August 28, 2013
Herbert Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st President of the United States (1929–1933).
His accomplishments are many despite early setbacks.
Born to a Quaker family and orphaned at age nine, Hoover made a fortune as a professional mining engineer after graduating from Stanford University.
In the lobby of the museum is a mixed-media sculpture by Iowa artist Richard Pinney that combines objects and photographs related to the former president.
This section of the sculpture has Hoover's birthdate and family photos; in the photo on the right, he is between his siblings, a sister and brother. When their parents died quite young, the kids were farmed out separately to different relatives. Bertie was sent on the train to his stern Quaker Uncle in Newberg, Oregon.
Hoover married Lou Henry. As a girl she loved camping, horses, hunting; she enrolled in Stanford in 1894 as the school's only female geology major. In 1898 the year she graduated from Stanford, Hoover cabled a marriage proposal from Australia which she promptly accepted by return wire.
The day after they were married, both age 24, they sailed from San Francisco to Shanghai. Hoover's job required extensive travel through remote and dangerous areas which they did together. This statue shows the newlywed, Lou, assisting in the Boxer Rebellion, holster and pistol at the ready.
Hoover was extremely successful organizing humanitarian efforts following both World Wars.
In spite of the heat the blacksmith was on the job outside the air conditioned Visitor Center.
This modern-day worker was well-informed on Hoover and American history in general. We agreed the motto E Pluribus Unum should be restored. (Out of many, one.)
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