J. Edgar Hoover

One of Hoover’s main strengths was the enthusiasm he showed in his early life and his willingness to work hard, take risks and most importantly to be honest.  In 1815, Hoover received his bachelors’ degree in mine engineering.

Hoovers early career of bargaining with labour and negotiation with the Australian government and a leading engineer in San Francisco, California showed a promising progression towards higher opportunities.  The increase of his salary was evaluated just before the mining company transferred him to China where he became a self-made millionaire.  During this time of his life he met Iowa born Lou Henry, a young woman who was also studying geology at Stanford, whom he later married in California.  He later became a chief engineer at his company.

In China, a group known in the west as the Boxers opposed European and Japanese influence.  In 1900 these Chinese nationalists launched the Boxer uprising, an attack upon foreigners living in Beijing and the Hoovers were nearby in Tianjin when the rebellion broke out.  The foreign residents took refuge in the district of the city, and Hoover and fellow engineers built a protective wall against the attackers.  Hoover and his wife risked their lives to transport food and medical supplies to the wounded and besieged.  This was probably the first taste of aid work he had encountered.

The Federal Reserve Board was created in 1913.  Ostensibly, it was to act as the lender of a last resort to prevent bank panics like the one that had occurred in 1907. 

Hoovers strengths could also be seen in the numerous articles he wrote for engineering journals.  In 1909 these articles were published in book form under the title ‘Principles of Mining’, which became a standard engineering school text on ore extraction. 

Hoover often declared he was interested in some kind of public service and his public-spirited wife agreed with his desire to aid his fellow citizens.  Hoover’s opportunity came with the outbreak of the war when he was in London.

When World War 1 began in 1914, Hoover was representing San Francisco’s Panama-Pacific Exposition, which involved providing aid to penniless and stranded Americans in Europe in administrative posts.  His post-war work as head of the American Relief Administration saved millions of lives and earned him the image of a humanitarian worker.

After the armistice of 11^th November 1918 the allied ‘Big Four’ leaders, and the American ambassador in England, asked Hoover to organise and direct as chairman of the American Relief Committee, which was assigned with the gigantic task of getting food, shelter and clothing to thousands of homeless and hungry European civilians. 

The humanitarian work made Hoover a public figure and brought him an appointment as head of the Commission for Relief in Belgium, organised to feed the starving in German occupied Belgium and northern France.  Hoover supervised the distribution of millions of tons of hostile armies and moved through naval blockades.  Hoover clearly had an organised genius, raising over a billion dollars for food and medicine within the Commission.

In the next four years the Commission fed and cared for some 10 million civilians and spent nearly $1.5 billion in the course of its operations.  The work ended in July 1919, but it had meanwhile brought him world fame.  Hoover resigned from all his executive positions, and for the next five years paid his own expenses and accepted no salary or fee.  Hoover believed in private charity to relieve the suffering of the poor. 

During this time federal spending grew three times larger than the usual tax collections.  The government therefore had to cut back spending to balance the budget in 1920, but this decision evidently caused a recession.

The country entered the 1920s with Warren G. Harding as president. Harding was a Republican as well as a laissez-faire capitalist.  He believed in, and advocated policies, which reduced taxes and regulation, allowed monopolies to form, and the inequality of wealth and income to reach record levels.

Harding became president in 1921, during his campaign, he promised ‘a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage’.  Hoover was appointed Secretary of Commerce and strengthened the records levels of wealth and income until he resigned in 1928.

During the seven years as head of the Department of Commerce, Hoover extended its control over mines and patents and prompted the growth of trade association and Chambers of Commerce to make industry more efficient.

Hoover also expanded the government regulation in two areas involving new technology, radio broadcasting and commercial aviation.  This made federally collected statistics more available and encouraged manufacturers to standardise parts and supplies.