Herbert Hoover's Life

Herbert Clark Hoover was born on August 10, 1874 in West Branch, Iowa. His father, Jessie Clark Hoover, died of typhoid fever when Herbert was six and his mother, Hulda Randall (Minthorn) Hoover died of pneumonia when Herbert was nine years old. Both of his parents were parents were Quakers. He moved to Newberg, Oregon and lived with his uncle, Dr. Henry Minthorn, where he attended a Quaker academy. When he was sixteen years old he enrolled in Leland Stanford,a new university in Palo Alto, California. He graduated in 1895. Herbert Hoover married Lou Henry in 1899 and together they had two sons, Herbert Hoover, Jr. and Allan Hoover. In 1927, a British company hired him to manage its gold in Australia where he lived for two. He was the only President to be a millionaire, so he was rich enough to retire when he was only forty years old. In 1928 Calvin Coolidge decided not to run for another full term so Hoover was in the presidential race with New York governor Alfred E. Smith. Herbert won in a landslide victory. As President of the United States, he tried to improve the standards of radio broadcasting, aviation and housing. Seven months into his administration, the stock market crashed which leaded to the Great Depression. He established a few programs to combat the crisis, but he oppose aid through federal bureaucracy, so Hoover didn't provide enough relief and he was defeated in the 1932 election to FDR. Hoover died on October 20, 1964 in New York City a the age of 90.