Hoover
Herbert Hoover was an American politician and businessman who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933. Hoover was born in West Branch, Iowa, and raised in Oregon. He attended Stanford University, and after graduating, he established a successful career in mining engineering, becoming a millionaire by his 40s. He later served in World War I as head of the US Food Administration, where he successfully implemented rationing and other measures.
In 1928, Hoover was elected to the presidency as a Republican. He ran on a campaign of economic prosperity and promised to reduce federal taxes and improve the economy. Upon assuming office in 1929, however, Hoover faced the onset of the Great Depression, which began that year and devastated the country throughout his entire term. He sought to address the effects of the depression through a variety of policies including high tariffs, large-scale public works projects, and subsidies to banks and businesses, but these policies failed to provide relief. Hoover failed to win re-election in 1932, and was succeeded by Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Despite his failure to provide economic relief during the Great Depression, Hoover was remembered as a capable administrator and a humanitarian. After leaving office, he served as chairman of the president’s Emergency Committee for Employment and helped organize the 1932 Olympics. In 1947, he was appointed by President Truman as “Food Czar” and created the Hoover Commission to reorganize government bureaucracies.