Herbert Hoover: A Life

by Glen Jeansonne

Overview

“At last, a biography of Herbert Hoover that captures the man in full… [Jeansonne] has splendidly illuminated the arc of one of the most extraordinary lives of the twentieth century.”—David M. Kennedy, Pulitzer Prize-winning Author of Freedom from Fear

Prizewinning historian Glen Jeansonne delves into the life of our most misunderstood president, offering up a surprising new portrait of Herbert Hoover—dismissing previous assumptions and revealing a political Progressive in the mold of Theodore Roosevelt, and the most resourceful American since Benjamin Franklin.
 
Orphaned at an early age and raised with strict Quaker values, Hoover earned his way through Stanford University. His hardworking ethic drove him to a successful career as an engineer and multinational businessman. After the Great War, he led a humanitarian effort that fed millions of Europeans left destitute, arguably saving more lives than any man in history. As commerce secretary under President Coolidge, Hoover helped modernize and galvanize American industry, and orchestrated the rehabilitation of the Mississippi Valley after the Great Flood of 1927.
 
As president, Herbert Hoover became the first chief executive to harness federal power to combat a crippling global recession. Though Hoover is often remembered as a “do-nothing” president, Jeansonne convincingly portrays a steadfast leader who challenged congress on an array of legislation that laid the groundwork for the New Deal. In addition, Hoover reformed America’s prisons, improved worker safety, and fought for better health and welfare for children. Unfairly attacked by Franklin D. Roosevelt and blamed for the Depression, Hoover was swept out of office in a landslide. Yet as FDR’s government grew into a bureaucratic behemoth, Hoover became the moral voice of the GOP and a champion of Republican principles—a legacy re-ignited by Ronald Reagan and which still endures today.
 
A compelling and rich examination of his character, accomplishments and failings, this is the magnificent biography of Herbert Hoover we have long waited for. 

INCLUDES PHOTOS

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101991008
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/04/2016
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	933,895
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Glen Jeansonne is a Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is the author of several biographies, including The Life of Herbert Hoover: Fighting Quaker, 1928-1933 and Messiah of the Masses: Huey P. Long and the Great Depression. His book, Gerald L. K. Smith: Minister of Hate, won the Gustavus Myers Award and the Wisconsin Writers Award for the Best Non-Fiction Book.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

1 A Quaker Orphan on the Frontier 7

2 Cardinal Red 28

3 The Great Engineer 49

4 The Great Humanitarian 91

5 Samaritan to a Continent 122

6 Secretary of Commerce, Locomotive of the Economy 152

7 Into the White House 186

8 Getting a Grip on the Presidency 207

9 Holding a Finger in the Dike 228

10 Fighting the Depression 251

11 Democracy Is a Harsh Employer 270

12 Challenging the New Deal 292

13 Politics and Diplomacy Before the Second Great War 315

14 The Maelstrom of War 338

15 The Truman Years 357

16 The Republicans Return to Power 379

16 Tempest and Triumph 399

Acknowledgments 403

Essay on Sources 406

Endnotes 416

Index 445

Editorial Reviews

08/08/2016
Drawing deeply on Hoover’s archives and previous biographies, Jeansonne (The Life of Herbert Hoover: Fighting Quaker, 1928–1933), emeritus professor of history at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, energetically paints a colorful, revisionist portrait of America’s oft-maligned 31st president. Jeansonne chronicles Hoover’s journey from his Iowa childhood through his years at Stanford, his stints as a successful mining engineer overseas, his humanitarian work helping American refugees stranded in Europe in the early days of WWI, and his election as president in 1928. Soon afterward, the American economy started its spiral into the years of the Great Depression. Rather than fashion a government bureaucracy that would remain in place after the crisis, Hoover supported decentralized programs that operated at a grassroots level. In spite of Hoover’s efforts, Jeansonne points out, political critics and the public blamed Hoover for the crash and the subsequent economic hardships, and he lost the 1932 presidential election to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Returning to his California home, Hoover was often mocked for his work in the White House, but between defeat and his death in October 1964, Hoover turned his attention to writing, political diplomacy, and humanitarian work. Jeansonne’s detailed account presents a novel vision of Hoover and his place in American life. Agent: Bridget Matzie, Zachary Shuster Harmsworth. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Herbert Hoover is usually ranked near the bottom of American presidents. Glen Jeansonne’s biography of the man who was chief executive from 1929 to 1933 is a cri de coeur over what the author sees as a grievous injustice. True, Hoover did preside over the worst economic catastrophe in our nation’s history. But in Herbert Hoover: A Life, he is a fascinating and accomplished individual—the ‘most versatile American since Benjamin Franklin’—and an idealistic, dynamic president who deserves a better reputation.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Jeansonne portrays a president more centrist than extreme, a leader who might have succeeded in a second term.... Strong—well-written and well-researched.”—Amity Shlaes, Wall Street Journal

