Basic Facts:
Birth: August 10, 1874 at West Branch, Iowa
Death: October 20, 1964 at New York City, NY
Married: Lou Henry (1874-1944) on February 10, 1899
Children: 2: Herbert and Allan
President: One term beginning March 4, 1929
Family
Herbert and Lou were both 24 years old when they married on February 10, 1899, at her parents’ home in Monterey, California.
The Hoovers had two sons:
- Herbert Charles Hoover (1903–1969) – engineer, diplomat. Born in London, by age two, he had been around the world twice with his globetrotting parents. He graduated from Stanford University in 1925 and began working as an aircraft engineer. He taught briefly, from 1928 to 1929, at Harvard Business School. Eventually, he turned to geophysical engineering, founding the United Geophysical Company in 1935 to develop new electronic instruments to discover oil. He served as mediator during the 1953–1954 oil dispute between Britain and Iran. He was appointed Under Secretary of State for Middle Eastern affairs 1954–1957 by President Eisenhower. He married Margaret Ava Watson and they had 3 children. He died in Pasadena, California.
- Allan Henry Hoover (1907–1993) – mining engineer and financier. Born in London, he graduated in economics from Stanford University in 1929 and earned a master’s degree from the Harvard Business School in 1931. He went into banking and operated a ranch in California for a time, but eventually he, too, became a mining engineer. A private man, he shunned publicity throughout his career. He married Margaret Coberly and they also had three children. He died in Portola Valley, California.
She made extensive study of languages including Latin, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, German, Italian and French. She was the first First Lady to make regular nationwide radio broadcasts. To date, she is the only First Lady to speak an Asian language.
Other
Hoover was the first president born west of the Mississippi River. Hoover was 6 years old when his father died of heart failure. His mother died of typhoid fever and pneumonia when Herbert was 9 years old. He and his older brother and younger sister were separated to live with various relatives. “Bertie” was put on a westbound Union Pacific train to live with his mother’s brother, John Minthorn, in Newburg, Oregon.
“If a man has not made a million dollars by the time he is forty, he is not worth much,” said Hoover, who rose from his humble origins to become a millionaire several times over.
After graduating from Stanford University with a degree in engineering, Hoover managed gold mining operations in Australia 1897-1898.
Before serving as president, Hoover led the Commission for Relief in Belgium, served as the director of the U.S. Food Administration, and served as the third U.S. Secretary of Commerce.
In the White House, Herbert and Lou would converse in Mandarin Chinese for privacy.
As First Lady, Lou discontinued the New Year’s Day reception, the annual open house observance begun by Abigail Adams in 1801.
Hoover was the second left-handed president of the United States.
The presidency was the only elected office Hoover held. President Taft once commented that “Hoover does not speak the language of the politicians.”
He won the 1928 election promising “A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage.”
The stock market crashed in October, 1929, dooming Hoover’s presidency.
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Sources:
Internet Public Library
Wikipedia/ Lou Hoover
history.com
Greenman, Barbara. The Timeline History of U. S. Presidents and First Ladies. Thunder Bay Press, San Diego, California, 2009.