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Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times
The definitive biography of Herbert Hoover, one of the most remarkable Americans of the twentieth century—a wholly original account that will forever change the way Americans understand the man, his presidency, his battle against the Great Depression, and their own history.
An impoverished orphan who built a fortune. A great humanitarian. A president elected in a landslide and then resoundingly defeated four years later. Arguably the father of both New Deal liberalism and modern conservatism, Herbert Hoover lived one of the most extraordinary American lives of the twentieth century. Yet however astonishing, his accomplishments are often eclipsed by the perception that Hoover was inept and heartless in the face of the Great Depression.
Now, Kenneth Whyte vividly recreates Hoover’s rich and dramatic life in all its complex glory. He follows Hoover through his Iowa boyhood, his cutthroat business career, his brilliant rescue of millions of lives during World War I and the 1927 Mississippi floods, his misconstrued presidency, his defeat at the hands of a ruthless Franklin Roosevelt, his devastating years in the political wilderness, his return to grace as Truman’s emissary to help European refugees after World War II, and his final vindication in the days of Kennedy’s “New Frontier.” Ultimately, Whyte brings to light Hoover’s complexities and contradictions—his modesty and ambition, his ruthlessness and extreme generosity—as well as his profound political legacy.
Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times is the epic, poignant story of the deprived boy who, through force of will, made himself the most accomplished figure in the land, and who experienced a range of achievements and failures unmatched by any American of his, or perhaps any, era. Here, for the first time, is the definitive biography that fully captures the colossal scale of Hoover’s momentous life and volatile times.
An impoverished orphan who built a fortune. A great humanitarian. A president elected in a landslide and then resoundingly defeated four years later. Arguably the father of both New Deal liberalism and modern conservatism, Herbert Hoover lived one of the most extraordinary American lives of the twentieth century. Yet however astonishing, his accomplishments are often eclipsed by the perception that Hoover was inept and heartless in the face of the Great Depression.
Now, Kenneth Whyte vividly recreates Hoover’s rich and dramatic life in all its complex glory. He follows Hoover through his Iowa boyhood, his cutthroat business career, his brilliant rescue of millions of lives during World War I and the 1927 Mississippi floods, his misconstrued presidency, his defeat at the hands of a ruthless Franklin Roosevelt, his devastating years in the political wilderness, his return to grace as Truman’s emissary to help European refugees after World War II, and his final vindication in the days of Kennedy’s “New Frontier.” Ultimately, Whyte brings to light Hoover’s complexities and contradictions—his modesty and ambition, his ruthlessness and extreme generosity—as well as his profound political legacy.
Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times is the epic, poignant story of the deprived boy who, through force of will, made himself the most accomplished figure in the land, and who experienced a range of achievements and failures unmatched by any American of his, or perhaps any, era. Here, for the first time, is the definitive biography that fully captures the colossal scale of Hoover’s momentous life and volatile times.
752 pages, Hardcover
First published October 10, 2017
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July 6, 2022
Kenneth Whyte makes a couple convincing points about Hoover in this fine book:
1. He made impressive contributions during his pre and post Presidential periods that are worth acknowledging, and
2. His presidency is not as bad as is commonly thought
Hoovered entered the Presidency in 1929 with a very impressive resume. His achievements spanned the fields of business, humanitarian leadership, and high-level political positions. In fact, if you had to construct an ideal resume for a prospective President, a lot of people would probably think of Hoover's. In 1929 you could promote Hoover as someone who has:
It is interesting that someone who looked so good “on paper” is now thought of as a complete disaster. Part of the answer is politics. Hoover was bad at selling himself and his policies. This wasn't just an image issue – his being bad at politics also seemed to have harmful effects. He agreed to the Smoot-Hawley tariff even though his better instincts warned him about it, because he got boxed into a position politically where he felt like he had to sign it. Also, he was terrible at projecting empathy and inspiring people for hope of better days to come.
I will not try to evaluate his Presidential performance, as that would require getting into Economics issues that I am not qualified to speak about. However, there are a few points worth making in Hoover’s defense:
Post-Presidency, Hoover drifted towards a more orthodox low taxes and limited government conservatism. Before this turn, he reminded me of Mitt Romney – a moderate technocrat who leans right but is willing to speak independently. I thought this turn was influenced by (1) his growing hatred of the New Deal, as many began to see it as what saved us from the Depression, and (2) the opportunity of a growing conservative movement to help him rehabilitate his image. But although he turned more partisan, he still made public service contributions in the Truman and Kennedy administrations and had good relations with them.
However, Hoover always viewed himself as the natural successor of Woodrow Wilson, even after his post-presidential drift to the right. This is difficult to understand, though it speaks to his complexity.
1. He made impressive contributions during his pre and post Presidential periods that are worth acknowledging, and
2. His presidency is not as bad as is commonly thought
Hoovered entered the Presidency in 1929 with a very impressive resume. His achievements spanned the fields of business, humanitarian leadership, and high-level political positions. In fact, if you had to construct an ideal resume for a prospective President, a lot of people would probably think of Hoover's. In 1929 you could promote Hoover as someone who has:
A track record of success in various leadership positions
A humanitarian record of helping millions of people out of starvation
High level positions and success in both business and public service
An extremely hard-working temperament
No particular ties to rigid ideologies; instead he was a very independent thinker
While very ambitious and prone to exaggerating his accomplishments, his overall record was free of corruption scandals and he seems generally to be a man of character.
It is interesting that someone who looked so good “on paper” is now thought of as a complete disaster. Part of the answer is politics. Hoover was bad at selling himself and his policies. This wasn't just an image issue – his being bad at politics also seemed to have harmful effects. He agreed to the Smoot-Hawley tariff even though his better instincts warned him about it, because he got boxed into a position politically where he felt like he had to sign it. Also, he was terrible at projecting empathy and inspiring people for hope of better days to come.
I will not try to evaluate his Presidential performance, as that would require getting into Economics issues that I am not qualified to speak about. However, there are a few points worth making in Hoover’s defense:
The causes and solution to the Great Depression were not known well at the time (in fact even today there is a lot of disagreement amongst experts). For instance it was only later that it became known how severe the money supply dropped. Any assessment of Hoover should take this into account.
Generally, Hoover’s actions were in line with expert opinion of the time.
There is a common caricature of Hoover being irrationally tied to Laissez-faire policies, and that is a misconception. Hoover was very active, with various spending and regulatory efforts. He also successfully argued for a moratorium on European war debts. Though of course there are other examples of him sticking to a more laissez-faire approach.
There is a strong case that much of the fault of the 1933 bank crisis can be laid on FDR.
This may or may not be worth anything to you, but he did seem to always act in good faith – working hard to think of the best solutions, consulting experts, and doing what he thought was best for the country.
Post-Presidency, Hoover drifted towards a more orthodox low taxes and limited government conservatism. Before this turn, he reminded me of Mitt Romney – a moderate technocrat who leans right but is willing to speak independently. I thought this turn was influenced by (1) his growing hatred of the New Deal, as many began to see it as what saved us from the Depression, and (2) the opportunity of a growing conservative movement to help him rehabilitate his image. But although he turned more partisan, he still made public service contributions in the Truman and Kennedy administrations and had good relations with them.
However, Hoover always viewed himself as the natural successor of Woodrow Wilson, even after his post-presidential drift to the right. This is difficult to understand, though it speaks to his complexity.
December 20, 2020
If American voters in 1928 believed that over the next four years they would face an unprecedented economic collapse that would cause enormous social misery, it’s likely that they would have concluded that the man they most needed in the White House was the very person they elected to it. Over the previous decade and a half Herbert Hoover had earned a global reputation as a problem-solving benefactor who had aided Americans stranded in Europe during the First World War, supported Belgians impoverished by German occupation, and provided famine relief for millions in the chaotic postwar environment. His administrative genius was further demonstrated over the course of his eight years of service as Secretary of Commerce in the presidential administrations of Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, during which he regulated the new marketplaces created by technology, championed product standardization, and oversaw disaster relief in the Mississippi Valley basin. Yet four years later Hoover would be turned out of office in a landslide even greater than the one he enjoyed when he was voted into it, a damming judgment of his response to the Great Depression.
Herein lies the great enigma of Hoover’s presidency: how is it that such an accomplished humanitarian and administrator could have fallen so short in his response to the Great Depression? It is the question that hangs over any assessment of his career, one that is even more challenging to address given its length and his multifarious achievements. Kenneth Whyte rises to the challenge with a book that encapsulates the range of Hoover’s life and draws from it a sense of his character. A longtime editor and a biographer of the newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst, Whyte employs a discerning eye and an adroit pen to the task of drawing out Hoover’s personality and assessing his achievements.
The first of these achievements was Hoover’s rise from adversity. The son of Iowa Quakers, Hoover was orphaned at an early age and forced to live with various relatives. Thought he did not distinguish himself academically his work ethic was evident from the start, and through his diligent labors he won admission to the newly-created Stanford University. After graduating with a degree in geology, Hoover embarked on an incredibly successful career as a mining engineer. Whyte’s chapters on this part of Hoover’s life are among the best in the book, as he details the brusque management style and oftentimes shady business practices Hoover employed to make a considerable fortune at a young age.
Seeking new challenges, Hoover was preparing to move from London back to California when the outbreak of war in 1914 changed his life dramatically. Boldly stepping up, Hoover soon emerged as a dominant force in humanitarian relief thanks to his managerial skills and his numerous contacts. When the United States entered the war, Hoover was a logical choice to head the food production effort, and by the end of the conflict he had cemented his reputation as a “can-do” figure. Though nominally a Republican, Whyte sees Hoover’s association with the values of Progressivism as far more relevant to understanding him, which he identifies in both Hoover’s approach to his roles as Commerce secretary and as president.
It is in how Hoover viewed his role as president that Whyte finds the source of the problems that bedeviled him. As an apostle of scientific management, Hoover had little experience with or respect for the political game. This attitude proved self-defeating in his dealings with Congress, as his poor relations with them frustrated his ability to achieve the measures he sought. This also led him initially to underestimate Franklin Roosevelt, who, with the help of a Democratic Party effort to associate Hoover indelibly with the Depression, defeated Hoover when he ran for reelection. Embittered by Roosevelt’s attacks on his record, Hoover spent the remaining thirty-two years of his life in search of redemption, both through championing a new version of American conservatism and by gradually regaining respect for his administrative expertise through his work on a series of commissions.
In writing this book Whyte masters two enormously difficult challenges: encapsulating Hoover’s extensive life within a single volume while simultaneously providing a convincing interpretation of his withdrawn personality. From it emerges a portrait of a gifted and driven individual who succeeded in every field to which he applied himself except the one least suited for his disposition. Where the book suffers is in Whyte’s treatment of the Depression, which he interprets through a monetarist lens; while this highlights several often underappreciated aspects of the crisis, it comes at the cost of glossing over both the miseries people suffered and how they – rather than Hoover’s often contradictory monetary policies – served as the basis for the public’s judgment of Hoover’s failure. This mars what is otherwise an impressive achievement, one that currently stands as the best encapsulation of a complicated man within the confines of a single volume.
Herein lies the great enigma of Hoover’s presidency: how is it that such an accomplished humanitarian and administrator could have fallen so short in his response to the Great Depression? It is the question that hangs over any assessment of his career, one that is even more challenging to address given its length and his multifarious achievements. Kenneth Whyte rises to the challenge with a book that encapsulates the range of Hoover’s life and draws from it a sense of his character. A longtime editor and a biographer of the newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst, Whyte employs a discerning eye and an adroit pen to the task of drawing out Hoover’s personality and assessing his achievements.
The first of these achievements was Hoover’s rise from adversity. The son of Iowa Quakers, Hoover was orphaned at an early age and forced to live with various relatives. Thought he did not distinguish himself academically his work ethic was evident from the start, and through his diligent labors he won admission to the newly-created Stanford University. After graduating with a degree in geology, Hoover embarked on an incredibly successful career as a mining engineer. Whyte’s chapters on this part of Hoover’s life are among the best in the book, as he details the brusque management style and oftentimes shady business practices Hoover employed to make a considerable fortune at a young age.
Seeking new challenges, Hoover was preparing to move from London back to California when the outbreak of war in 1914 changed his life dramatically. Boldly stepping up, Hoover soon emerged as a dominant force in humanitarian relief thanks to his managerial skills and his numerous contacts. When the United States entered the war, Hoover was a logical choice to head the food production effort, and by the end of the conflict he had cemented his reputation as a “can-do” figure. Though nominally a Republican, Whyte sees Hoover’s association with the values of Progressivism as far more relevant to understanding him, which he identifies in both Hoover’s approach to his roles as Commerce secretary and as president.
It is in how Hoover viewed his role as president that Whyte finds the source of the problems that bedeviled him. As an apostle of scientific management, Hoover had little experience with or respect for the political game. This attitude proved self-defeating in his dealings with Congress, as his poor relations with them frustrated his ability to achieve the measures he sought. This also led him initially to underestimate Franklin Roosevelt, who, with the help of a Democratic Party effort to associate Hoover indelibly with the Depression, defeated Hoover when he ran for reelection. Embittered by Roosevelt’s attacks on his record, Hoover spent the remaining thirty-two years of his life in search of redemption, both through championing a new version of American conservatism and by gradually regaining respect for his administrative expertise through his work on a series of commissions.
In writing this book Whyte masters two enormously difficult challenges: encapsulating Hoover’s extensive life within a single volume while simultaneously providing a convincing interpretation of his withdrawn personality. From it emerges a portrait of a gifted and driven individual who succeeded in every field to which he applied himself except the one least suited for his disposition. Where the book suffers is in Whyte’s treatment of the Depression, which he interprets through a monetarist lens; while this highlights several often underappreciated aspects of the crisis, it comes at the cost of glossing over both the miseries people suffered and how they – rather than Hoover’s often contradictory monetary policies – served as the basis for the public’s judgment of Hoover’s failure. This mars what is otherwise an impressive achievement, one that currently stands as the best encapsulation of a complicated man within the confines of a single volume.
