U.S. Presidents / Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover

1874 - 1964

Herbert Hoover

In the soil poisoned by speculation grew those ugly weeds of waste, exploitation, and abuse of financial power. In this overproduction and speculative mania we marched with the rest of the whole world.  Republican Party nomination speech

Overview

Upon accepting the Republican nomination for President in 1928, Herbert Hoover predicted that "We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poorhouse is vanishing from among us." Hoover won the presidency that year, but his time in office belied his optimistic assertion. Within eight months of his inauguration, the stock market crashed, signifying the beginning of the Great Depression, the most severe economic crisis the United States had ever known. Rightly or wrongly, Hoover's efforts to combat the Great Depression have defined his presidency and his place in American history.

Fast Facts

West Branch, Iowa
Stanford University (graduated 1895)
Society of Friends (Quaker)
Engineer
Republican
None
February 10, 1899, to Lou Henry (1875–1944)
Herbert Clark (1903–1969), Allan Henry (1907–1993)
31
West Branch, Iowa
David E. Hamilton

Chicago Style

Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia. “Herbert Hoover.” Accessed October 25, 2024. https://millercenter.org/president/hoover.

Associate Professor of History

David E. Hamilton

Professor Hamilton is an associate professor of history at the University of Kentucky.