The Problems of Lasting Peace

by Herbert Hoover, Hugh Gibson

295 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1942

About the author

Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st President of the United States (1929–1933), was a mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted government intervention under the rubric "economic modernization". In the presidential election of 1928 Hoover easily won the Republican nomination. The nation was prosperous and optimistic, leading to a landslide for Hoover over the Democrat Al Smith, whom many voters distrusted on account of his Roman Catholicism. Hoover deeply believed in the Efficiency Movement (a major component of the Progressive Era), arguing that a technical solution existed for every social and economic problem. That position was challenged by the Great Depression, which began in 1929, the first year of his presidency. He tried to combat the Depression with volunteer efforts and government action, none of which produced economic recovery during his term. The consensus among historians is that Hoover's defeat in the 1932 election was caused primarily by failure to end the downward spiral into deep Depression, compounded by popular opposition to prohibition. Other electoral liabilities were Hoover's lack of charisma in relating to voters, and his poor skills in working with politicians.

Reviews

[Glenn Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is remarkable about this book, published in 1942, is the lack of political mudslinging that exists in the current books. Whereas soon after 9/11, the anti-Bush crowd were complaining that the president was in a Florida classroom reading to school children, this book and the author, President Herbert Hoover, was all about creating solutions for a post war peace.

We have not had such a study for a post Islamic Terrorist period of world peace.

Deep book with many thoughtful ideas for post war peace. Some of which were put in place, many others were not. The analysis of the failure of the League of Nations and how to fix it. The failures were much more pronounced than was ever taught in schools. Poland, for instance, was not the innocent little nation that was invaded by 2 big bad sheep, but did its fair share of annexing before being conquered.