December 26, 2020
https://wp.me/p302YQ-5HN
Published in 2017, Kenneth Whyte’s “Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times” is the most recent biography of the 31st president. Whyte is a Canadian journalist who has served as editor of Saturday Night magazine, the National Post newspaper and Maclean’s. He is also the author of “The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst” which was published in 2008.
With 614 pages covering his subject’s entire life, Whyte’s well-researched biography is easily the longest of the half-dozen books I’ve read on Herbert Hoover. And while it does not offer the most detailed exploration of his presidency (that honor goes to Charles Rappleye’s 2016 “Herbert Hoover in the White House” which I read earlier this year) it does provide the most thorough comprehensive review of his nine decades.
The most interesting aspects of Hoover’s life – and the most compelling sections of this book – are Hoover’s pre- and post-presidencies. All together, the non-presidential years of Hoover’s life account for about four-fifths of this biography. Almost no reader will fail to be impressed by Whyte’s description of Hoover’s austere start, his capacity to identify and capitalize on business opportunities, or his tireless pursuit of success.
The narrative is rarely flashy or animated, but is consistently attentive to Whyte’s view of Hoover as a better, and more prescient, politician than history recalls. And while the book is almost unfailingly sympathetic toward its subject (and frequently dismissive of his political rivals), Whyte does not ignore Hoover’s wide assortment of obvious (often interpersonal) flaws.
Other key strengths of the book include a keen comparison of Hoover to Woodrow Wilson, good introductions to important political characters (Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge as two examples) and interesting commentary relating to Hoover’s anticipation of a financial crisis early in his presidency.
But while much of Herbert Hoover’s life is intrinsically captivating, the author’s writing style does not match the opportunity. Whyte is not a particularly colorful or vibrant writer and, much like Hoover himself, his narrative can lack vivacity and texture. While it is consistently clear and comprehensible it tends to exhibit a dry, clinical quality.
In addition, the discussion of Hoover’s presidency often feels one-sided. Whyte works diligently to redeem his subject; one manifestation of these efforts is a tendency to unfairly diminish the actions (and intellect) of some of Hoover’s contemporaries. FDR and Harry Truman are the two most notable examples of this rush-to-caricature.
Finally, while this biography expertly dissects the curious contradictions embedded within Hoover’s persona, the author misses an opportunity to more fully explore his subject’s suitability for the presidency and discuss the evolution of his legacy in the five decades since his death.
Overall, Kenneth Whyte’s biography of Herbert Hoover offers a sober, insightful and extremely readable review of one of the 20th century’s least popular presidents. Readers new to Hoover will not find a better thorough introduction to his life; others will appreciate its incremental insights and fresh perspectives. All-in-all, Whyte has written the best biography of Herbert Hoover I’ve yet read.
Overall Rating: 4¼ stars
Published in 2017, Kenneth Whyte’s “Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times” is the most recent biography of the 31st president. Whyte is a Canadian journalist who has served as editor of Saturday Night magazine, the National Post newspaper and Maclean’s. He is also the author of “The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst” which was published in 2008.
With 614 pages covering his subject’s entire life, Whyte’s well-researched biography is easily the longest of the half-dozen books I’ve read on Herbert Hoover. And while it does not offer the most detailed exploration of his presidency (that honor goes to Charles Rappleye’s 2016 “Herbert Hoover in the White House” which I read earlier this year) it does provide the most thorough comprehensive review of his nine decades.
The most interesting aspects of Hoover’s life – and the most compelling sections of this book – are Hoover’s pre- and post-presidencies. All together, the non-presidential years of Hoover’s life account for about four-fifths of this biography. Almost no reader will fail to be impressed by Whyte’s description of Hoover’s austere start, his capacity to identify and capitalize on business opportunities, or his tireless pursuit of success.
The narrative is rarely flashy or animated, but is consistently attentive to Whyte’s view of Hoover as a better, and more prescient, politician than history recalls. And while the book is almost unfailingly sympathetic toward its subject (and frequently dismissive of his political rivals), Whyte does not ignore Hoover’s wide assortment of obvious (often interpersonal) flaws.
Other key strengths of the book include a keen comparison of Hoover to Woodrow Wilson, good introductions to important political characters (Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge as two examples) and interesting commentary relating to Hoover’s anticipation of a financial crisis early in his presidency.
But while much of Herbert Hoover’s life is intrinsically captivating, the author’s writing style does not match the opportunity. Whyte is not a particularly colorful or vibrant writer and, much like Hoover himself, his narrative can lack vivacity and texture. While it is consistently clear and comprehensible it tends to exhibit a dry, clinical quality.
In addition, the discussion of Hoover’s presidency often feels one-sided. Whyte works diligently to redeem his subject; one manifestation of these efforts is a tendency to unfairly diminish the actions (and intellect) of some of Hoover’s contemporaries. FDR and Harry Truman are the two most notable examples of this rush-to-caricature.
Finally, while this biography expertly dissects the curious contradictions embedded within Hoover’s persona, the author misses an opportunity to more fully explore his subject’s suitability for the presidency and discuss the evolution of his legacy in the five decades since his death.
Overall, Kenneth Whyte’s biography of Herbert Hoover offers a sober, insightful and extremely readable review of one of the 20th century’s least popular presidents. Readers new to Hoover will not find a better thorough introduction to his life; others will appreciate its incremental insights and fresh perspectives. All-in-all, Whyte has written the best biography of Herbert Hoover I’ve yet read.
Overall Rating: 4¼ stars
December 30, 2017
First, I should admit that I was a bit biased on the subject before I began reading Hoover . I have a special place in my heart for Herbert Hoover. I lived in Iowa for 16 years and spent some time at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch, where I learned quite a bit about him and developed an affection for the 31st president. I was very excited to get my hands on this book.
I mention my Hoover bias because it will inevitably affect my review of this book. If you don't know much about Herbert Hoover, you should absolutely read this book and get to know him because there is so much more to him than most people realize. From his Quaker upbringing to his determination and success as a mining engineer to his devotion to public service until his death at the age of 90, his story is extraordinary.
Hoover became President of the U.S. in March of 1929, months before the stock market crashed, a challenge that ensured his legacy would forever be tied to the Great Depression that followed. This is where the "revisionist account" comes from in the book description. Hoover's four years in office, followed by FDR's 12 years and WWII & preceded by Wilson's eight years and WWI, are often overlooked or reduced along with Harding & Coolidge when we consider American presidential history. The more you learn about Hoover, the more likely you are to see this as an injustice.
This biography weighs in at 640 pages, but I can't help but wonder how much longer it was before any editing. It may seem like a lengthy bio for a one-term president, but Hoover's life could fill many, many more pages. His childhood alone is a compelling story, and an important one because we see how his experience as a young man influenced both his ambition and insecurities. During WWI he led an impressive relief effort for the people of occupied Belgium. He served under both Republican and Democratic administrations and considered himself a public servant more than a politician. That sounds refreshing compared to today's constant politics and news cycle, but he served his country at a time of transition when mass media began to grow and in my mind, mass media is where skills as a politician become essential. The hard working, socially awkward public servant will always struggle against the seasoned politician focused on winning the election. That seems to have been Hoover's biggest weakness as far as his legacy is concerned.
I think this is a great read for anyone with an interest in American presidential history, or history in general, as Hoover was a public figure throughout half of the twentieth century. The book is well researched and the author seems to make an effort to remain unbiased for the most part. In the introduction, the author praises Hoover and states that he has made an effort to privilege understanding over judgment in this biography. Yet there were many times throughout where I felt that Hoover seemed insufferable in his pettiness. Hoover's flaws are represented throughout to an extent that I had to go back and re-read the introduction because the author's tone seemed to have changed so much. Perhaps my experience in Iowa has indoctrinated me to the point that the revisionist account didn't satisfy me completely. I enjoyed the book, I recommend it, and I learned quite a bit that I didn't know or had forgotten about Hoover. However, there were sections that barely touched on things that are in my mind worthy of much more attention. There is so much more that can be said about Hoover's term as president and the elections of 1928 and 1932, the relationship between Hoover and FDR, and the Hoover Dam - these are a few examples where the author only touched the surface of some very rich material.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
I mention my Hoover bias because it will inevitably affect my review of this book. If you don't know much about Herbert Hoover, you should absolutely read this book and get to know him because there is so much more to him than most people realize. From his Quaker upbringing to his determination and success as a mining engineer to his devotion to public service until his death at the age of 90, his story is extraordinary.
Hoover became President of the U.S. in March of 1929, months before the stock market crashed, a challenge that ensured his legacy would forever be tied to the Great Depression that followed. This is where the "revisionist account" comes from in the book description. Hoover's four years in office, followed by FDR's 12 years and WWII & preceded by Wilson's eight years and WWI, are often overlooked or reduced along with Harding & Coolidge when we consider American presidential history. The more you learn about Hoover, the more likely you are to see this as an injustice.
This biography weighs in at 640 pages, but I can't help but wonder how much longer it was before any editing. It may seem like a lengthy bio for a one-term president, but Hoover's life could fill many, many more pages. His childhood alone is a compelling story, and an important one because we see how his experience as a young man influenced both his ambition and insecurities. During WWI he led an impressive relief effort for the people of occupied Belgium. He served under both Republican and Democratic administrations and considered himself a public servant more than a politician. That sounds refreshing compared to today's constant politics and news cycle, but he served his country at a time of transition when mass media began to grow and in my mind, mass media is where skills as a politician become essential. The hard working, socially awkward public servant will always struggle against the seasoned politician focused on winning the election. That seems to have been Hoover's biggest weakness as far as his legacy is concerned.
I think this is a great read for anyone with an interest in American presidential history, or history in general, as Hoover was a public figure throughout half of the twentieth century. The book is well researched and the author seems to make an effort to remain unbiased for the most part. In the introduction, the author praises Hoover and states that he has made an effort to privilege understanding over judgment in this biography. Yet there were many times throughout where I felt that Hoover seemed insufferable in his pettiness. Hoover's flaws are represented throughout to an extent that I had to go back and re-read the introduction because the author's tone seemed to have changed so much. Perhaps my experience in Iowa has indoctrinated me to the point that the revisionist account didn't satisfy me completely. I enjoyed the book, I recommend it, and I learned quite a bit that I didn't know or had forgotten about Hoover. However, there were sections that barely touched on things that are in my mind worthy of much more attention. There is so much more that can be said about Hoover's term as president and the elections of 1928 and 1932, the relationship between Hoover and FDR, and the Hoover Dam - these are a few examples where the author only touched the surface of some very rich material.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
November 28, 2017
This comprehensive biography tells the life of our 31st U.S. President Herbert Hoover. When the youth from rural Iowa entered Stanford University his desire for reading and knowledge soared. The self-made entrepreneur businessman traveled the globe and lived outside the United States for many years prior to being sworn in as president in March 1929. Just months later the runaway stock market up 500% since 1921, crashed on Black Thursday 10/24/1929. The independent Federal Reserve and banking system would consume Hoover’s presidency. He believed that the private sector could solve most problems and government programs, intrusion and spending should be used as a last resort. Hoover, who enjoyed reading, fishing (in business attire) and exercising his mind in boardrooms, was one of our longest living presidents.
Little did I dream that I would someday have my own history book in the library at Stanford.
Little did I dream that I would someday have my own history book in the library at Stanford.
July 31, 2025
I cannot believe I have made it this far. I think it really hit me on this book because he Hoover lived until the 1960s which is just CRAZY that I’m this deep in American history. Anyways, this book was extremely well written and will go down as one of my favorites. Whyte has such a great writing style and Hoover’s life is one of the most interesting of this journey. For readability, I have almost 0 complaints about this book. I was always interested in it and it didn’t harp on anything too long, but was sure to cover it all. This is almost flawless in this category, although I think Whyte was missing the deep writing that you get from McCullough or Chernow, 9.25/10. For depth, I felt this book did an amazing job covering Hoover’s life and made sure the reader understood the context of the times. I also enjoyed how his post-presidency wasn’t another 500 pages even though it was 35 years, but the author moved swiftly while still hitting the highlights, 9.5/10. This book had be engaged the entire time and I have no complaints, the story was captivating and informative, 9.5/10. This biography was an amazing bridge to the Roosevelt era and I am entirely satisfied with Whyte’s work on Hoover and his life. These books are great ways to see what is going on in American History through the lens of its leaders, and I think this one was the textbook example of that. Overall Rating:9.25/10. Hoover as a man was kind of a dick in the beginning and slowly but surely grew into a leader and person to admire. All of his accomplishments were really through the public and economic sector of the nation and impacted millions of lives. Through his relief and food care to millions of citizens during WWI, to his work on the Hoover commission in the 50s, he always seemed to put the public first, which is admirable and shows in his many accomplishments, which would be much to different to list here. But, his presidency was halted but the onslaught of the Great depression, and it no matter how hard he tried he could not pull the country out, 8.75/10. In terms of “greatness” I see Hoover as a great president not in terms of what he did in office but what he did outside of it. He was a humanitarian man with a huge money supply, a man devoted to his career and less to his family, and frankly a man with many contradictions. I see him as a president that has a astonishing work ethic and desire to help people, and that is not a bad legacy to leave, 8.75/10. Well, I have hit the Great Depression era, and cannot wait for my 1800 page book on FDR, as I’ve been looking forward to it for almost 2 years. Onto 32!
March 24, 2018
If you've ever wanted to learn about President Hoover this is the book for you! This biography is very thorough and covers his life from child orphan to becoming a humanitarian who founded organizations like UNICEF. His presidency and politics are strenuously covered and any one interested in history or politics is sure to enjoy this book. Since it is a biography of a President, it is a very large book and will take some time to read but well worth it to understand this man better than history books portray him. Learning more about how he inherited the Stock Market Crash and veered his way through The Depression Era while having to make major choices was fascinating.
Overall this book was difficult at times to read because of how thick it is and how much information is thrown towards the reader but pacing yourself helps to avoid information overload. For me it isn't a re-read but would be a great gift for any history buffs in your life. A good solid read. Thank you to First to Read and Knopf Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for a fair and honest review!
