Hoover – An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times

Hoover – An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times – Kenneth Whyte

“Twenty million people are starving. Whatever their politics, they shall be fed.”   Herbert Hoover, 1921

I have now read at least one biography of every deceased president of the U.S. Not only was this biography one of the best, but it was one where I learned an awful lot about the man and his achievements of what he did outside the presidency. Sadly, history remembers presidents based on what they accomplished inside the walls of the White House (with the exception of a Grant or Eisenhower), whereas the rest of their achievements, past or future, tend to be relegated to footnotes.  Hebert Hoover did an awful lot of great things a decade before he ever entered politics, and this book spends an adequate amount of time detailing these accomplishments.  Even once Hoover becomes president, the author is a staunch apologist for his efforts and claims history has been unfair and unkind.  More on that later.

The first half of this book (about 300 pages) rarely, if ever, mentions politics. This is rare in presidential bios. For a person to reach the goal of being president, they must start the journey quite early. Hoover is the opposite. It’s his achievements as a private citizen that makes him a household name and catapults him into contention for the highest office in the land.  I’m tempted to use Donald Trump as an example. But let’s not go there.

Orphaned as a nine-year-old and shuffled to live with various relatives, Hoover eventually becomes a self-made millionaire as a geologist and mining engineer.  The book gives a fair amount of detail in this area, but it’s when Hoover is living in England in the outbreak of World War I that his story really becomes interesting.  This is where Hoover becomes a true hero.  He starts by managing to chair an evacuation effort to the thousands of Americans abroad in Europe back to their homeland. Whether they’re living there temporarily or on vacation, such a cataclysmic event provides no easy way for the nervous travelers to get back home to safety. Hoover sees a need, formulates a plan, and manages to bring the boys, girls, etc. back home.

Once accomplished, Hoover sees more he can do.  For Germany to attack France, there’s no other way to get there other than through neutral Belgium. Once Germany goes through the Belgian border, the country is ransacked, the food is pillaged, the women are raped, and many citizens are basically forced into slave labor.  Hoover sees all this and cries ‘foul’.  Although the U.S. couldn’t do much initially (they wouldn’t enter the war until after the 3^rd of the 4 years), he sees the Belgian population suffering and spends ample efforts putting together a relief effort that manages to at least feed the starving natives during the German occupation.

Once that catastrophe is averted, he ends up being a sort of food czar once the U.S. enters the war.  It’s crucial that all people, at home and abroad, conserve food if the allies are going to win the war.  His planning and efforts are highly noticed, and this self-made millionaire shows his heart is bigger than his wallet.  History also tells us that he assisted Russia during the 1920s when the country was starving as well, yet this book barely mentions this effort at all. 

So such a man is easily recognized and then selected as part of Calvin Coolidge’s cabinet as Secretary of Commerce during the 1920s.  It’s at this point where Hoover gets the presidential bug. He claims he’ll only be considered if the people truly want him, but those who know things know better.  It’s not surprising that Hoover wins the nomination in the election of 1928.  To be brutally honest, his troubles start before the great depression sinks the country a year later.

It seems that Hoover is a bit of a tough guy to figure out. Although his feats show he’s incredibly philanthropic, his mannerisms are quite confusing to those around him. He seems gruff, blunt, and not exactly a friendly guy.  Since he had gobs of money and got (good) things done, this really shouldn’t matter. But we’re talking about a President here.  A president needs to be political, needs to work with congress, and needs to compromise. Such things are a bit unfamiliar with this man. The fact that he’s never had to compromise with others to get anything done shows his Achilles Heel.

Then the depression hits.  Now, history tells us that Herbert Hoover should shoulder most of the blame since he apparently didn’t do enough neither before nor during this time, but author Kenneth Whyte spends a considerable amount of time defending the man and deflecting these criticisms. When one pays close attention to history, it is the consensus that the cause of the depression really can’t be pinned down, and the many methods that were implemented to counter the disaster had to be tested and tried. Some worked, many did not.  There was even a well-publicized event when thousands of World War I veterans stormed the capital to demand their war pensions several years early. Again, Whyte dismisses this as minor and makes the event out to be less consequential than other historical reflections.

With the country still mired in economic hardship as the next presidential election approaches, it’s common for the masses to blame the commander in chief for the dire consequences, so Hoover is voted out of office after one term.   The author, again, makes the claim that new President Franklin Roosevelt really doesn’t do much better in aiding to end the depression, but Roosevelt is political. He knows how to talk to voters. He knows how to inspire. He knows how to make a speech without putting his audience to sleep. He is loved by many and goes on to be elected an unrivaled four terms.  Roosevelt spends quite a lot of time in office bashing Hoover for the mess the country is in.  Hoover can never quite understand why he is being treated so unfairly by this man. Again, Hoover simply doesn’t understand politics.

So in conclusion, the author led me to believe that Hoover was a brilliant man, but a lousy politician. His biggest crime is not being able to lead the way leaders lead, nor can he inspire when the chips are down. In a roundabout way, the author shows us that charisma and personality can go a long way when leading a country, and one cannot simply be rich and/or brilliant.  In fact, the only thing I didn’t like about this book was that the author quoted from Hoover’s speeches quite often, and most of these quotations were quite dull.  Rich and brilliant? Definitely.  Inspirational? Hardly.

It’s a shame that many don’t know the real Herbert Hoover. Time is beginning to shed light in the dark spaces, and Kenneth Whyte does an excellent job showing us the real man. Yes, Hoover had a lot of warts, but he did some great things.  I can’t help thinking that Netflix or someone should do a series on Hoover’s World War I accomplishments. It truly would be an eye opener.