Herbert Hoover

Apparently he had one of the best wine collections on the east coast.

He was a reclusive out of touch politician millionaire who did not like socializing. He was more like Coolidge than Harding.

His favorite book of all time was David Copperfield.

He WAS Herbert Hoover!

Mixed legacy...managed US war relief well during WWI, but the stain on him was the mismanagement of the response to the Great Depression. Failed to understand its magnitude. Hoovervilles remain his legacy.

I believe he's become a darling of the rightwing these days.

He had a great ass, but I guess he didn't live forever.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States, ... Hoobert Heever."

Let's give thanks...

Herbert Hoover and Winston Churchill were both born in 1874 and died in 1964.

Hoover died October 20, 1964

Kamala Harris was born on October 20, 1964

Churchill died Jan. 24, 1965, R9.

R11 close enough, Hoover died in late 1964. The point being their lives were almost identical.

Failure. Fucked it up when we really needed a president not to fuck it up.

Yes, a failure as president, but a very distinguished pre- & post- (after April 1945) presidency.

I have read some articles that the Depression would have ended sooner under Hoover rather than Roosevelt

And those would have been fallacies

Presidents do not ascend into office.

He lived in Australia, China, and Edwardian London

FDR's place in history isn't predicated on his role ending the Depression - he didn't - but for his leadership in winning WWII.

Fag!

Unfortunately Hoover embraced the shitty ideal that capitalism is not just a tool, it's God's Own Plan for the world. That capitalism can never fail, it can only be failed. Sadly, it remains the religion of far too many to this day.

[quote] FDR's place in history isn't predicated on his role ending the Depression - he didn't - but for his leadership in winning WWII.

You can certainly debate the effectiveness of FDR’s measures in ending the Great Depression, but the policies themselves and the change in the government’s role that they implied are a huge reason why he is remembered.

Right, “self made” business types usually are of that ilk

His wife Lou was a remarkable woman--a scholar, a published translator from the Latin, an athlete, and a women's rights activist. She was the first woman to graduate Stanford with a degree in geology.

He sucked.

[quote] FDR's place in history isn't predicated on his role ending the Depression - he didn't - but for his leadership in winning WWII.

Says who? Without FDR, there would have been no New Deal, which alleviated misery for millions-- even if it was the start of WWII that brought the US out of the Depression.

FDR’s policies contributed to huge GDP growth and plummeting unemployment.

Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again.

I made it through Herbert and J. Edgar Hoover. Gee -- that was fun-and-a-half. When you've made it through Herbert and J. Edgar Hoover, everything else is a laugh!

No, Lisa -- HOOTERVILLE, not Hooverville.

Hoover stayed involved in Republican politics for years after losing the election to FDR. He really did become very conversative over the years.

During the 1964 convention, according the to Wiki article of the convention, "Although former President Dwight Eisenhower only reluctantly supported Goldwater after he won the nomination, former President Herbert Hoover gave him enthusiastic endorsement."

I've always thought it interesting that decades after the Depression, Hoover was still involved.

Will Trump's tariff policies usher in Trumpvilles?

That is interesting r31. Hoovernomics really should've been rejected, but the dream remains: just give the rich more money and eventually all will be well. Ignore any hiccups along the way, and just keep feeding the rich.

He is still incredibly relevant today -- we are living during the era of Hoovervilles popping up all over major cities again!

Most of his evenings were spent having elegant 12 course dinners with fine wine followed by reading and Brandy in the residence.

R24 Lou was also an avid horseback rider and spoke Mandarin fluently.

[quote] spoke Mandarin fluently.

Like Chambo?

He spent his last many years living at his apartment at the Waldorf Astoria.

[quote] Most of his evenings were spent having elegant 12 course dinners with fine wine followed by reading and Brandy in the residence.

She was a little young for him.

R39 funny, but Lou would kick her ass

Lou really was an amazing woman.

She regularly received requests for assistance from citizens who were struggling. She referred each one to a local charity. Whenever she was unable to find a charity or a donor that could help, she sent her own money. She refused to publicize or draw attention to her charitable work and she often sent the money anonymously through a proxy so her name would not be associated with it.

After her death, her family found hundreds of checks she had received to repay her for her charity but which she had declined to cash.