Overall this book was difficult at times to read because of how thick it is and how much information is thrown towards the reader but pacing yourself helps to avoid information overload. For me it isn't a re-read but would be a great gift for any history buffs in your life. A good solid read. Thank you to First to Read and Knopf Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for a fair and honest review!
May 17, 2018
An extraordinary life...Seriously. I know what you’re thinking. Herbert Hoover, the guy responsible for the Great Depression, extraordinary? I started this skeptically too and finished with an entirely new perspective of the man and his time. A lot of my misconceptions of Hoover and the Great Depression were overturned. Like most people today, I thought of the Great Depression as a single event, not as “a maddeningly unpredictable series of emergencies of varied origin and severity” as Hoover saw them. I thought of Hoover as the uncaring, stodgy conservative sitting on his hands during the Depression, not the global humanitarian and later active president pushing government policy frontiers beyond what anybody expected. In addition to offering good history and context, the book is both excellent character study (showing how his youth and business experiences shaped his personality and politics) and a great case study in presidential power (Hoover disdained partisan activity causing his party and its support to erode out from under him while FDR exploited his power to build a durable coalition to support his agenda). While Whyte’s style of writing is not as engaging as that of some other presidential biographers (like Chernow or McCullough) I felt he did a first rate job telling Hoover’s story. Highly recommended.
What follows are my notes on the book:
Born in 1874 in the pioneer settlement of West Branch, Iowa. A traditional Quaker community where fortitude, self-reliance, and helping your local community were preached & independence from external authority (governmental or clerical) was prized. His mother Hulda was pious, his father Jesse focused on his passion for business (blacksmith and farm equipment store (10-11)). Life was work and work was hard. His father died from illness at age 34 when Herb was 6. Hulda scraped by, supported by the community. Her commitment to community service (women’s suffrage) and doing the Lord’s work (temperance movement) took precedence over her 3 children. Herb worked on homesteads until his mother died when he was 9. An educated uncle (a physician and missionary) in Oregon offered to raise and educate him (19). Shy and quiet, he missed parental affection and resented laboring under his uncle’s excessive demands (24).
At 14, he clerked in the Oregon Land Company. With an encyclopedic grasp of administrative minutiae (accounting, dates, prices points, etc) he was an impressive employee. His conduct and work ethic reflected his Quaker upbringing: honest, hardworking, clean living. He was obsessed with money (raised a dirt poor orphan it seemed an antidote to vulnerability). A visiting engineer sparked his interest and he applied to the new Stanford University (the social, financial, and academic rigor of East Coast schools likely would’ve crushed him (28-31, 44). He was a mediocre student but received invaluable experience over two summers interning for the US Geological Survey learning about economic geology (mining precious metals and minerals) (40).
He graduated during the Panic of 1893 and could only get a job shoveling ore for 10 hours a day, 7 days a week. He saved money and moved to Oakland, leveraging his Geological Survey expertise to get a job by offering “objective” opinions to clear the company from lawsuits by rival mines. He proved an excellent mine scout and rose quickly in the company. A year in, he accepted an offer to earn $5K a year in the Australian gold fields for the London firm Bewick, Moreing. Few of his Quaker strictures survived the rough and wild ramshackle boomtowns of the Outback. He blossomed in the inhospitable, infernal environment. He was so successful in improving the performance of mines, his employer gave him 10% of the profits. He recommend purchase of an underdeveloped site, and then was installed to manage it. By the time in closed in 1963 it had made millions for Bewick, Moreing (56). He was a slave driver of a boss (he called Western Australia hell and himself the devil).
His desperation to succeed began to affect his emotional balance and behavior. He exaggerated (already impressive) numbers on reports to London. Despite promotions and pay increases, he felt unappreciated and even persecuted. Despite insubordination against his boss, his remarkable abilities made him valuable and he was given a second chance in China (65). Traveling by way of San Francisco, he married Stanford classmate Lou Henry. Japan’s victory over China sparked an unscrupulous competition over China’s resources. While assessing mines, the Boxer Rebellion erupted threatening the lives of all commercial, military, and religious “foreign devils.” To avoid the financial collapse of their Chinese interests, he reorganized the operation into a joint Sino-British company, which the Chinese signed under duress (they feared the Russians & Japanese). While Hoover’s actions were shady, the fact that he set up legal cover for his actions seem almost enlightened compared to the raping and pillaging by the Russians and Japanese (85).
He lived “on the jump,” working in the field, circling the globe 5 times in 5 years (before airplanes) for Bewick, Moreing’s global mining interests. Right after he spent $40K to buy a partnership in Bewick, Moreing, the company almost collapsed over stock trading fraud by one of the other partners. Hoover moved to cover all losses suffered by outsiders. His action saved the firm, but saddled the company with a financial burden that would take years to dig out of (92). The Chinese successfully sued to negate Hoover’s deal in China. These back-to-back blows nearly broke Hoover, saddling him with enormous debt (98). During these crises, Lou gave birth to a son. He labored non-stop until 1907 to turn the company, then began looking for an exit and a way to repair these blots on his reputation. He sold his share of the company on condition he sign a contract prohibiting him from direct competition with Bewick, Moreing. He signed and then immediately set himself up as an independent mining financier (104).
Operating in every corner of the globe, his income reached $100K annually. He specialized in rescuing distressed mines, injecting them with capital and reorganizing to make them profitable. While he made money in the stock market (insider trading was not illegal at the time), the bulk of his fortune was earned the hard way with superb managerial talent, technical skill, and financial wizardry (his biggest hauls were silver in Burma, Zinc in Australia)(115). An undisputed expert, he commanded the highest engineering fees in the world. Bewick, Moreing sued him for breaking his agreement (he settled out of court). In 1909 he published a textbook Principles of Mining. Despite his enormous wealth, he still maintained a Quakerish distain for ostentatious display (no diamonds, yachts, etc).
His fortune made, he looked to get into the “Big Game” somewhere (newspapers, academia, or government service). He joined Stanford’s board of trustees in 1912, upgrading the academic staff and raising their wages. His plans to buy a newspaper and/or relocate his business from London to CA were shattered by the outbreak of WWI (125). Businesses crashed and orders were cancelled overnight, threatening his global mining empire. His employees were drafted into armies and his managers begged for direction (131). With his fortune gravely imperiled, he did a remarkable thing. He walked to the US Consul General and volunteered to help the 100,000+ Americans stranded in Europe. Fleeing the continent, they overwhelmed London (which refused their US currency on the brink of war). Using his own funds, he offered short-term loans to alleviate the immediate distress (133).
To the surprise of the overwhelmed US ambassador, Hoover took charge, setting up a relief committee. He organized and distributed $2.5M in funds to help 120,000 Americans passing thru London (137). His business shot to pieces he stayed in London to continue earning consulting fees, but he sent his wife and son home on the Lusitania (139). When neutral Belgium was occupied, Hoover concocted a scheme to feed their starving population of 7.5M people. The obstacles (rising food prices, limited shipping, British blockade, and the German Army’s tendency to requisition all consumables) seemed insurmountable. Initially, he operated off donations but recognized he needed government funding. Britain, waging a war of economic attrition, didn’t want to relieve Germany of their obligation as occupiers. Hoover persisted and the UK eased the blockade and promised to fund his commission if he could convince Berlin to stop its indemnity against Belgium (157).
With no diplomatic standing, he traveled to Berlin and spoke with the German chancellor but failed to change his mind. The UK, now worried that desperate Belgians might throw themselves into the arms of their enemy, changed their mind and agreed to “loan” Belgium $5M a month to support Hoover’s work. In short order, Hoover had created the largest relief organization in history. Despite facing mind-boggling logistical challenges, he expanded the work to cover 2M French citizens caught behind the Western Front. Hoover obtained unparalleled diplomatic immunity (German documents said he was “not to be stopped under any circumstances”) and could cross borders at will. He had privileged access to government leaders, generals and diplomats and was spending $150M a year on relief with minimal input from the State Dept (163)!
Accused of violating the Logan Act, he met with and convinced President Wilson of the importance of his work. The UK, asked Hoover to become a British subject so he could use his managerial prowess to fix their own industrial crisis (munition shortages); he declined (173). When the US entered the war and ceased to be a neutral power, he handed over relief efforts to the Dutch & Spanish. As the war and u-boat attacks sparked a global food crisis, Wilson reached out to Hoover. Wilson asked Congress for vast new powers to fix food prices, seize factories, regulate exchanges, and interfere in railways to stabilize skyrocketing food prices. He delegated these powers to Hoover as the newly appointed US Food Commissioner (187). Having spent his adult life outside the country and being offered vast power over the country, Congress grilled him for 2 months before passing the legislation. He worked to subordinate or sideline potential rivals (Secretaries of Treasury, Agriculture, Navy, etc)(200). His methods made enemies in Congress and the Cabinet.
An engineer seeking a more rational & scientific approach to governance, he became a popular national figure and progressive darling fawned over by the media (206). On a visit to London, he was feted by the King & Queen and PM Lloyd George toasted him as the Savior of Europe (210). When the war abruptly ended, swaths of broke and demobilizing Europe faced starvation. Anticipating havoc, Wilson dispatched Hoover to lead the relief effort. With $100M Congressional appropriation, and the only agency with reliable shipping between nations, Hoover served as virtual ruler of the European economy. His knowledge of European politics/affairs covered for Wilson’s ignorance (216). When the UK and France backed out of food purchases leaving the US with $500M in supplies, he (outside the law) sold them to Germany & Central Europe (convincing himself it kept those countries from sliding into Bolshevism (218)).
Hoover was distraught over the Treaty of Versailles, thinking the punitive terms would lead to the failure of Germany’s new representative government & kill Germany’s industry thereby damaging American and European recovery (221). Despite supporting the League of Nations, his relationship with Wilson ended when Wilson ignored his recommendation to accept reasonable Congressional reservations to the treaty. Many argued Hoover, not Wilson should have won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Despite his appeal as a progressive and practical man of business free of partisan baggage, he disdained campaigning and had no party or political machinery. He naively assumed he would be drafted into office. He desired to be Sec of State, but Harding offered him Commerce, which he accepted on condition he could expand its purview (cutting into responsibilities of other Cabinet members). While Harding’s “return to normalcy” left little room for grand ambitions, Hoover leveraged his post to exert oversight of the entire US economy (254). As the economy shifted to mass production, he thrilled at the prospect of carrying wartime spirit & efficiency into peacetime. He ejected political hacks and introduced a professional staff, collected and made Commerce the hub of reliable economic statistics (later OMB), pushed for common national standards (light sockets, etc), fielded his own foreign service to promote business (annoying State Dept), set national traffic and aviation safety standards (eventually to become FAA), and licensed radio stations/frequencies (later the FCC) . During the depression of 1921, he hosted a conference on unemployment promoting novel ideas like counter-cyclical public works projects (262-3). He negotiated the Colorado River Compact.
Harding’s death and emergence of Coolidge undermined his plan to run in 1924 (287). Numerous scandals broke shortly after Harding’s death. Though not involved, Hoover’s reach into everything threatened his reputation. The economy booming, Coolidge was elected and Hoover remained in Commerce (though with less influence than under Harding). Though he favored small government, he found Coolidge too laissez faire. He clashed with Mellon (Treasury) and Strong (Fed), arguing that low interest rates (intended to keep the UK on the Gold Standard) were overheating the economy (319).
In the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, Coolidge sat still. Six governors asked specifically for Hoover to lead a rescue effort and Coolidge relented (329). He fundraised thousands (Cal gave him no funds), marshalled thousands of volunteers, built a small fleet of boats, and built 150 Red Cross refugee camps. After 60 days of non-stop work, he was again a national hero (333). Coolidge grieving over the death of his son and annoyed with Hoover the “Wonder Boy,” chose not to run again. Hoover easily won the GOP nomination and the national election in a landslide (360).
He stocked his cabinet with competent professionals, not career politicians (365). All like-minded administrators, he set himself up to be insulated from the people. Despite campaigning on a decade of GOP-led prosperity, he was worried about the economy and put pressure on banks to tamp down stock speculation (376). He called Congress into special session to pass a farm relief bill and limited agricultural tariffs, opening the floodgates of Congressmen looking to protect their manufacturing constituencies too (397). Having forsaken the dirty politics of patronage and not cultivating the savvy of a career politician, he had few means of keeping legislators in line (402). The stock market crashed in 1929 and he moved immediately to implement his countercyclical ideas pledging $4B to public works (408-412). Having campaigned on limited tariffs, he couldn’t veto the bloated Smoot-Hawley tariff bill in 1930 (415). Exiled from power for so long, the DNC retooled attacking him in an unprecedented manner, painting him as incompetent and popularizing the “Hooverville” moniker (420). Having won on his own & determined to rise above partisan politics, he lost support of his demoralized party (422). After a midterm beatdown, the GOP kept both houses of Congress, but only nominally.
After his initial spending & believing the crisis was contained, he vetoed the Muscle Shoals Dam alienating allies in Congress. Fearful of socialist revolution gripping half of world (Nazis, Commies, etc), he sought to preserve American liberty and limited government (433). Prohibition battles continued to divide the GOP. Recognizing Europe’s WWI debt was partially responsible for the Depression, he proposed a bold moratorium on payments but France undermined the deal sparking another round of bank failures (452). A month after Hoover rolled out a voluntary campaign for unemployment relief, FDR announced his state-funded program (458). His neglect of the GOP drained its enthusiasm to fight in the election. In Sept ’31, UK dropped off the Gold Standard sparking a liquidity crisis of catastrophic proportions (463). In a major miscalculation (assuming the private sector would be hostile to Federal intrusion), he asked big banks to bail out weaker ones (like in Panic of 1907), but they balked (why risk their balance sheets when we have a Federal Reserve?) (466). He persisted and the crisis passed. Having run up deficits, he reversed course and raised taxes and cut spending to balance the budget, harsh medicine during such a Depression (472).