“Historian Glen Jeansonne’s fine biography, the first to treat [Herbert Hoover’s] entire life…has given us an exhaustively researched, balanced, and thorough treatment of an American life very much worth knowing about.”—The American Spectator
 
“In Herbert Hoover: A Life…Glen Jeansonne has produced an elegant, concise, and insightful full-dress biography of the former president. It will likely remain the definitive single-volume account for some time.”—The Washington Free Beacon 

“At last, a biography of Herbert Hoover that captures the man in full, from frontier orphan to accomplished engineer, acclaimed public servant, doomed President of the United States at the calamitous onset of the Great Depression, and principled but often curmudgeonly elder statesman in his twilight years. Glen Jeansonne’s account is often penetrating and unfailingly balanced—sympathetic but not sycophantic, critical when it needs to be, but never dismissive or contemptuous. He has splendidly illuminated the arc of one of the most extraordinary lives of the twentieth century.”—David M. Kennedy, Pulitzer Prize-winning Author of Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945

“Glen Jeansonne shines a bright new spotlight on arguably America's most qualified, yet most misunderstood and vilified, president. Herbert Hoover's lifetime accomplishments are unbounded, his contributions to the nation and world invaluable. This is a timely biography, with lessons as relevant today as they were in 1929.”—Richard D. White, Jr., Author of Kingfish: The Reign of Huey P. Long
 
“A new generation needs this single-volume account of Herbert Hoover's uncommon life. Glen Jeansonne tells the very American story of this Iowa orphan turned self-made international businessman, pioneer of global humanitarian relief and President of the United States. It is an epic life of a modest man who believed character was the architect of achievement.”—Margaret Hoover, Author of American Individualism: How a New Generation of Conservatives Can Save the Republican Party

“For too long, there existed the need for an accessible one-volume biography of Herbert Hoover. Glen Jeansonne's Herbert Hoover: A Life admirably fills the void.  Written with verve and wit, it is a satisfying portrait on many levels.”—Jerry Fleagle, Executive Director, Hoover Presidential Foundation

“President Herbert Hoover was a most remarkable American whom few truly know. Historian Glen Jeansonne reintroduces us to this fascinating, ill-understood man, and in the process rescues him and his amazing achievements from obscurity. If you could only read one biography this season, let it be this one.”—James W. Cortada, Author of All the Facts: A History of Information in the United States Since 1870

“Drawing deeply on Hoover’s archives and previous biographies, Jeansonne...energetically paints a colorful, revisionist portrait of America’s oft-maligned 31st president....Jeansonne’s detailed account presents a novel vision of Hoover and his place in American life.”—Publishers Weekly

“Jeansonne judiciously and luminously succeeds in making Hoover’s beliefs in efficiency, individualism, nationalism, volunteerism, and intervention overseas better known today, rescuing him from the erroneous image of an indifferent, static public figure.”—Library Journal

“Finally, a biography that captures [Hoover’s] life in full. . . . What Jeansonne's biography does most effectively is provide a window into Hoover's fine qualities as a human being, while at the same time highlighting how he became a classic example of the right man elected to high office at precisely the wrong time.”—Newsmax

