Observing the life and career of the incumbent President, one’s mind wanders back fifty years. What do you think about when you hear the name Herbert Hoover? First of all, of the Great Depression of the 1930s, but perhaps also of his Quaker upbringing and his enormous humanitarian relief work in Europe during and after World War I. (Four years ago, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn remarked that the American Relief Administration under Herbert Hoover’s direction saved the lives of literally millions of Russians during the great famine of 1921-23.) Hoover was the first President born west of the Mississippi River, and he appeared in the first public demonstration of television, in 1927.
When Herbert Hoover died 16 years ago, he had lived ninety extraordinarily productive years—including a full fifty in public service. Few Americans have had careers as multifaceted and remarkable as his.
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