After a 4th false dawn, Hoover’s bank plan fell thru as banks were too cautious to loan money. With tax receipts plummeting and public spending at record highs, the deficit approached $2B (477). He appealed to Congress for a full range of reforms (deposit insurance, splitting investment and commercial banking, and a Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) to lend public funds to banks). The RFC failed to stabilize banking because Congress insisted on publicizing who received loans (518). Hoover was trying to fight the disease, ignoring the symptoms (average joe suffering) and was accused of bailing out Wall Street (480).
Conventional wisdom was that FDR was the Dem version of Harding, full of half-baked ideas (495). Shrewd and ruthless, FDR ignored the international aspect and laid the entire blame for the Depression on the “slow and tentative” Hoover. His humanitarian record forgotten, FDR painted him as an uncaring villain. Based on contemporary newspaper articles, the author argues that MacArthur’s treatment of WWI vets (Bonus Army) was not a decisive factor in the campaign (501). Hoover worked to stop another round of bank failures, he reached out to president-elect FDR (who deliberately ignored him) and Congress shut down early. FDR’s delay caused 30 states to close banks, deepening the crisis but building political capital for his first 100 days (520-1).
A national punching bag, he was lonely and isolated. FDR tried to scandalize his predecessor (despite a squeaky clean record) heightening his paranoia & hatred for FDR (534). He was horrified by FDR’s partisanship (abusing power/money to forge a durable Dem coalition). FDR made RFC loans confidential, taking credit for the rebound. FDR passed Glass-Stegall (reforms proposed by Hoover). Where Hoover dabbled in Federal action, FDR shot the moon (TVA, CCC, PWA, etc) (537). He thought the New Deal a muddle of uncoordinated adventures on a scale and with a coercive nature that was dangerous to liberty and checks and balances. While FDR presided over 6 years of Depression (to Hoover’s 3) with no end in sight, Hoover continued to be blamed (566). He believed FDR was backing the country into WWII with lend-lease. Lou died in 1944. He condemned use of the atomic bomb on women & children (580). Accused of being an isolationist and “appeaser”, he condemned the double standard of giving Stalin a “sphere of influence” (581).
In a bravura performance, he chaired Truman’s Famine Emergency Committee. He advocated aid to Europe but was not seriously consulted on the Marshall Plan. He chaired two Hoover Commissions for Truman/Ike to streamline the executive branch bloated by FDR’s numerous overlapping agencies (586). A liberal (in the classical sense), he embraced the conservative label. He approved of the UN, but not to admitting communist states. Hoover’s worldview died when Ike defeated Taft (595). JFK asked him to chair the Peace Corp. He died in 1964.
What follows are my notes on the book:
Born in 1874 in the pioneer settlement of West Branch, Iowa. A traditional Quaker community where fortitude, self-reliance, and helping your local community were preached & independence from external authority (governmental or clerical) was prized. His mother Hulda was pious, his father Jesse focused on his passion for business (blacksmith and farm equipment store (10-11)). Life was work and work was hard. His father died from illness at age 34 when Herb was 6. Hulda scraped by, supported by the community. Her commitment to community service (women’s suffrage) and doing the Lord’s work (temperance movement) took precedence over her 3 children. Herb worked on homesteads until his mother died when he was 9. An educated uncle (a physician and missionary) in Oregon offered to raise and educate him (19). Shy and quiet, he missed parental affection and resented laboring under his uncle’s excessive demands (24).
At 14, he clerked in the Oregon Land Company. With an encyclopedic grasp of administrative minutiae (accounting, dates, prices points, etc) he was an impressive employee. His conduct and work ethic reflected his Quaker upbringing: honest, hardworking, clean living. He was obsessed with money (raised a dirt poor orphan it seemed an antidote to vulnerability). A visiting engineer sparked his interest and he applied to the new Stanford University (the social, financial, and academic rigor of East Coast schools likely would’ve crushed him (28-31, 44). He was a mediocre student but received invaluable experience over two summers interning for the US Geological Survey learning about economic geology (mining precious metals and minerals) (40).
He graduated during the Panic of 1893 and could only get a job shoveling ore for 10 hours a day, 7 days a week. He saved money and moved to Oakland, leveraging his Geological Survey expertise to get a job by offering “objective” opinions to clear the company from lawsuits by rival mines. He proved an excellent mine scout and rose quickly in the company. A year in, he accepted an offer to earn $5K a year in the Australian gold fields for the London firm Bewick, Moreing. Few of his Quaker strictures survived the rough and wild ramshackle boomtowns of the Outback. He blossomed in the inhospitable, infernal environment. He was so successful in improving the performance of mines, his employer gave him 10% of the profits. He recommend purchase of an underdeveloped site, and then was installed to manage it. By the time in closed in 1963 it had made millions for Bewick, Moreing (56). He was a slave driver of a boss (he called Western Australia hell and himself the devil).
His desperation to succeed began to affect his emotional balance and behavior. He exaggerated (already impressive) numbers on reports to London. Despite promotions and pay increases, he felt unappreciated and even persecuted. Despite insubordination against his boss, his remarkable abilities made him valuable and he was given a second chance in China (65). Traveling by way of San Francisco, he married Stanford classmate Lou Henry. Japan’s victory over China sparked an unscrupulous competition over China’s resources. While assessing mines, the Boxer Rebellion erupted threatening the lives of all commercial, military, and religious “foreign devils.” To avoid the financial collapse of their Chinese interests, he reorganized the operation into a joint Sino-British company, which the Chinese signed under duress (they feared the Russians & Japanese). While Hoover’s actions were shady, the fact that he set up legal cover for his actions seem almost enlightened compared to the raping and pillaging by the Russians and Japanese (85).
He lived “on the jump,” working in the field, circling the globe 5 times in 5 years (before airplanes) for Bewick, Moreing’s global mining interests. Right after he spent $40K to buy a partnership in Bewick, Moreing, the company almost collapsed over stock trading fraud by one of the other partners. Hoover moved to cover all losses suffered by outsiders. His action saved the firm, but saddled the company with a financial burden that would take years to dig out of (92). The Chinese successfully sued to negate Hoover’s deal in China. These back-to-back blows nearly broke Hoover, saddling him with enormous debt (98). During these crises, Lou gave birth to a son. He labored non-stop until 1907 to turn the company, then began looking for an exit and a way to repair these blots on his reputation. He sold his share of the company on condition he sign a contract prohibiting him from direct competition with Bewick, Moreing. He signed and then immediately set himself up as an independent mining financier (104).
Operating in every corner of the globe, his income reached $100K annually. He specialized in rescuing distressed mines, injecting them with capital and reorganizing to make them profitable. While he made money in the stock market (insider trading was not illegal at the time), the bulk of his fortune was earned the hard way with superb managerial talent, technical skill, and financial wizardry (his biggest hauls were silver in Burma, Zinc in Australia)(115). An undisputed expert, he commanded the highest engineering fees in the world. Bewick, Moreing sued him for breaking his agreement (he settled out of court). In 1909 he published a textbook Principles of Mining. Despite his enormous wealth, he still maintained a Quakerish distain for ostentatious display (no diamonds, yachts, etc).
His fortune made, he looked to get into the “Big Game” somewhere (newspapers, academia, or government service). He joined Stanford’s board of trustees in 1912, upgrading the academic staff and raising their wages. His plans to buy a newspaper and/or relocate his business from London to CA were shattered by the outbreak of WWI (125). Businesses crashed and orders were cancelled overnight, threatening his global mining empire. His employees were drafted into armies and his managers begged for direction (131). With his fortune gravely imperiled, he did a remarkable thing. He walked to the US Consul General and volunteered to help the 100,000+ Americans stranded in Europe. Fleeing the continent, they overwhelmed London (which refused their US currency on the brink of war). Using his own funds, he offered short-term loans to alleviate the immediate distress (133).
To the surprise of the overwhelmed US ambassador, Hoover took charge, setting up a relief committee. He organized and distributed $2.5M in funds to help 120,000 Americans passing thru London (137). His business shot to pieces he stayed in London to continue earning consulting fees, but he sent his wife and son home on the Lusitania (139). When neutral Belgium was occupied, Hoover concocted a scheme to feed their starving population of 7.5M people. The obstacles (rising food prices, limited shipping, British blockade, and the German Army’s tendency to requisition all consumables) seemed insurmountable. Initially, he operated off donations but recognized he needed government funding. Britain, waging a war of economic attrition, didn’t want to relieve Germany of their obligation as occupiers. Hoover persisted and the UK eased the blockade and promised to fund his commission if he could convince Berlin to stop its indemnity against Belgium (157).
With no diplomatic standing, he traveled to Berlin and spoke with the German chancellor but failed to change his mind. The UK, now worried that desperate Belgians might throw themselves into the arms of their enemy, changed their mind and agreed to “loan” Belgium $5M a month to support Hoover’s work. In short order, Hoover had created the largest relief organization in history. Despite facing mind-boggling logistical challenges, he expanded the work to cover 2M French citizens caught behind the Western Front. Hoover obtained unparalleled diplomatic immunity (German documents said he was “not to be stopped under any circumstances”) and could cross borders at will. He had privileged access to government leaders, generals and diplomats and was spending $150M a year on relief with minimal input from the State Dept (163)!
Accused of violating the Logan Act, he met with and convinced President Wilson of the importance of his work. The UK, asked Hoover to become a British subject so he could use his managerial prowess to fix their own industrial crisis (munition shortages); he declined (173). When the US entered the war and ceased to be a neutral power, he handed over relief efforts to the Dutch & Spanish. As the war and u-boat attacks sparked a global food crisis, Wilson reached out to Hoover. Wilson asked Congress for vast new powers to fix food prices, seize factories, regulate exchanges, and interfere in railways to stabilize skyrocketing food prices. He delegated these powers to Hoover as the newly appointed US Food Commissioner (187). Having spent his adult life outside the country and being offered vast power over the country, Congress grilled him for 2 months before passing the legislation. He worked to subordinate or sideline potential rivals (Secretaries of Treasury, Agriculture, Navy, etc)(200). His methods made enemies in Congress and the Cabinet.
An engineer seeking a more rational & scientific approach to governance, he became a popular national figure and progressive darling fawned over by the media (206). On a visit to London, he was feted by the King & Queen and PM Lloyd George toasted him as the Savior of Europe (210). When the war abruptly ended, swaths of broke and demobilizing Europe faced starvation. Anticipating havoc, Wilson dispatched Hoover to lead the relief effort. With $100M Congressional appropriation, and the only agency with reliable shipping between nations, Hoover served as virtual ruler of the European economy. His knowledge of European politics/affairs covered for Wilson’s ignorance (216). When the UK and France backed out of food purchases leaving the US with $500M in supplies, he (outside the law) sold them to Germany & Central Europe (convincing himself it kept those countries from sliding into Bolshevism (218)).
Hoover was distraught over the Treaty of Versailles, thinking the punitive terms would lead to the failure of Germany’s new representative government & kill Germany’s industry thereby damaging American and European recovery (221). Despite supporting the League of Nations, his relationship with Wilson ended when Wilson ignored his recommendation to accept reasonable Congressional reservations to the treaty. Many argued Hoover, not Wilson should have won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Despite his appeal as a progressive and practical man of business free of partisan baggage, he disdained campaigning and had no party or political machinery. He naively assumed he would be drafted into office. He desired to be Sec of State, but Harding offered him Commerce, which he accepted on condition he could expand its purview (cutting into responsibilities of other Cabinet members). While Harding’s “return to normalcy” left little room for grand ambitions, Hoover leveraged his post to exert oversight of the entire US economy (254). As the economy shifted to mass production, he thrilled at the prospect of carrying wartime spirit & efficiency into peacetime. He ejected political hacks and introduced a professional staff, collected and made Commerce the hub of reliable economic statistics (later OMB), pushed for common national standards (light sockets, etc), fielded his own foreign service to promote business (annoying State Dept), set national traffic and aviation safety standards (eventually to become FAA), and licensed radio stations/frequencies (later the FCC) . During the depression of 1921, he hosted a conference on unemployment promoting novel ideas like counter-cyclical public works projects (262-3). He negotiated the Colorado River Compact.
Harding’s death and emergence of Coolidge undermined his plan to run in 1924 (287). Numerous scandals broke shortly after Harding’s death. Though not involved, Hoover’s reach into everything threatened his reputation. The economy booming, Coolidge was elected and Hoover remained in Commerce (though with less influence than under Harding). Though he favored small government, he found Coolidge too laissez faire. He clashed with Mellon (Treasury) and Strong (Fed), arguing that low interest rates (intended to keep the UK on the Gold Standard) were overheating the economy (319).
In the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, Coolidge sat still. Six governors asked specifically for Hoover to lead a rescue effort and Coolidge relented (329). He fundraised thousands (Cal gave him no funds), marshalled thousands of volunteers, built a small fleet of boats, and built 150 Red Cross refugee camps. After 60 days of non-stop work, he was again a national hero (333). Coolidge grieving over the death of his son and annoyed with Hoover the “Wonder Boy,” chose not to run again. Hoover easily won the GOP nomination and the national election in a landslide (360).
He stocked his cabinet with competent professionals, not career politicians (365). All like-minded administrators, he set himself up to be insulated from the people. Despite campaigning on a decade of GOP-led prosperity, he was worried about the economy and put pressure on banks to tamp down stock speculation (376). He called Congress into special session to pass a farm relief bill and limited agricultural tariffs, opening the floodgates of Congressmen looking to protect their manufacturing constituencies too (397). Having forsaken the dirty politics of patronage and not cultivating the savvy of a career politician, he had few means of keeping legislators in line (402). The stock market crashed in 1929 and he moved immediately to implement his countercyclical ideas pledging $4B to public works (408-412). Having campaigned on limited tariffs, he couldn’t veto the bloated Smoot-Hawley tariff bill in 1930 (415). Exiled from power for so long, the DNC retooled attacking him in an unprecedented manner, painting him as incompetent and popularizing the “Hooverville” moniker (420). Having won on his own & determined to rise above partisan politics, he lost support of his demoralized party (422). After a midterm beatdown, the GOP kept both houses of Congress, but only nominally.