From the Publisher

09/01/2016
Jeansonne (history, Univ. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; The Life of Herbert Hoover) takes on the formidable task of making stereotypically dour Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) appear winsome. By turns a frontier orphan, engineer, philanthropist, self-made millionaire, world traveler, and avid angler, Hoover served as secretary of commerce in the 1920s and chief executive during the Great Depression. As a cabinet member he was among the first to appear on an experimental TV transmission. With this biography, Jeansonne follows in the path led by historians such as George H. Nash, Gary Dean Best, and William Leuchtenberg, significantly mining archives at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum and primary sources at the Hoover Institution. The wide-ranging studies on aspects of the reflective Hoover, whose ideology sometimes overcame his pragmatism, and whose politics ranged from progressivism to conservatism, are revealing of his postpresidency career as a prolific author. VERDICT Jeansonne judiciously and luminously succeeds in making Hoover's beliefs in efficiency, individualism, nationalism, volunteerism, and intervention overseas better known today, rescuing him from the erroneous image of an indifferent, static public figure.—Frederick J. Augustyn Jr., Lib. of Congress, Washington, DC

Library Journal

2016-08-10
Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) as a lifelong champion of true GOP ideals.In a thorough, overly sympathetic biography, Jeansonne (Emeritus, History/Univ. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) asserts that the Great Humanitarian got a bad rap serving as president during the outbreak of the Great Depression. The author of an earlier work on Hoover (The Life of Herbert Hoover, Fighting Quaker: 1928-1935, 2012), as well as other books on 20th-century history, Jeansonne finds that Hoover cultivated his “pure heart” as a small-town Iowa Quaker and orphan who grew up in the great outdoors, hence his love of nature and tendency to trust his own instincts. A well-regarded engineer after his Stanford education and married to a professional geologist, Hoover became hugely wealthy from Burma mining interests by age 40. With the onset of World War I, he dedicated his energies to helping feed the starving people of Belgium, among others, under President Woodrow Wilson, and later as commerce secretary under President Warren Harding and his successor, Calvin Coolidge. With his national following at the grass-roots level helping propel him into the White House in 1928, Hoover was a strong proponent of women’s suffrage, abided by Prohibition, and worked on disarming the country for a peaceful future. However, his first eight months of “whirlwind reform” were quickly overshadowed by such economic woes as farm relief—i.e., the vilified Smoot-Hawley Tariff, which the author concedes Hoover would have been “wiser” to have vetoed. Rather than anything Hoover did or could have done, argues Jeansonne, the stock market crash ultimately did him in. Indeed, Hoover created many measures Franklin Roosevelt would implement, such as large-scale public works. Despite Hoover’s “prophetic” words, he was largely blamed for the economic crash, and he spent much of the rest of his career excoriating the New Deal and advocating for keeping the U.S. out of World War II. A hagiographic survey of an activist president agitating on the wrong side of history. A decent resource, but readers are encouraged to also consult Charles Rappleye’s Herbert Hoover in the White House (2016).

Kirkus Reviews

This audiobook is a straightforward attempt to defend the 31st president—often considered to have been ineffectual during the worst economic period in the nation’s history, the Great Depression. Straightforward is an accurate description of how narrator Mark Deakins approaches his task. Deakins has a deep, authoritative voice, terrific diction, and a great sense of pacing, which make this lengthy work interesting. He’s easy to listen to, and although he doesn’t commit specifically to character voices, he does pause and accentuate quotes so it’s easy for the listener to identify who is speaking. The audiobook itself tends to laud Hoover without much discussion of where he fell short, so the general reader will have to look elsewhere to fill in some of the history. Nonetheless, Deakins delivers a consistent audio experience. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2016 - AudioFile

This audiobook is a straightforward attempt to defend the 31st president—often considered to have been ineffectual during the worst economic period in the nation’s history, the Great Depression. Straightforward is an accurate description of how narrator Mark Deakins approaches his task. Deakins has a deep, authoritative voice, terrific diction, and a great sense of pacing, which make this lengthy work interesting. He’s easy to listen to, and although he doesn’t commit specifically to character voices, he does pause and accentuate quotes so it’s easy for the listener to identify who is speaking. The audiobook itself tends to laud Hoover without much discussion of where he fell short, so the general reader will have to look elsewhere to fill in some of the history. Nonetheless, Deakins delivers a consistent audio experience. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2016 - AudioFile