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Herbert Hoover: A Public Life

por David Burner

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This comprehensive biography of the nation's thirty-first President covers his early years in Iowa and Oregon, his education at Stanford, his success as a mining engineer, his promotion of American economic development as Secretary of Commerce, and his eventual election as President of the United States. -- Dust jacket.… (más)
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One of the challenges in writing a biography of Herbert Hoover is coming to terms with the sheer length and scope of his life and career. Over the course of his many years Hoover was a mining engineer, an author, a humanitarian, a wartime administrator, a cabinet secretary, and a president of the United States, all during one of the momentous periods in American and world history. Recounting it all poses a formidable challenge for any author; [a:George H. Nash|3849|George H. Nash|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png], who was commissioned by the Hoover Library to write a multi-volume biography, took three volumes just to chronicle the first forty-four years of Hoover’s life, leaving it to three other historians to write another three volumes addressing the rest of it.

By this standard David Burner’s achievement in summarizing Hoover’s life within the covers of a single book is a commendable one. Doing so requires him to trade detail for accessibility, yet it also allows him to more easily delineate themes running through the course of Hoover’s life. Burner sees Hoover as a far more activist and progressive figure than is often remembered, one who pursued a number of significant reforms as both Secretary of Commerce and as president. When faced with the successive economic crises of the Great Depression, he moved quickly and aggressively to provide solutions, many of which served as the foundation for the later New Deal. But his response to Depression was ultimately hampered by his commitment to a philosophy of voluntary cooperation that proved inadequate to the magnitude of the crisis, by his poor relations with Congress, and by his technocratic public persona.

That Burner succeeds in making Hoover a sympathetic figure is a testament to the quality of his analysis. Considerable space is devoted to explaining his views, and Hoover’s consistency to them is one of the themes that emerges. Yet ultimately this is a choice that involves some sacrifice, which is reflected in chapters on Hoover’s tenure as Secretary of Commerce and (especially) his post-presidential career that feel rushed and lacking in sufficient detail. Such compromises are forgivable, though, given the result: a book which is still the best single volume on Herbert Hoover’s life and career, one that should be read by anyone seeking to understand his impact on American history. ( )
  MacDad | Mar 27, 2020 |
The first engineer president. At an early age he lost both parents. He is the only president from Iowa. After the death of his parents he was sent to California where he lived with relatives and was in Stanford University's first class. As the author notes his rise after college was remarkable. He managed to obtain a job with a mining company because he could type (Carly Fiorina?). He swiftly became the assistant manager of a mine. He then was offered an engineering opportunity in Australia due to the gold rush. He went and became a great success and soon was a partner in a major mining company, after this success he went to China where he happened to be at the time of the Boxer Rebellion. He helped organize the defense of Peking. As a result of his mining activities he became a millionaire. He then transferred his international mining activities to London. He was there at the start of WW I and helped aid stranded travelers.

This led to his new career. He was asked to organize food relief for Belgium. He did this brilliantly according to the author and had to balance the competing interests of Germany, England, the USA and of course Belgium. His success in this led to his appointment by Woodrow Wilson to be Food Dictator in the USA after America entered the War in 1917. Again, he was brilliant.

In 1920 according to the author Hoover was wooed by both Democrats and Republicans.
Even though his progressive record made him almost too progressive for the Republicans he ended up choosing that Party. Harding rewarded him by making him Secretary of Commerce a post he held from 1921-1928. Again, he was a great success. Perhaps, his crowning achievement was organizing flood relief in 1927 which made him the overwhelming favorite for the Republican nomination in 1928 which he easily won. He beat Al Smith in 1928 in a landslide becoming the first Republican since the Civil War to win four southern states. The race was marred by the anti-Catholic slander that many but not Hoover mounted against Smith.

Entering the presidency in 1929, Hoover had perhaps more credentials than any other president before him. In his first year he started a progressive program that seemed to be like Theodore Roosevet. He did internal improvements, civil rights, programs for Indians, the Parks, appointed a Jew to the Supreme Court, etc. but disaster struck in the form of the 1929 Stock Market Crash

The author seeks to show Hoover started many Depression programs that were later imitated by FDR. Nonetheless, he failed. The author suggests Hoover had the right ideas. One problem was Hoover believed based on the history of recessions the downturn would be brief. "Prosperity would be right around the corner." It didn't happen. Also, when Hoover decided government intervention was necessary he was hampered by a Congress he could not control. Hoover could not stand criticism. One mistake he did make was the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff which raised tariffs to their highest level in history. Other nations retaliated hurting world trade. The second mistake was raising taxes in 1932 in order to balance the budget. FDR did the same thing in 1937. Perhaps, this ultimate technocrat could have solved the Great Depression if he had been given four more years. However, any chance he had for that disappeared when government troops attacked the Bonus Army and burned their tent city. One reporter said the veterans should have had a sign saying WE ARE BELGIANS. As FDR said the attack by MacArthur on the Bonus Army has put me in the White House. In the 1932 campaign Hoover was not helped by his inability to campaign effectively and convince the public he could handle the crisis. He did receive some satisfaction in seeing many of ideas adopted in the New Deal.

When WW II broke out he was frustrated that FDR did not use him. After FDR's death Truman did appoint him Food Czar in 1946. A role he once again filled ably. In 1947 Truman renamed the Boulder Dam the Hoover Dam.

In conclusion, the author makes a convincing case that Hoover had the intellect and the background to handle the Great Depression. But in this crucial test Hoover according to the author failed because he was unable to utilize the Bully Pulpit like TR or his successor FDR. Hoover was unable to inspire the public even though many of his programs ended up in the New Deal. Hoover was not responsible for the Great Depression but the author makes a strong case that it happened on his watch and he failed to find a way out despite his great technical gifts. Like a similarly gifted President, John Quincey Adams, Hoover left the White House an embittered man and is considered a failed president. ( )
  jerry-book | Jan 26, 2016 |
4137 Herbert Hoover A Public Life, by David Burner (read 5 Mar 2006) This was read in pursuance of my aim to read a biography of every U.S. president, a goal which I have come pretty close to reaching. This work on Hoover, published in 1979, is fair but not adulatory (I would not be appreciative of such an overly-favorable biography of Hoover, growing up as I did in the Depression when box elder bugs were called Hoover bugs--it was years before I knew they were properly called box elder bugs--and old cars converted to being pulled by horses were called Hoover carts. The account of the 1932 campaign is a joy to read and the entire book was fun to read, tho the account of his years (1921-1928) as Secretary of Commerce was a bit dry. Hoover was quite sound on foreign policy, and many of the New Deal programs were considered in Hoover's time. In fact, Hoover told Tom Dewey that he, Hoover, probably would have signed many of the laws which FDR did if they had been put before him when he was president--despite what Hoover said during the New Deal days of what FDR did. ( )
1 vota Schmerguls | Oct 18, 2007 |
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This comprehensive biography of the nation's thirty-first President covers his early years in Iowa and Oregon, his education at Stanford, his success as a mining engineer, his promotion of American economic development as Secretary of Commerce, and his eventual election as President of the United States. -- Dust jacket.

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