After his initial spending & believing the crisis was contained, he vetoed the Muscle Shoals Dam alienating allies in Congress. Fearful of socialist revolution gripping half of world (Nazis, Commies, etc), he sought to preserve American liberty and limited government (433). Prohibition battles continued to divide the GOP. Recognizing Europe’s WWI debt was partially responsible for the Depression, he proposed a bold moratorium on payments but France undermined the deal sparking another round of bank failures (452). A month after Hoover rolled out a voluntary campaign for unemployment relief, FDR announced his state-funded program (458). His neglect of the GOP drained its enthusiasm to fight in the election. In Sept ’31, UK dropped off the Gold Standard sparking a liquidity crisis of catastrophic proportions (463). In a major miscalculation (assuming the private sector would be hostile to Federal intrusion), he asked big banks to bail out weaker ones (like in Panic of 1907), but they balked (why risk their balance sheets when we have a Federal Reserve?) (466). He persisted and the crisis passed. Having run up deficits, he reversed course and raised taxes and cut spending to balance the budget, harsh medicine during such a Depression (472).
After a 4th false dawn, Hoover’s bank plan fell thru as banks were too cautious to loan money. With tax receipts plummeting and public spending at record highs, the deficit approached $2B (477). He appealed to Congress for a full range of reforms (deposit insurance, splitting investment and commercial banking, and a Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) to lend public funds to banks). The RFC failed to stabilize banking because Congress insisted on publicizing who received loans (518). Hoover was trying to fight the disease, ignoring the symptoms (average joe suffering) and was accused of bailing out Wall Street (480).
Conventional wisdom was that FDR was the Dem version of Harding, full of half-baked ideas (495). Shrewd and ruthless, FDR ignored the international aspect and laid the entire blame for the Depression on the “slow and tentative” Hoover. His humanitarian record forgotten, FDR painted him as an uncaring villain. Based on contemporary newspaper articles, the author argues that MacArthur’s treatment of WWI vets (Bonus Army) was not a decisive factor in the campaign (501). Hoover worked to stop another round of bank failures, he reached out to president-elect FDR (who deliberately ignored him) and Congress shut down early. FDR’s delay caused 30 states to close banks, deepening the crisis but building political capital for his first 100 days (520-1).
A national punching bag, he was lonely and isolated. FDR tried to scandalize his predecessor (despite a squeaky clean record) heightening his paranoia & hatred for FDR (534). He was horrified by FDR’s partisanship (abusing power/money to forge a durable Dem coalition). FDR made RFC loans confidential, taking credit for the rebound. FDR passed Glass-Stegall (reforms proposed by Hoover). Where Hoover dabbled in Federal action, FDR shot the moon (TVA, CCC, PWA, etc) (537). He thought the New Deal a muddle of uncoordinated adventures on a scale and with a coercive nature that was dangerous to liberty and checks and balances. While FDR presided over 6 years of Depression (to Hoover’s 3) with no end in sight, Hoover continued to be blamed (566). He believed FDR was backing the country into WWII with lend-lease. Lou died in 1944. He condemned use of the atomic bomb on women & children (580). Accused of being an isolationist and “appeaser”, he condemned the double standard of giving Stalin a “sphere of influence” (581).
In a bravura performance, he chaired Truman’s Famine Emergency Committee. He advocated aid to Europe but was not seriously consulted on the Marshall Plan. He chaired two Hoover Commissions for Truman/Ike to streamline the executive branch bloated by FDR’s numerous overlapping agencies (586). A liberal (in the classical sense), he embraced the conservative label. He approved of the UN, but not to admitting communist states. Hoover’s worldview died when Ike defeated Taft (595). JFK asked him to chair the Peace Corp. He died in 1964.
February 14, 2018
Wow. Where do I begin with a brief but reflective review of this work. At 769 pages, it is not a light read. And despite what the Wall Street Journal identified as "easy to read", I found the book to be more encyclopedic in nature.
I must confess that I knew little of Hoover's life prior to reading this work. I found the background detail to be incredibly well researched, and I'm one step closer to being a Hoover scholar after reading the book. Whyte starts out on a course of chronological format and starts, as you would expect, with details of "Bert's" early years (including a history in Newberg, Oregon - a town just 90 miles from where I sit writing this review).
Hoover's is the classic "land of opportunity" story and Whyte proceeds to detail every step of the former president's life and career. I found it particularly interesting to see how Hoover helped to shape the entire Republican party plank for the first half of the twentieth century. Excelling at creating order out of complex situations, he applied those skills to all aspects of his career and his presidency.
That Hoover was clearly more of an "introverted" personality was also striking to me as I followed along with the author's telling of this president's life. One thinks that a personality of gregariousness and conviviality need be present to really succeed in politics. Hoover seemed most comfortable when he was organizational leader, rather than leader of the free world.
Will Rogers' assessment seems to be astute, and was true for many years to come after the humorist wrote that line. While Hoover did step in to a difficult time (with prohibition being one of the chief blames for the economic doldrums that took hold in 1929), he did take some successful initiatives that were continued under different labels by FDR in his terms.
Other interesting aspects marked Hoover's time in office. For instance, Hoover will always be known as the unassuming star of AT&T's television technology as it was demonstrated for the very first time on April 7, 1927.
To refrain from providing this important book a fifth star seems unfair in some ways. I only do so because of the granular level of detail that I found to be laborious reading at certain points.
I must confess that I knew little of Hoover's life prior to reading this work. I found the background detail to be incredibly well researched, and I'm one step closer to being a Hoover scholar after reading the book. Whyte starts out on a course of chronological format and starts, as you would expect, with details of "Bert's" early years (including a history in Newberg, Oregon - a town just 90 miles from where I sit writing this review).
Hoover's is the classic "land of opportunity" story and Whyte proceeds to detail every step of the former president's life and career. I found it particularly interesting to see how Hoover helped to shape the entire Republican party plank for the first half of the twentieth century. Excelling at creating order out of complex situations, he applied those skills to all aspects of his career and his presidency.
"Hoover was the great engineer, rationalizing an entire sector of the economy and teaching Americans to live more efficiently for their own good."
That Hoover was clearly more of an "introverted" personality was also striking to me as I followed along with the author's telling of this president's life. One thinks that a personality of gregariousness and conviviality need be present to really succeed in politics. Hoover seemed most comfortable when he was organizational leader, rather than leader of the free world.
"When a man is sick he calls a doctor," said Will Rogers, "but when the United States of America is sick they call for Herbert Hoover."
Will Rogers' assessment seems to be astute, and was true for many years to come after the humorist wrote that line. While Hoover did step in to a difficult time (with prohibition being one of the chief blames for the economic doldrums that took hold in 1929), he did take some successful initiatives that were continued under different labels by FDR in his terms.
Other interesting aspects marked Hoover's time in office. For instance, Hoover will always be known as the unassuming star of AT&T's television technology as it was demonstrated for the very first time on April 7, 1927.
To refrain from providing this important book a fifth star seems unfair in some ways. I only do so because of the granular level of detail that I found to be laborious reading at certain points.
November 16, 2019
Hoover. If you’re a reader of American history or presidential biographies and have skipped him because you thought him a weak, uninteresting president responsible for the Great Depression, you might be surprised at how important he is to American and world history. He might be the most brilliant person to ever hold the office. His contributions to the country are comparable to that of Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin. I came to this conclusion about halfway through the book, and, there it was, confirmed for me on page 301 that others have had similar thoughts. He wasn’t a great president, but he really couldn’t have been considering the hand that he was dealt. I’m convinced, though, that there isn’t anyone who would have made a better effort. The depression probably wasn’t solvable in four years. In fact, it continued far into FDR’s administration.
The author, obviously a Hoover fan, does a great job of explaining his professional and political successes and failures. Where he falls short is capturing the spirit of the 20’s, which was when Hoover was at the peak of his powers. All in all, a great read.
The author, obviously a Hoover fan, does a great job of explaining his professional and political successes and failures. Where he falls short is capturing the spirit of the 20’s, which was when Hoover was at the peak of his powers. All in all, a great read.
December 26, 2019
Hoover is one of those curious characters in American history that just seems to have faded right into the woodwork. That very absence of presence drove me to pick up this book. I've read hundreds and hundreds of works on American history and what I knew about Hoover could fit into a thimble.
This book changed all that. Whyte does a very good job laying out Hoover's hardscrabble Iowa youth, his rise in business, and his accidental backing into politics via WWI. When it comes to telling of Hoover's time as Commerce Secretary his skills fail him a bit, but he rises again when it comes time to tell the story of Hoover administration. What emerges is a much more nuanced picture, a much deeper portrait of a most capable and hard working administrator beset by the devil of the worst economic calamity this world has ever seen. The resulting historical injustice - Hoovervilles, etc. - are stripped bare and Hoover begins to rise in our estimation. By the time Whyte finishes setting him in contrast to FDR's record of essential irrelevance in the Great Depression himself we see Hoover standing straight and tall in America history again.
It's not a perfect work. For entire chapters Whyte's pen seems to lose its way, as in the time already mentioned while Hoover was at Commerce, and again during Hoover's post-presidential career. But those aside, this is a most valuable work. Like the best archeology, it throws away the accumulated rubbish of time and sets history in its proper light again.
Read it, and see if it doesn't change your mind about Hoover. I dare you.
This book changed all that. Whyte does a very good job laying out Hoover's hardscrabble Iowa youth, his rise in business, and his accidental backing into politics via WWI. When it comes to telling of Hoover's time as Commerce Secretary his skills fail him a bit, but he rises again when it comes time to tell the story of Hoover administration. What emerges is a much more nuanced picture, a much deeper portrait of a most capable and hard working administrator beset by the devil of the worst economic calamity this world has ever seen. The resulting historical injustice - Hoovervilles, etc. - are stripped bare and Hoover begins to rise in our estimation. By the time Whyte finishes setting him in contrast to FDR's record of essential irrelevance in the Great Depression himself we see Hoover standing straight and tall in America history again.
It's not a perfect work. For entire chapters Whyte's pen seems to lose its way, as in the time already mentioned while Hoover was at Commerce, and again during Hoover's post-presidential career. But those aside, this is a most valuable work. Like the best archeology, it throws away the accumulated rubbish of time and sets history in its proper light again.
Read it, and see if it doesn't change your mind about Hoover. I dare you.
May 2, 2021
Everyone should read a book about Hoover not just to learn about this complex and, now divisive, President, but also because his work in Europe during the First World War is one of the noblest acts any citizen has done for strangers in another land.
April 30, 2020
Seldom is my impression of a public figure transformed so completely by single text. Whyte provides an honest and informative account of Hoover’s terrifically interesting life, while avoiding the common biographer’s pitfall of hagiography. Hoover happens to be present for many of the early twentieth century’s pivotal events, such that his biography is not only the story of a man but the story of the decades he passed through. Following his journey from the Boxer Rebellion to JFK’s election, events that are often presented as distant beads upon a string and pulled together into the tapestry of a single lifetime, placed in a continuity rarely captured in broad histories of the period.
Hoover himself is a fascinating character — above all earnest and competent, yet at times bitter and hypocritical. His devotion to evidence based leadership was entirely absent from my perception of him from common schoolhouse history. In each of those texts, he is portrayed as merely a bumbling pre-amble to the economic prowess of FDR, rather than an intellectual giant, regardless of your alignment with his policy goals.
Perhaps the most curious point in his life comes during his post presidential conversion to conservatism in a direct about-face from his former progressive positions. To the best of my deduction, his later political alignment stemmed from personal animus toward FDR, rather than a concrete set of policy objectives. His story serves to highlight how the social microstructure of high level operators can shape the decisions of whole political superstructures, however small and personal the inciting divides or affinities.
Whyte’s recount is riveting in the first three quarters, but drags considerably in Hoover’s post presidential period.
Hoover himself is a fascinating character — above all earnest and competent, yet at times bitter and hypocritical. His devotion to evidence based leadership was entirely absent from my perception of him from common schoolhouse history. In each of those texts, he is portrayed as merely a bumbling pre-amble to the economic prowess of FDR, rather than an intellectual giant, regardless of your alignment with his policy goals.
Perhaps the most curious point in his life comes during his post presidential conversion to conservatism in a direct about-face from his former progressive positions. To the best of my deduction, his later political alignment stemmed from personal animus toward FDR, rather than a concrete set of policy objectives. His story serves to highlight how the social microstructure of high level operators can shape the decisions of whole political superstructures, however small and personal the inciting divides or affinities.
Whyte’s recount is riveting in the first three quarters, but drags considerably in Hoover’s post presidential period.
April 29, 2020
This book is one of the best presidential biographies I've ever read. Herbert Hoover is one of the most tragic figures in American history. His life before the presidency was one of the most consequential and impressive in modern world history. While some of his actions as president deserve criticism, it is unfortunate that few recall Hoover's superhuman efforts that saved millions of lives during and in the aftermath of World War I and his tremendous contributions as Commerce secretary. His post-presidential career also deserves praise. It is forgotten that his efforts to reorganize the federal government under Truman and Eisenhower as well as his relief work after World War II had largely rehabilitated his image. As the author notes, Robert Kennedy mentioned Hoover as one of the Americans he respected the most. Men on the left, like Walter Lippmann, and on the right, like William F. Buckley, all praised Hoover for his service to the country.
September 20, 2020
Poor Herbert Hoover. The dude has been historically overshadowed by one of our nation’s most transformative colorful presidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt. It seems “Bertie’s” national monument is to be associated with the Great Depression shanty towns that were called Hoovervilles. In all the history books I’ve read over the decades, his cameos typically described him as grim, bullheaded but remarkably successful in business and altruism. Mr. Whyte’s Hoover biography comes to the rescue to give a full-bodied account of a man who was more than the scapegoat for the Great Depression.
