Herbert Hoover’s 137th Birthday

Herbert Clark Hoover, the nation’s 31st president, was born on August 10, 1874 in West Branch, Iowa.  The Great Humanitarian, who served just one term, died on October 20, 1964, at age 90.

Widely touted for his engineering expertise and humanitarian efforts before he became president, Hoover fell victim to the Great Depression as voters tossed him out of office in 1932 in favor of the untested governor of New York, Franklin Roosevelt.  

Hoover was an incredibly competent man, but wasn’t the right man for the times of his presidency.  Had he been president in a different era, one that didn’t require a man to push the limits of the presidency, and one that didn’t require a more public and media image, he would have gone down in history as one of our better presidents.  Hoover felt constrained by the limits of power on the presidency in facing the Depression.