He spent the last 20 years of his life a bachelor.

Widower*

I thought the song about him was the best one in Annie, and don't know why it was taken out in [many? all?] later productions.

The Hoover-FDR relationship was among the worst of bookend presidencies.

"When you been through Herbert and J. Edgar Hoover anything else is a laugh."

He was a Republican when that meant small limited government

He has a smart and pretty great granddaughter. I love Margaret Hoover on Firing Line.

I prefer a Kirby.

Which type of vacuum cleaners do all of you have?

r46 We know.

Lou was the first First Lady to grad college

Hoover wasn't his real name, but a nickname because as a young - oh, wait. That was me.

He was one Stanford’s earliest graduates. ‘enuf said…

I wish we had Republicans like Hoover

R41

SHE should have been president.

I think FDR much government overreach

R55 Mistah, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again!

I'd settle for Hoobert Heever over the current occupant any day of the week.

He was good enough for Harry Truman, so he's good enough for me.

Truman brought him out of political obscurity and had him head the effort to get food to refugees and others in Europe, post-WWII (based on his efforts during WWI).

Mister we could use a guy like Herbert Hoover again.

Hoover's direct work helped to keep Europe from starving to death after BOTH world wars. He oversaw much of the relief work personally, collecting cash and coins from the London expatriate set, and using his business ties to get hostile governments to open their ports and allow ships full of food to dock and feed civilians.

And in the Thirties, when FDR's brain trust wouldn't let Hoover go anywhere near an official diplomatic mission to Europe, Hoover went to Germany on his own to meet Hitler and examine his economic reforms. He told Hitler to his face that he was bound to lose his planned war, and fascism would invariably fall in the face of human rights, but he also came back to Washington and told the Roosevelts that Hitler was probably more of a thread to the Soviets than to the West. So he was a flawed oracle. After the war, Hoover's name and diplomatic contacts still ran deep, and he was able to once again cut through rubble and infighting to bring food and supplies to Europe's flattened cities.

Really, his term as president was the most boring four years of his long life. He had far greater adventures before and after that misguided term.

R60 They remained friends, too.

It was a known secret that Truman was broke after he left Washington, so in the early 1950's, Congress created the Former Presidents Act, which created a pension for former presidents. At the time, Truman and Hoover were the only living former presidents.

To save Truman from being embarrassed, Hoover accepted the pension payments as well, even though he obviously did not need the money.

We could really use a man like that again.

Classy gentleman

Why in the world are people gooning over Herbert Hoover lately? I've seen his name in the past month more than I have in the past decade.

One of the worst presidents in history.

He should have went to prison for sending troops to deal with WW1 vet protests.

[quote] It was a known secret that Truman was broke after he left Washington

That's been the informed wisdom all these years, but how is that possible? He made $100,000 a year in his (almost) 8 years as president, the equivalent of between $1,217,000 & 1,792,000 in today's dollars.

R68 I’d rather put you in prison for lousy grammar. At least Hoover spoke English.

Truman didn’t have to make car payments. He got a ‘53 New Yorker sedan gratis from the Chrysler Corporation after he left Washington and a new Dodge or Chrysler every year until he died. The last one is still in the garage at the Truman Home Historic Site in Independence, MO.

“Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure” details his 1953 road trip with Bess to New York City.

If Harry was broke it had to be because he was forever keeping Bess in Parisian haute couture.

R69 some people just aren't good with money.

Where, then, R73, did Harry's ample money go? On Hawaiian shirts? On paying for hits on Washington Post music critics?

R69 I am not sure why you are arguing with me. I don't know how he spent his money, but I know Truman did not have money so Congress created the pension plan for him.

Truman was still one of the five poorest presidents.

Just asking a reasonable question, R75. I like Truman, but I don't get how someone, mid-century, making $100,000 a year in the eight years before leaving the presidency could be "broke."

Very much like Carter, his best work was post-Presidency.

His vacuums are/were unbelievable. I gave one to my mom as a birthday present!

R10 Hoover was a Stanford graduate who was clueless about economics. Harris’ father was a Stanford economics professor.

R80 Harris wasn't raised by her father, though.

