bright adventures of youth. Hoover was the ex-president during a record 31-year period for his time. He died on October 20, 1964 in New York. The former first person was 90 years old. The place of his last rest became native Iowa.

The United States carefully preserves the memory of the 31st president, who, despite all the nuances of the Great Depression, managed to rehabilitate old age in the eyes of fellow citizens. Many objects and places are named after him. The most famous remains the Hoover Dam (Arizona). This dam on the Colorado River is still considered unique today. Its construction began during Hoover's presidency in 1931, and ended already under Roosevelt in 1936. The first drafts of the dam appeared in the 1920s. Hoover was then the Minister of Commerce and became a member of the commission responsible for the dam project. Thanks to her, it was possible to establish water supply in the south of California and develop local agriculture, and also to curb the obstinate mountain river.