Parentless at an early age, Hoover did not have a Daddy Warbucks like Little Orphan Annie did. His childhood was one of hard work, hard life, and hard guardians. From very humble beginnings, Mr. Whyte explains how our nation’s thirty-first president got himself through college and wormed his way into a series of challenging jobs in the mineral extraction business. He covers Hoover’s youthful adventures in Australia’s outback and China’s jungles while in the service of his employers. The book shows how through a series of business adventures and large humanitarian efforts, Hoover became a world-renowned indispensable problem solver for private companies and industrialized countries including Germany, France, Britain, and the United States. Hoover was a boatload of contradictions. His business years, especially during his twenties and thirties were ones of unethical, ill-mannered, and inhumane actions, but his humanitarian efforts during and after World War I saved millions of lives. ‘Hoover’ shows how the businessman with no party affiliation drifted into politics. It also covers such events as his impressive work during the presidencies of Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and his own presidency. Hoover was a technocrat who was uneasy in crowds; hated campaigning, especially glad-handing with voters; and had the charisma of Squidward from SpongeBob SquarePants. Mr. Whyte explains Hoover’s efforts to pull America out of the Great Depression and the reasons his relationship with Franklin Roosevelt was one of mutual dislike. The author shows how Hoover spent much of his time after losing the presidency in trying to redeem his reputation. Mr. Whyte’s explanation of the causes the Great Depression including Congress’s and Wall Street’s culpability as well as Western Europe’s festering distrusts of each other are consistent with other works I’ve reading explaining the events. It also explains the social mindset of the times and attitudes about the federal government’s roll. The president did receive brownie points from me for being a big time dog lover. The book includes 14 pages of black-and-white photos.
The author writes in a clear appealing manner. However, I was surprised that the Great Influenza of 1918 warranted only a brief mention in one sentence of the biography. That virus didn’t friggin’ mess around, killing up to 100 million people. I cannot imagine that it had little impact upon even the workaholic Hoover beyond one of his sons losing partial hearing from it. Mr. Whyte’s dismissive explanation of FDR selecting Truman as his vice president also surprised me and was off-base. The author’s characterizations of Franklin Roosevelt are tailored in broad-brushed manner that does more to place Hoover in a positive light compared to FDR. I’d suggest reading a biography about Franklin Roosevelt for a more detailed examination of his actions. I found ‘FDR’ by Jean Edward Smith to be excellent. It’s clear the author feels President Hoover has been unfairly maligned by history and hopes his book gives a more balanced account. Please don’t misunderstand me, the work is not a hagiography. Mr. Whyte does point Hoover’s personal liabilities and missteps. I’m probably nitpicking over what is a solid biography. Herbert Hoover had a large permanent effect on how the United States functions even today. The author gives a well-balanced presentation. I learned a great deal about our thirty-first president.
(P.S. Because of our family’s unique background, it was very clear to me that Herbert Hoover and his wife Lou both had the hallmarks of high-functioning autism, also known as Asperger’s Syndrome. It appears the author is not familiar with the condition. I also came across the same situation while reading biographies about Steven Jobs, Charles Schultz and Charles Lindbergh.)
Parentless at an early age, Hoover did not have a Daddy Warbucks like Little Orphan Annie did. His childhood was one of hard work, hard life, and hard guardians. From very humble beginnings, Mr. Whyte explains how our nation’s thirty-first president got himself through college and wormed his way into a series of challenging jobs in the mineral extraction business. He covers Hoover’s youthful adventures in Australia’s outback and China’s jungles while in the service of his employers. The book shows how through a series of business adventures and large humanitarian efforts, Hoover became a world-renowned indispensable problem solver for private companies and industrialized countries including Germany, France, Britain, and the United States. Hoover was a boatload of contradictions. His business years, especially during his twenties and thirties were ones of unethical, ill-mannered, and inhumane actions, but his humanitarian efforts during and after World War I saved millions of lives. ‘Hoover’ shows how the businessman with no party affiliation drifted into politics. It also covers such events as his impressive work during the presidencies of Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and his own presidency. Hoover was a technocrat who was uneasy in crowds; hated campaigning, especially glad-handing with voters; and had the charisma of Squidward from SpongeBob SquarePants. Mr. Whyte explains Hoover’s efforts to pull America out of the Great Depression and the reasons his relationship with Franklin Roosevelt was one of mutual dislike. The author shows how Hoover spent much of his time after losing the presidency in trying to redeem his reputation. Mr. Whyte’s explanation of the causes the Great Depression including Congress’s and Wall Street’s culpability as well as Western Europe’s festering distrusts of each other are consistent with other works I’ve reading explaining the events. It also explains the social mindset of the times and attitudes about the federal government’s roll. The president did receive brownie points from me for being a big time dog lover. The book includes 14 pages of black-and-white photos.
The author writes in a clear appealing manner. However, I was surprised that the Great Influenza of 1918 warranted only a brief mention in one sentence of the biography. That virus didn’t friggin’ mess around, killing up to 100 million people. I cannot imagine that it had little impact upon even the workaholic Hoover beyond one of his sons losing partial hearing from it. Mr. Whyte’s dismissive explanation of FDR selecting Truman as his vice president also surprised me and was off-base. The author’s characterizations of Franklin Roosevelt are tailored in broad-brushed manner that does more to place Hoover in a positive light compared to FDR. I’d suggest reading a biography about Franklin Roosevelt for a more detailed examination of his actions. I found ‘FDR’ by Jean Edward Smith to be excellent. It’s clear the author feels President Hoover has been unfairly maligned by history and hopes his book gives a more balanced account. Please don’t misunderstand me, the work is not a hagiography. Mr. Whyte does point Hoover’s personal liabilities and missteps. I’m probably nitpicking over what is a solid biography. Herbert Hoover had a large permanent effect on how the United States functions even today. The author gives a well-balanced presentation. I learned a great deal about our thirty-first president.
(P.S. Because of our family’s unique background, it was very clear to me that Herbert Hoover and his wife Lou both had the hallmarks of high-functioning autism, also known as Asperger’s Syndrome. It appears the author is not familiar with the condition. I also came across the same situation while reading biographies about Steven Jobs, Charles Schultz and Charles Lindbergh.)
October 18, 2022
This is a well written, very informative biography of the nation's thirty-first president, who, regardless of what one might think about his philosophy and policies, did lead a pretty extraordinary life. The author takes quite a bit of time to focus on his formative years in Iowa, becoming an orphan as a young boy, growing up with relatives on the west coast, and attending the new university created with money provided by Leland Stanford. Hoover's career as a mining engineer is examined as well, but the book really becomes interesting when World War I begins and Hoover is asked by President Wilson to head the food relief efforts in Belgium. I really appreciated the details of Hoover's work during the war, as the challenges that were posed by the challenge of feeding people in a nation occupied by Germany with food donated by Germany's enemies. His tenure as Secretary of Commerce was tremendously successful (what other Commerce Secretary was ever considered a candidate for president?), and he entered the presidency in 1929 with a virtually unmatched record for public service. The book obviously spends a lot of time on Hoover's presidency, where he had to rise to the challenge of dealing with the unprecedented calamity now known as the Great Depression. The book does a great job showing how Hoover disagreed with a lot of his Republican Party's economic policies in the 1920's (he apparently even warned against a stock market crash), and many of his programs were previews of policies that became part of the New Deal. While the author went to great lengths to be even-handed when it came to rendering a verdict on Hoover's policies, compared with Roosevelt's, at times he seemed to accept at face value Hoover's analysis of the New Deal. I was also disappointed that more thought wasn't given to how Hoover's personal abilities (or inabilities) to "connect" with others undermined his image as a real "leader" during the crisis of the 1930's. The book shows that Hoover, as a young adult often treated others, even family and colleagues, very poorly. But those character traits are not referenced later in the book when his inability to connect with the American people is under examination. There were also a number of factual errors made in the books treatment of the events of World War II, which might have been caught with better editing. In any event, it is a book that I am pleased to have read. As I have always told my students, Hoover, despite his political adversaries' claim that he was a "do-nothing" president, was truly a progressive who was willing to go to unprecedented lengths to soften the impact of the Great Depression.
September 3, 2022
There’s something about a 600-page biography that makes it seem like it will never end! Despite running into that feeling a couple times, I stuck with it and I’m glad I did. I didn’t really know much about Hoover except that the Great Depression, if not exactly his fault, was definitely his failure. Of course that’s simplistic but it sums up what I knew. Of course he was a much more complex man with a much more nuanced career. He certainly had his ups and downs but during his humanitarian and political careers, he was committed to improving the human condition. He believed in the abilities of the American people to continue to move forward, to do better and be better. He was a man of his times, with its attendant prejudices; this is not glossed over. In whatever endeavor he undertook, he wanted complete control. He was a manager and a numbers man more than a people person. He was also hypersensitive. But there’s a a lot more to him than the legacy of Hooverville. And while he tried to tame the Depression for 3 years, Roosevelt struggled with it for 6. An interesting man in interesting and changing times.
August 29, 2024
A president I barely knew existed but now feel intimately acquainted with his story, personality, and accomplishments — exactly what a good biography should do!
Buddy read audiobook with my economist husband — super fun to discuss together.
I would read another biography from this author. He presents a well-rounded, comprehensive picture of Herbert Hoover as a person, a humanitarian, and a politician. He doesn't shy away from Hoover's flaws yet also sheds light on his lesser known heroics and his fight to bring America and Europe through two World Wars and the Great Depression.
I had a vaguely negative impression of Hoover before this book, and now my perspective is much more informed — and much more positive. Hoover had his faults, no question.
But he also showed incredible foresight and efficient leadership skills in roles that I sincerely think would have crushed pretty much anyone else.
Well done, Kenneth Whyte.
Buddy read audiobook with my economist husband — super fun to discuss together.
I would read another biography from this author. He presents a well-rounded, comprehensive picture of Herbert Hoover as a person, a humanitarian, and a politician. He doesn't shy away from Hoover's flaws yet also sheds light on his lesser known heroics and his fight to bring America and Europe through two World Wars and the Great Depression.
I had a vaguely negative impression of Hoover before this book, and now my perspective is much more informed — and much more positive. Hoover had his faults, no question.
But he also showed incredible foresight and efficient leadership skills in roles that I sincerely think would have crushed pretty much anyone else.
Well done, Kenneth Whyte.
January 31, 2019
I have to admit that my knowledge of Herbert Hoover was deficient. My HS History classes basically taught that he caused the depression, did little to fix it, and we were saved by the Fair Deal of FDR. My college American Presidents teacher was considerably pro FDR and Herbert Hoover didn’t get much time. Again. It was he caused the depression, could not understand the populace’s suffering.
This book provides a fair balanced and thorough examination of the man, the president and the ex-president. What an amazing life! The book is incredibly well written and and is an entertaining read. I recommend it to anyone who likes history. I recommend it to anyone who was taught what I was about Hoover. I had no idea about what this man had accomplished before becoming President. He had an incredible life, before, during and after his service as President.
As Archie Bunker sang “...we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again....”
This book provides a fair balanced and thorough examination of the man, the president and the ex-president. What an amazing life! The book is incredibly well written and and is an entertaining read. I recommend it to anyone who likes history. I recommend it to anyone who was taught what I was about Hoover. I had no idea about what this man had accomplished before becoming President. He had an incredible life, before, during and after his service as President.
As Archie Bunker sang “...we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again....”
January 16, 2019
Kenneth Whyte sets out, successfully, to debunk the view that Herbert Hoover was an uncaring and unimaginative president who let the country drift deeper and deeper into depression because of a rigid ideological opposition to the role of government as a problem solver.
But Hoover was a poor politician. As a technocrat who disdained the political process, he wanted to hand problems over to experts. He didn’t realize the importance of inspiring his party, Congress, and ultimately the American people, by outlining how he planned to turn the country around as the United States entered depression.
Hoover was an internationalist who understood that the US by the 20th Century was part of a world economy. As early as 1928 he worried about Federal Reserve interest rate policy that was dangerously fueling stock market speculation.
In the immediate aftermath of the 1929 stock market crash, Hoover supported modest government intervention in the economic crisis which included an interest rate cut and a 1% cut in corporate and personal taxes as well as jawboning business leaders to increase capital investment, maintain employment, and avoid wage cuts. At first, these seemed to stabilize the economy and by the summer of 1930 there were signs of economic recovery.
This was only the first of several sputters during Hoover’s administration, where things seemed briefly to get better only to get worse. In October 1931, Hoover got Senate support to inject more capital into the Federal Farm Loan System, to get the twelve Federal Reserve Banks to work with banks in their regions to ensure liquidity, and to cut taxes to promote investment even though this meant increasing the Federal deficit. He proposed a Reconstruction Finance Corporation to lend to financial institutions.
Hoover was constrained by his Treasury Secretary, Andrew Mellon, and the undersecretary, Ogden Mills, who were very conservative and dedicated to the gold standard. They opposed debt relief for European governments. When Britain left the gold standard, Hoover reversed policies of monetary easing, raised taxes, cut spending, and pursued a balanced budget at just the wrong time. The Fed could have printed more money to support business activity. Instead, these policies provoked deflation and killed the modest nascent recovery.
Franklin Roosevelt, by contrast, attacked Hoover with prosecutorial zeal, listing specifically Hoover’s failures. Once he had defeated Hoover but before he took office, FDR was determined not to adopt any of Hoover’s recommendations even if this meant deepening depression. Thus he ignored Hoover’s proposals to prevent loan foreclosures, measures to protect bank depositors, and calls to renegotiate European debt in return for disarmament agreements (which potentially could have avoided another world war).
Many of FDR’s programs had roots in Hoover proposals. The difference was FDR’s political skills, his ability to communicate with ordinary people, and his willingness to engage in bold, persistent experimentation. FDR’s civil works administration put five times as many people to work as Hoover’s more tentative program.
FDR, too, thought he had licked the Depression only to have the US economy backslide in 1937. This was the result of a decision to tighten money supply and cut Federal spending.
Whyte provides the biographical background to help us understand Hoover’s strengths and weaknesses. Hoover was orphaned at an early age and spent adolescence with an uncle who provided little emotional support. Yet he became a member of Stanford University’s first graduating class and quickly made a fortune in mining in China, Australia, and South Africa. London was his base as he pursued his mining career and gave him an international perspective.
Hoover achieved international renown in the period before the US entered World War I by organizing relief for the starving citizens of Belgium. After the war, President Harding appointed him to be Secretary of Commerce, where he instituted the collection of data on consumer prices, unemployment rate, industrial output and financial reserves. In a 1921 downturn Hoover stepped up Federal government actions to stimulate the economy.