Also, a person's parent's occupation has fuck-all to do with their own later career as an adult.

You’re a very literal person aren’t you? Too literal.

Try this: Hoover was part of a Stanford family and clueless about economics. Harris was part of a Berkeley family that knew a lot more about economics.

I think J. Edgar was more fun (and a half).

R77 Just to be accurate. Truman made $75,000 a year during his first term as president. His salary was raised in 1949, during his second term, to 100,000.

R82 I stand by my original point. She was raised by her mother, a medical doctor. She and Maya saw her father on occasional weekends, and because they were small children, I doubt they discussed the finer points of macroeconomics with their father.

Herbert Hoover was abso-fucking-lutely NOT "part of a Stanford family." He was raised in Oregon by dirt-poor distant relatives after being orphaned as a child in Iowa. He was in Stanford's first graduating class, and worked his ass off as a mining student. He shoveled mule shit until he was 18, and then shoveled rocks until he was 25. Of course he didn't spend much time in an economics classroom. He also didn't study Shakespeare, needlepoint, or neurology at Stanford.

And given his decades of career experience running mines all over the world, retrieving valuable minerals and securing them for trade and industrial usage, he learned economics quite well. He also learned a thing or two about solving structural poverty, given his experience saving Belgium from starvation and anarchy after WWI. He had far more exposure to business, commerce, and economics in his lengthy business career than Kamala Harris would've had if she'd spent fifty years at the knee of her absent economist father. But it's not a competition. They're both products of their education and life experience, and there's really no reason for you to be so ugly about who you believe to be the smarter of the two. And by the way, any presidential historian of any bent will toss you out on your can if claim with a straight face that Herbert Hoover was an idiot.

Your comparison is lazy and nonsensical. Why bother making such an oafish and pointless claim? Are you drunk or something?

[quote] Just to be accurate. Truman made $75,000 a year during his first term as president. His salary was raised in 1949, during his second term, to 100,000.

Noted. But even a mere $75,000 in 1945 is the equivalent of $1,344,004.17 in today's dollars. Whether $75,000 or $100,000 a year, this was a huge amount of money back then.

Truman had a lot of debts, from failed business ventures, that he insisted on paying off rather than declaring bankruptcy. Some of these he managaed to pay off when he was a senator (like his haberdashery), but if I'm not mistaken he was plagued by debt after that, as well. Not saying that covers how he used his money, I really don't know. what is Nancy Pelosi worth? It's estimated at @ 250 miliion. So Truman having the equivalent of 7 or 8 million and possibly having to pay off a lot of debt doesn't exactly make him a wealthy politician in today's world.

It's more likely that he was "poor" only in comparison to the wealthy Hoover, the only other living former president when Truman left the White House.

Stealth Log Cabinette thread....

... as if Hoover would recognize today's Republican Party.

R90 he would be horrified by both parties.

Say what you will about the guy, he gave a Dam.

Hoover was a very smart man, seemed to understand logistics intrinsicly - basically, being able to see the solution to an incredibly complicated problem in his head and then was able to translate that into actual stwp-by-step solutions of supply chains and more. That's why he was called upon for saving the lives of sharecroppers in the south after a devastating flood, then how to feed millions in Europe after WWI and more.

However, he was myopic about economics... believed in unfettered capitalism. He loathed FDR and all of the New Deals programs.

I was surprised to learn that he was STILL involved in Republican politics in 1964... pushed for Goldwater to be president.

As a president, he left a mixed legacy, but he won the Noble Prize for Engineering for inventing the vacuum cleaner.

We don’t care about this guy.

Didn't they usually bring him out at every Republican convention to make a speech?

R96, he was in political exile until the late 1940's

R97 Well, here he is speaking at the Republican convention in Cleveland in 1936. he delivered an important speech on the second day of the convention.

At his last convention, in 1960.

The wife? Lou? BIG DYKE!

He looks like he threw a mean fuck from that photo.

Wasn't one of the songs in Annie about him?

And you thought Eleanor had bad teeth.

(Lou Hoover and Eleanor Roosevelt on FDR's inauguration day.)

The real Herbert Hoover.

I read that Herbert Hoover had an unusual fascination with horses-- some say it wasn't just unusual, it veered into the inappropriate.