Hoover graduated from Stanford University in 1895 with a degree in engineering. Over the next 19 years he earned a fortune as an engineer travelling around the world. During World War I, he was chairman of the US Commission for Relief in Belgium and won wide recognition for his humanitarian efforts. Wilson appointed him to the post of US Food Administrator from 1917 to 1919 and his abilities were credited with helping to shorten the war. He was appointed Secretary of Commerce under Harding and Coolidge in 1921 and held that position until Coolidge decided not to run for re-election in 1928. He was nominated as the Republican candidate and easily defeated his rival, Al Smith, by an electoral vote of almost 6 to 1. The stock market crash of 1929 brought on the longest economic downturn in American history and Hoover responded by cutting taxes, increasing public works and setting up the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to make government loans to business. Nevertheless, by 1932, and with the Depression still lingering on, he was defeated by Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1947, Truman appointed Hoover to head the European food program and shortly after in 1949 he headed the Hoover Commission which advised Congress on reorganization of the executive branch of government. |
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