Herbert Hoover was the 31st President of the United States of America. He was in office when the Great Depression started in 1929. Many people created a play on words attaching his name to things related to the Great Depression. For example, turning an empty pocket inside out was known as the Hoover flag. Also, the random towns that grew around any source of free food were called Hoovervilles. Essentially, anything that indicated poverty and financial ruin was named after Hoover.
Herbert Hoover’s childhood
Herbert Hoover had a very difficult and sad childhood. Both of his parents died before he reached the age of 10. He had to leave Iowa, where he was born, and moved to Oregon with his uncle when he young. Despite his rough childhood, Herbert was a smart child and he worked very hard.
Herbert successfully finished school and went to study biology at the University of Stanford in California. After he graduated he worked for many international mining companies. His position allowed him to work and live in different countries like China and Australia.
Herbert was working and living in England when World War I started. He helped with the evacuation and rescue of over 120,000 American citizens from the war zone. He was a part of an organization that took the responsibility to feed the refugees. His work was so honorable and massive that the President of the United States at the time took interest in Herbert and his work.
Working in the United States Administration
Herbert Hoover served as the Secretary of Commerce for both Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge thanks to his honesty and great work. This in itself was an achievement since President Coolidge removed many of Harding’s Administration due to corruption problems. Hoover was not one of those people, so he stayed.
Herbert Hoover becomes the President
Although Herbert Hoover’s Presidency will always be known for the stock market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression, all of this happened only a few months after he took office. The stock market crash and the Great Depression were actually the result of years of wrong economic practices.
However, it was the President’s responsibility to deal with the disaster of the Great Depression. He believed that the government should not interfere with the market whatsoever. All he did was try to cut back taxes and put more money into public services, but this was not enough and things went downhill from there.
This failure in running the country after only a few months of his election made it easy for the American people to elect Franklin D. Roosevelt who started handling the crisis with the New Deal Programs.
Back to Feeding refugees
When World War II broke out, Hoover went back to feeding and helping refugees and people in war zones. He also worked for two Presidents to help them find ways to cut government spending. Those two Presidents were Truman and Eisenhower. Herbert Hoover lived a full life and died at the age of 90.
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