Hoover Birthplace & Presidential Library
Visit Herbert Hoover's Birthplace in West Branch, IA
Bert's birthplace cottage was built in 1871
Bert was born in 1874 and the house was sold in 1878
The President purchased it in 1935 and had it restored
The kitchen is separate from the house
Back of the house while walking to the blacksmith shop
Look inside the two room blacksmith shop
The furnace room is where the metal working is done
Walk toward the one room school house built in 1853
The main school for West Branch when Hoover was a boy
Quakers believed strongly in educating girls & boys
Dave walks to see if the C.E. Smith house is open
View down Downey Street in West Branch Historic District
Leech and Varney House opposite the Smith house
Pass a statue of Isis walking to the Presidential Library
Isis was a gift from Belgium for Hoover's help after WWI
The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library
Walk across the beautiful grounds to the grave site
Chestnut, hickory, & black walnut trees ring the gravesite
Herbert (1874-1964) and Lou Henry (1874-1944) Hoover
Plain ledger stones keep w/the Quaker ideal of simplicity
Hoover is buried within site of his birthplace
And within site of the golden arches, wait, come back Dave
Bert semt to Oregon after both his M&D died by 1884
He went to Stanford and saved these football tickets
Graduated in 1895 & went to work in Australia in 1897
He married Lou Henry, whom he met at Stanford, in 1899
He & Lou moved to China & survived the Boxer Rebellion
Hoover organized the relief effort for Belgium during WWI
Belgians sent Hoover embroidered flour sacks in thanks
Wilson appointed Hoover head of US Food Admin in WWI
Belgian skill with lace provided exports post war
The world sent thanks for both post war food drives
Hoover was head of American Relief Administration which fed 17 million people in 21 countries
Hoover was the first president to watch reality TV in office
His excuse was that there was only one channel
Hoover's promotion of the standardization of products and designs increased efficiency in business and industry
Parentless at 10, Hoover's Children's Charter advocated protection of all children regardless of race or gender
Hoover was appointed Secretary of Commerce under Harding, a reward for his support
Coolidge frowned on Hoover's activist approach and derided him as The Wonder Boy
Hoover was the Secretary of Commerce and the Undersecretary of everything else
Radio Act of 1927- allowed the government to abolish radio stations that were deemed "non-useful" to the public
Roosevelt tried to have Hoover Dam renamed Boulder Dam, but was made permanent in 1947
Hoover campaigned for efficiency and prosperity & supported prohibition. Al Smith was a "wet"
Democratic Party splits over religion and Prohibition, guaranteed Hoover's landslide victory with 58% of the vote
Hoover's 1st months were a whirlwind of reform: expanding civil service & adding national parks
Shrinking agricultural incomes due to overproduction
And high risk US financial sector & frail world economy
Led to ¼ of the US workforce being unemployed by 1932 Unemployed: 1M-1929, 4M-1930, 8M-1931, 12M-1932
Massive unemployment, tax increases, & MacArthur's attack on the squating Bonus Army doomed a 2nd term
Hoover had 2 sons, Herbert Jr. (27) and Allan (21) when he was elected president in 1928
Lou Hoover was a Girl Scout her last 25 years & led the first GS cookie drive in 1935
In the last week of his term, Hoover got no reassurance from FDR that he would defend the gold standard
Truman sent Hoover (1946) to 38 nations to beg & borrow enough food to avert mass starvation of WWII victims
In 1949 Hoover's long passage through political purgatory was at last coming to an end
Asked how he had survived the long years of ostracism coinciding with Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, Hoover said simply, "I outlived the bastards."
Hoover lived in suite 31-A of New York's elegant Waldorf Towers from Dec. 1940 until his death
Hoover was happiest in the woods and published "Fishing for Fun and To Wash Your Soul" a year before his death