Unusually for the time, Hoover also studied the global financial situation as the US replaced Britain to dominate world markets. He recognized that long term American prosperity required stable currencies and global trade. He promoted loans to Germany and adjustment to the pace and scale of German war reparations.
Hoover’s success, Whyte tells us, was based upon an orderly and retentive mind, implacable energy, and strong self regard. However, says the author, this was wrapped in a lusterless package, void of magnetism. Moreover, Hoover was highly sensitive to criticism and held grudges especially against FDR. For the most part, he is remembered for these weaknesses rather than for his strengths.
In summary, this was a man with all the qualifications to address the Great Depression, but without the political skills or personality to inspire Americans as FDR did. As a consequence history has not been kind, focusing on his weaknesses but ignoring his accomplishments and strengths. Whyte has written a balanced biography presenting a multidimensional man both talented and flawed.
But Hoover was a poor politician. As a technocrat who disdained the political process, he wanted to hand problems over to experts. He didn’t realize the importance of inspiring his party, Congress, and ultimately the American people, by outlining how he planned to turn the country around as the United States entered depression.
Hoover was an internationalist who understood that the US by the 20th Century was part of a world economy. As early as 1928 he worried about Federal Reserve interest rate policy that was dangerously fueling stock market speculation.
In the immediate aftermath of the 1929 stock market crash, Hoover supported modest government intervention in the economic crisis which included an interest rate cut and a 1% cut in corporate and personal taxes as well as jawboning business leaders to increase capital investment, maintain employment, and avoid wage cuts. At first, these seemed to stabilize the economy and by the summer of 1930 there were signs of economic recovery.
This was only the first of several sputters during Hoover’s administration, where things seemed briefly to get better only to get worse. In October 1931, Hoover got Senate support to inject more capital into the Federal Farm Loan System, to get the twelve Federal Reserve Banks to work with banks in their regions to ensure liquidity, and to cut taxes to promote investment even though this meant increasing the Federal deficit. He proposed a Reconstruction Finance Corporation to lend to financial institutions.
Hoover was constrained by his Treasury Secretary, Andrew Mellon, and the undersecretary, Ogden Mills, who were very conservative and dedicated to the gold standard. They opposed debt relief for European governments. When Britain left the gold standard, Hoover reversed policies of monetary easing, raised taxes, cut spending, and pursued a balanced budget at just the wrong time. The Fed could have printed more money to support business activity. Instead, these policies provoked deflation and killed the modest nascent recovery.
Franklin Roosevelt, by contrast, attacked Hoover with prosecutorial zeal, listing specifically Hoover’s failures. Once he had defeated Hoover but before he took office, FDR was determined not to adopt any of Hoover’s recommendations even if this meant deepening depression. Thus he ignored Hoover’s proposals to prevent loan foreclosures, measures to protect bank depositors, and calls to renegotiate European debt in return for disarmament agreements (which potentially could have avoided another world war).
Many of FDR’s programs had roots in Hoover proposals. The difference was FDR’s political skills, his ability to communicate with ordinary people, and his willingness to engage in bold, persistent experimentation. FDR’s civil works administration put five times as many people to work as Hoover’s more tentative program.
FDR, too, thought he had licked the Depression only to have the US economy backslide in 1937. This was the result of a decision to tighten money supply and cut Federal spending.
Whyte provides the biographical background to help us understand Hoover’s strengths and weaknesses. Hoover was orphaned at an early age and spent adolescence with an uncle who provided little emotional support. Yet he became a member of Stanford University’s first graduating class and quickly made a fortune in mining in China, Australia, and South Africa. London was his base as he pursued his mining career and gave him an international perspective.
Hoover achieved international renown in the period before the US entered World War I by organizing relief for the starving citizens of Belgium. After the war, President Harding appointed him to be Secretary of Commerce, where he instituted the collection of data on consumer prices, unemployment rate, industrial output and financial reserves. In a 1921 downturn Hoover stepped up Federal government actions to stimulate the economy.
Unusually for the time, Hoover also studied the global financial situation as the US replaced Britain to dominate world markets. He recognized that long term American prosperity required stable currencies and global trade. He promoted loans to Germany and adjustment to the pace and scale of German war reparations.
Hoover’s success, Whyte tells us, was based upon an orderly and retentive mind, implacable energy, and strong self regard. However, says the author, this was wrapped in a lusterless package, void of magnetism. Moreover, Hoover was highly sensitive to criticism and held grudges especially against FDR. For the most part, he is remembered for these weaknesses rather than for his strengths.
In summary, this was a man with all the qualifications to address the Great Depression, but without the political skills or personality to inspire Americans as FDR did. As a consequence history has not been kind, focusing on his weaknesses but ignoring his accomplishments and strengths. Whyte has written a balanced biography presenting a multidimensional man both talented and flawed.
December 27, 2023
Hoover is widely believed to have been responsible for the great depression. It began on his watch. And his having been a classic limited-government conservative exposes him to charges of inappropriate inactivity in response to its onset. On the other hand, biographer Kenneth Whyte assigns a lot of blame to FDR, who as president elect obstructed many things Hoover tried to do and whose New Deal accomplished little as late as 1937.
I don’t have the economics chops to resolve the competing claims. But it is clear that Herbert Hoover was an extraordinary human being.
He initially became prominent as a mining engineer, a can-do dynamo. But he really soared during WWI, in response to famine in Belgium. Germany wanted no responsibility for feeding the population it conquered (except for those willing to work for the German war effort). Britain opposed famine relief because it would strengthen an enemy-controlled population. Hoover, as a private philanthropist, refused to take “no” for answer. He exerted amazing efforts to go back and forth between Germany and England to get them to cooperate in the extraordinary food-distribution program he designed and implemented. I couldn’t possibly summarize it; you just have to read the book to appreciate what he accomplished.
Those efforts insinuated him into the Wilson Administration as we entered the war and afterward as the Versailles treaty was negotiated. Unfortunately, the parties didn’t heed Hoover’s warnings that its terms were much too harsh and would further destabilize Europe. Later, as Commerce Secretary under Harding-Coolidge, he built that backwater agency into something significant. Sarcastically dubbed “Wonder Boy,” by Coolidge, who began seeing him as a political threat, he naturally succeeded him in the White House.
And there, Hoover met his match. Hostile geographic formations, the rough and tumble world of global mining in the late 1800s-early 1900s, going back and forth between warring nations to feed a population bth were willing to let starve, building a Commerce Department . . . all that proved nothing compared to trying to get things done in Congress. His biggest setback was the Smoot Hawley tariff, which went way beyond the limited tariffs he sought and, arguably, stifled global trade such as to contribute to the eventual economic collapse. And, of course, back then, nobody had anything close to our modern understanding of monetary policy. Add inHoover’s opposition to all-our Prohibition repeal and see a much diminished reputation by the time voters booted him from office in 1932.
But he gradually regained stature over time, as the then-only living ex-President. He re-entered the national scene after WWII when Truman consulted him on feeding post-war Europe. By the time he died in the 1960s, he was again respected by those in the know if not yet the general public. But by now, his broader reputation is recovering.
Whyte’s biography of this exceptional man is well worth reading.
I don’t have the economics chops to resolve the competing claims. But it is clear that Herbert Hoover was an extraordinary human being.
He initially became prominent as a mining engineer, a can-do dynamo. But he really soared during WWI, in response to famine in Belgium. Germany wanted no responsibility for feeding the population it conquered (except for those willing to work for the German war effort). Britain opposed famine relief because it would strengthen an enemy-controlled population. Hoover, as a private philanthropist, refused to take “no” for answer. He exerted amazing efforts to go back and forth between Germany and England to get them to cooperate in the extraordinary food-distribution program he designed and implemented. I couldn’t possibly summarize it; you just have to read the book to appreciate what he accomplished.
Those efforts insinuated him into the Wilson Administration as we entered the war and afterward as the Versailles treaty was negotiated. Unfortunately, the parties didn’t heed Hoover’s warnings that its terms were much too harsh and would further destabilize Europe. Later, as Commerce Secretary under Harding-Coolidge, he built that backwater agency into something significant. Sarcastically dubbed “Wonder Boy,” by Coolidge, who began seeing him as a political threat, he naturally succeeded him in the White House.
And there, Hoover met his match. Hostile geographic formations, the rough and tumble world of global mining in the late 1800s-early 1900s, going back and forth between warring nations to feed a population bth were willing to let starve, building a Commerce Department . . . all that proved nothing compared to trying to get things done in Congress. His biggest setback was the Smoot Hawley tariff, which went way beyond the limited tariffs he sought and, arguably, stifled global trade such as to contribute to the eventual economic collapse. And, of course, back then, nobody had anything close to our modern understanding of monetary policy. Add inHoover’s opposition to all-our Prohibition repeal and see a much diminished reputation by the time voters booted him from office in 1932.
But he gradually regained stature over time, as the then-only living ex-President. He re-entered the national scene after WWII when Truman consulted him on feeding post-war Europe. By the time he died in the 1960s, he was again respected by those in the know if not yet the general public. But by now, his broader reputation is recovering.
Whyte’s biography of this exceptional man is well worth reading.
October 9, 2021
An in-depth exploration of what Hoover did. Less so an insight into who he was.
Whyte's lengthy bio of Herbert Hoover does an admirable job of reminding the reader that the first President to have no prior elected or military service (Trump being the second) didn't pop up out of nowhere.
Instead, Whyte does a good job of tracing Hoover's rise through his engineering/mining practices to business prominence which placed him in a good position to manage privately-run civilian relief efforts during WWI. The scope of that massive undertaking is all the more impressive when you realize it was done entirely without gov't direction or intervention.
Popular history paints Hoover and FDR as polar opposites re gov't involvement in the economy and while that's informed in part by the FDR team's election slanders and Hoover's later turn into hyper staunch anti-new dealer, Hoover was clearly not opposed to using the federal gov't to effect change -- he straddled a midpoint between Coolidge's and FDR. Whereas Coolidge was reluctant to take ANY action and FDR took the Moon Knight approach ("Random bullshit, Go!"), Hoover was more measured in his approach.
Does Hoover deserve the blame for a worldwide depression that affected the entire global economy? Of course not. Hoover's natural tendencies are that some gov't involvement was warranted but too much would artificially hamper the market from recovering naturally. The fact that the country was on the upward swing by Summer of 1932 is some evidence that leaving things alone MAY have been the right approach. What we do know was that FDR's overcorrection and repeated interventions didn't work and has been shown to have extended the Depression and its effects for several more years. The fact that shanty towns in 1936(!) were still called Hoovervilles is shameful and emblematic of the combined incompetent and dishonest approach of FDR and his team.
The major critique of this biography is that while I now know a great deal about WHAT Hoover did, I am left with little sense of WHY he did it or even WHO he was. Outside of official speeches and documents, there's little in the way of contemporary primary sources showcasing Hoover's more unguarded thoughts/feelings. I can't really blame Whyte as those materials largely do not exists, but the reader is left to infer Hoover's motivations and intent from his official acts rather than from any long correspondence with his wife or children or even political compatriots. The result is a somewhat cold experience that fits with the caricature of Hoover as aloof republican businessman but feels incomplete.
Whyte's lengthy bio of Herbert Hoover does an admirable job of reminding the reader that the first President to have no prior elected or military service (Trump being the second) didn't pop up out of nowhere.
Instead, Whyte does a good job of tracing Hoover's rise through his engineering/mining practices to business prominence which placed him in a good position to manage privately-run civilian relief efforts during WWI. The scope of that massive undertaking is all the more impressive when you realize it was done entirely without gov't direction or intervention.
Popular history paints Hoover and FDR as polar opposites re gov't involvement in the economy and while that's informed in part by the FDR team's election slanders and Hoover's later turn into hyper staunch anti-new dealer, Hoover was clearly not opposed to using the federal gov't to effect change -- he straddled a midpoint between Coolidge's and FDR. Whereas Coolidge was reluctant to take ANY action and FDR took the Moon Knight approach ("Random bullshit, Go!"), Hoover was more measured in his approach.
Does Hoover deserve the blame for a worldwide depression that affected the entire global economy? Of course not. Hoover's natural tendencies are that some gov't involvement was warranted but too much would artificially hamper the market from recovering naturally. The fact that the country was on the upward swing by Summer of 1932 is some evidence that leaving things alone MAY have been the right approach. What we do know was that FDR's overcorrection and repeated interventions didn't work and has been shown to have extended the Depression and its effects for several more years. The fact that shanty towns in 1936(!) were still called Hoovervilles is shameful and emblematic of the combined incompetent and dishonest approach of FDR and his team.
The major critique of this biography is that while I now know a great deal about WHAT Hoover did, I am left with little sense of WHY he did it or even WHO he was. Outside of official speeches and documents, there's little in the way of contemporary primary sources showcasing Hoover's more unguarded thoughts/feelings. I can't really blame Whyte as those materials largely do not exists, but the reader is left to infer Hoover's motivations and intent from his official acts rather than from any long correspondence with his wife or children or even political compatriots. The result is a somewhat cold experience that fits with the caricature of Hoover as aloof republican businessman but feels incomplete.
May 27, 2025
Like most, i associate Herbert Hoover only with the depression and perhaps, with the extremely right-wing policies of the Hoover institute. So it was interesting to learn what a truly extraordinary man he was, a poor boy who became a great engineer and business founder who traveled around the world multiple times. He was a consequential man who was in key places at key times: he saw great needs and took incredible and effective initiatives that saved millions of people from starvation before and after WW2. He was foremost a diligent problem solver and a true humanitarian.
Unfortunately, his economic policy was not effective enough to avert the stock market crash nor to deal with its dire social effects quickly enough. Still, after reading this I can't help but admire the man and wonder how far we've fallen from the days of presidents who were also great persons: worthy of the office.
Unfortunately, his economic policy was not effective enough to avert the stock market crash nor to deal with its dire social effects quickly enough. Still, after reading this I can't help but admire the man and wonder how far we've fallen from the days of presidents who were also great persons: worthy of the office.
August 28, 2020
Being a liberal democratic I was the last person one would think would pick up a book about Herbert Hoover. But after hearing Mo Rocca talk about Hoover and this book on a podcast, I decided to read it. Hoover was an amazing man who accomplished more in his life than most people would in several lifetimes. His one mistake was his handling of the depression. I highly recommend anyone reading this book. Although long, it keeps you interested! I have a much higher regard for President Hoover and hope to make it to Iowa some day to visit his library and grave.
November 19, 2017
I didn’t know what to expect when I first started listening to this book, but after having finished all 28 hours, I have found this to be one of the best, most interesting books I have read in a long time.
Hoover was a great humanitarian who made a profound difference in the world over many decades.
I think everyone needs to reach this book!
Hoover was a great humanitarian who made a profound difference in the world over many decades.
I think everyone needs to reach this book!
February 3, 2022
I never learned much that was positive about Hoover. This book is well-written and well-detailed about the Era of Hoover. An interesting read. Great resource for research on the topic and / or term paper.
October 23, 2024
What comes to mind when you hear the name Herbert Hoover? Most likely it is “The Great Depression” as it certainly was for me until I read this excellent bio by Kenneth Whyte, who presents a very balanced narrative about this surprisingly successful man. Whyte touts Hoover’s accomplishments but does not hesitate to discuss shortcomings.
Hoover (‘Bertie’ or ‘Bert’), an orphaned Quaker at 9, showed amazing organizational/administrative skills as teen with his uncle’s land development company and entered the 1st class of Stanford, graduating with a degree in geology. “His Stanford career was an unbroken run of academic mediocrity.”
He began a 20 year mining career w/a prominent London based international mining company that sent him to Australia & China & made him a millionaire until WWI took much of his wealth.
Undeterred, Hoover poured his energy into humanitarian efforts, leading several organizations in helping Americans flee the WWI war zone, then aiding starving Belgians by persuading British & German leaders to make exception to their blockades so he could deliver food. He accompanied Wilson to the peace conference and headed up relief efforts for French and German civilians impacted by the war. Serving as Sec. of Commerce for Harding & Coolidge, he spearheaded response to great Mississippi flood of 1927, all of these efforts gaining him national & worldwide fame.
Whyte doesn’t hide the black marks in his life, even if he treads a little lightly over them: (1) breaking a non compete w/his London employer to start his own firm which prompted lawsuits settled out of court (2) racial beliefs in youth that Chinese were an inferior race and 1 white man equalled 2-3 blacks in working effort (3) he was a domineering boss with uncompromising need to run the show, losing his temper when his control was challenged (4) his lack of political experience failed to establish the necessary relationships with Congress to achieve sufficient legislative success in addressing the depression after 1929 stock market crash. Hoover quote on his presidential efforts after crash:”This job is nothing but a damned 20 ring circus, with hell breaking loose everywhere.”
Whyte says it was the 1932 presidential campaign that gave Hoover the reputation as the cause of the depression. FDR was relentless in attacking everything Hoover did and then refusing to adopt any Hoover suggestions between election day and inauguration day, despite implementing several Hoover proposals immediately upon taking office. This caused a riff between FDR & Hoover that lasted the rest of both mens’ lives. Of course, it has now become part of every presidential election to blame the incumbent President for economic problems when the reality is the President has little impact on the economy, positive or negative, unless he has Congressional support.
In truth, Hoover was caught in the international whirlwind of events that combined to bring about the crisis: Unrest in Germany as result of harsh reparations imposed at end of WWI, Great Britain’s leaving the gold standard & creating bank runs, wild stock speculation driven by too much margin investing in U.S. during the 1920’s , Hoover’s devotion to gold standard limiting U.S. money supply adjustments, a major Midwest & Southern drought that crushed U.S. farmers who then couldn’t pay their loans leading to widespread bank failures, & Congress’ reluctance to work with Hoover on solutions.
Post presidency, Hoover completed a move from his Republican progressive beliefs to conservative ones, helping to create what Whyte says was the beginning of the 20th century conservative movement, embraced by men like, Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell, & William F. Buckley Jr who wrote at Hoover’s death:
“Hoover’s conception of public service was about the purest thing to be seen in national politics. His only failure had been as a political dramatist. He had been unable to communicate to the people the true meaning of the mechanized welfarism which is a great semantical & economic imposture: the chimera, which is the demagogic mainstay of Liberal politics, that is is possible for the majority of Americans (a) to receive benefits from the federal govt. without (b) paying for them.”
Hoover (‘Bertie’ or ‘Bert’), an orphaned Quaker at 9, showed amazing organizational/administrative skills as teen with his uncle’s land development company and entered the 1st class of Stanford, graduating with a degree in geology. “His Stanford career was an unbroken run of academic mediocrity.”
He began a 20 year mining career w/a prominent London based international mining company that sent him to Australia & China & made him a millionaire until WWI took much of his wealth.
Undeterred, Hoover poured his energy into humanitarian efforts, leading several organizations in helping Americans flee the WWI war zone, then aiding starving Belgians by persuading British & German leaders to make exception to their blockades so he could deliver food. He accompanied Wilson to the peace conference and headed up relief efforts for French and German civilians impacted by the war. Serving as Sec. of Commerce for Harding & Coolidge, he spearheaded response to great Mississippi flood of 1927, all of these efforts gaining him national & worldwide fame.
Whyte doesn’t hide the black marks in his life, even if he treads a little lightly over them: (1) breaking a non compete w/his London employer to start his own firm which prompted lawsuits settled out of court (2) racial beliefs in youth that Chinese were an inferior race and 1 white man equalled 2-3 blacks in working effort (3) he was a domineering boss with uncompromising need to run the show, losing his temper when his control was challenged (4) his lack of political experience failed to establish the necessary relationships with Congress to achieve sufficient legislative success in addressing the depression after 1929 stock market crash. Hoover quote on his presidential efforts after crash:”This job is nothing but a damned 20 ring circus, with hell breaking loose everywhere.”
Whyte says it was the 1932 presidential campaign that gave Hoover the reputation as the cause of the depression. FDR was relentless in attacking everything Hoover did and then refusing to adopt any Hoover suggestions between election day and inauguration day, despite implementing several Hoover proposals immediately upon taking office. This caused a riff between FDR & Hoover that lasted the rest of both mens’ lives. Of course, it has now become part of every presidential election to blame the incumbent President for economic problems when the reality is the President has little impact on the economy, positive or negative, unless he has Congressional support.
In truth, Hoover was caught in the international whirlwind of events that combined to bring about the crisis: Unrest in Germany as result of harsh reparations imposed at end of WWI, Great Britain’s leaving the gold standard & creating bank runs, wild stock speculation driven by too much margin investing in U.S. during the 1920’s , Hoover’s devotion to gold standard limiting U.S. money supply adjustments, a major Midwest & Southern drought that crushed U.S. farmers who then couldn’t pay their loans leading to widespread bank failures, & Congress’ reluctance to work with Hoover on solutions.
Post presidency, Hoover completed a move from his Republican progressive beliefs to conservative ones, helping to create what Whyte says was the beginning of the 20th century conservative movement, embraced by men like, Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell, & William F. Buckley Jr who wrote at Hoover’s death:
“Hoover’s conception of public service was about the purest thing to be seen in national politics. His only failure had been as a political dramatist. He had been unable to communicate to the people the true meaning of the mechanized welfarism which is a great semantical & economic imposture: the chimera, which is the demagogic mainstay of Liberal politics, that is is possible for the majority of Americans (a) to receive benefits from the federal govt. without (b) paying for them.”
October 5, 2018
Wow, what an amazing person and story. Little is taught about Hoover in school, except he was president when the stock market crashed in 1929 and is blamed for most of the pain during that trying decade, FDR comes in, and the New Deal saves the country. While this is probably the typical HS and college overview of this man, his life was so much more. An orphan by the age of 11, Hoover worked his way through being part of the first graduating class at Stanford, worked in the mining industry, helped protect the lives of foreigners during the Boxer Rebellion, went to London and earned millions, was involved in international finance lawsuits, and retired by the age of 37
Then came WWI, Hoover helped expat Americans return to the country, saw the starvation of Belgium, and organized relief to feed Europe and the soldiers during the war. He then worked with Wilson and the American delegation in Paris for the Treaty of Versailles. He returned to America for living overseas most of his adult life and was pegged by President Harding as Secretary of Commerce, where he undertook studies to eliminate waste in manufacturing and bring scientific study to the workplace.
As President he predicted and lectured about the ills of Wall Street and Banks but no one seemed to listen during the Jazz Age. What Hoover put in place during the depression probably helped more to save the economy and country than he gets credit for, and as a non political president he wasn't able to campaign like a seasoned pro that Roosevelt was.
During his life he helped establish progressive and liberal policy and then helped create neo- conservatism during the New Deal and post World War II world, while always trying to help feed the world and help children who have no support.
Whyte does an amazing job giving this forgotten hero of the country his due, and is one of the finest presidential biographies that I've read.
Then came WWI, Hoover helped expat Americans return to the country, saw the starvation of Belgium, and organized relief to feed Europe and the soldiers during the war. He then worked with Wilson and the American delegation in Paris for the Treaty of Versailles. He returned to America for living overseas most of his adult life and was pegged by President Harding as Secretary of Commerce, where he undertook studies to eliminate waste in manufacturing and bring scientific study to the workplace.
As President he predicted and lectured about the ills of Wall Street and Banks but no one seemed to listen during the Jazz Age. What Hoover put in place during the depression probably helped more to save the economy and country than he gets credit for, and as a non political president he wasn't able to campaign like a seasoned pro that Roosevelt was.
During his life he helped establish progressive and liberal policy and then helped create neo- conservatism during the New Deal and post World War II world, while always trying to help feed the world and help children who have no support.
Whyte does an amazing job giving this forgotten hero of the country his due, and is one of the finest presidential biographies that I've read.
September 4, 2017
I received a free Kindle copy of Hoover: HIs Life and Times by Kenneth Whyte courtesy of Net Galley and Knopf Doubleday the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would post a review to Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and my history book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google Plus pages.
I requested this book as I have read a number of presidential biographies, but never one on Herbert Hoover. It is the first book by the Kenneth Whyte that I have read. This book is well written and researched. Whyte has a writing style that is informative and engaging.
What I knew about Herbert Hoover prior to reading this book was just snippets of information. He was president when the stock market crashed and the Great Depression started. He briefly lived in Newburgh and Salem, Oregon close to where I currently reside.
Hoover had a difficult childhood that led to his many unusual characteristics for a person who would aspire to and achieve the presidency of the United States. His ability to focus on situations to the exclusion of most everything else (including his famiy) was unparalleled at the time. His often thin skin (he took a number of things as personal when they wre not) would not do well in current times with the phlethora of social media and the 24 hour news cycle.
What I found most interesting was that many of his ideas that he was unable to implement during his term as President to get the country moving again during the Great Depression due to a democratic Congress were adopted and implemented by FDR with the support of a democratic Congress.
In the end, Hoover was complicated man who had a deep seeded need to help others - especially children.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of presidential biographies or is interested in learning more about one of our most misunderstood presidents.
I requested this book as I have read a number of presidential biographies, but never one on Herbert Hoover. It is the first book by the Kenneth Whyte that I have read. This book is well written and researched. Whyte has a writing style that is informative and engaging.
What I knew about Herbert Hoover prior to reading this book was just snippets of information. He was president when the stock market crashed and the Great Depression started. He briefly lived in Newburgh and Salem, Oregon close to where I currently reside.
Hoover had a difficult childhood that led to his many unusual characteristics for a person who would aspire to and achieve the presidency of the United States. His ability to focus on situations to the exclusion of most everything else (including his famiy) was unparalleled at the time. His often thin skin (he took a number of things as personal when they wre not) would not do well in current times with the phlethora of social media and the 24 hour news cycle.
What I found most interesting was that many of his ideas that he was unable to implement during his term as President to get the country moving again during the Great Depression due to a democratic Congress were adopted and implemented by FDR with the support of a democratic Congress.
In the end, Hoover was complicated man who had a deep seeded need to help others - especially children.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of presidential biographies or is interested in learning more about one of our most misunderstood presidents.
November 24, 2020
Absolutely fascinating. #31
•••••••
•First Quaker born president
•First president born west of the Mississippi
•First surveyor/engineer to sit as president since Washington
•••••••
“At times it seemed to me that I would exhaust all the books on earth, but the supply still holds out.”
Favorite verse from Proverbs: “Where there is no vision the people perish, but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”
“The main anchor of our civilization must be intellectual and spiritual liberty. Ideals, invention, initiative, enterprise, and leadership spring best from free men and women.”
“Never before in a great depression has there been so systematic a protection against distress. Never before has there been so little social disorder. Never before has there been such an outpouring of the spirit of self-sacrifice and of service... The resourcefulness of America when challenged has never failed...
Victory over this depression and over our other difficulties will be won by the resolution of our people to fight their own battles in their own communities, by stimulating their ingenuity to solve their own problems, by taking new courage to be masters of their own destiny in the struggle of life. This is not the easy way, but it is the American way.”
•••••••
•First Quaker born president
•First president born west of the Mississippi
•First surveyor/engineer to sit as president since Washington
•••••••
“At times it seemed to me that I would exhaust all the books on earth, but the supply still holds out.”
Favorite verse from Proverbs: “Where there is no vision the people perish, but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”
“The main anchor of our civilization must be intellectual and spiritual liberty. Ideals, invention, initiative, enterprise, and leadership spring best from free men and women.”
“Never before in a great depression has there been so systematic a protection against distress. Never before has there been so little social disorder. Never before has there been such an outpouring of the spirit of self-sacrifice and of service... The resourcefulness of America when challenged has never failed...
Victory over this depression and over our other difficulties will be won by the resolution of our people to fight their own battles in their own communities, by stimulating their ingenuity to solve their own problems, by taking new courage to be masters of their own destiny in the struggle of life. This is not the easy way, but it is the American way.”
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