Herbert Hoover – (No. 31)
– Rapidan Camp, Shenandoah Mountains, VA – June 1, 2019
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| President Herbert Hoover (Source: Smith, 2005) |
Herbert
Hoover shared many traits of our current president, Donald Trump. Hoover made a load of money before he went
into politics. He had also never run for a political office
before he won the presidency. (His only
previous race was for Stanford student body president which he won.) Also, he took no salary while president. And, he liked tariffs.
Herbert
Hoover was born in 1874 into a Quaker family but his parents died young. His father died of a heart attack when Herbert
was only six. His mother died two years
later from pneumonia. So, he was raised
by aunts and uncles. He was raised as a
Quaker but said that he “didn’t work very hard at it.” (Moore, 2007).
He
graduated from Stanford with a geology degree and went on to become a mining
engineer. He found a job working for a
gold miner who sent him to Australia to search for gold. His next assignment was China. But first, Hoover returned to the states to
marry his college sweetheart, Lou Henry, who had studied geology with him at
Stanford.
Then
the Hoovers left for China. While on
their boat, they studied Mandarin and eventually became quite fluent. They used it throughout their lives as a
“secret” language. The Hoovers were in
China during the Boxer Rebellion in 1899 and were under bombardment for a month
until American troops showed up. While
they were awaiting rescue, Hoover set up a food rationing system for the
trapped Americans. This was the start of
his life of public service.
When
they returned to the United States, in 1908, Hoover started his own engineering
company. He was known as the “doctor of sick mines.” He was enterprising and thrifty—undoubtedly due
to his Quaker upbringing. And he was a
great businessman. By 1914 he was worth
$4M, a hefty sum at the time (about $100M in today’s dollars).
As
war clouds were forming in Europe, Hoover helped 150,000 American tourists and
expats trapped in Europe, make their way home.
He used some of his own money to help them.
Then
Germany cut off the population of Belgium, a neutral country. The Germans stole Belgium food and cut off
their supply lines. Hoover, who was living
in London, agreed to coordinate food relief efforts. He created an organization called the
Commission for Relief of Belgium (CRB). He shuttled back and forth from London
to Europe to coordinate the relief and even traveled to Germany to obtain their
cooperation. CRB ships were marked so
that German submarines would not attack them.
Even so, a few ships were torpedoed and sunk. When it was going at full steam, the CRB was feeding
10 million people an average of 1,800 calories a day every day for four
years. And Hoover raised money to run
the organization. Thrifty Hoover kept
the overhead low and to “Hooverize” came to mean to economize.
Hoover
took no salary for his work.
Once
America entered the war in 1917, President Wilson asked Hoover to lead the U.S.
Food Administration. The purpose was to
increase food production and decrease food demand. Hoover instituted “Meatless Mondays” and
“Wheatless Wednesdays” to cut consumption.
He also encouraged citizens to grow their own food in “victory gardens.” He did all this coincident with his
leadership of the CRB.
Upon
taking office in 1921, President Harding named Hoover Secretary of Commerce. When Harding died in 1923, President Coolidge
kept Hoover in the post.
As
Secretary, Hoover helped standardize parts for various industries (automobile,
electric lights, etc.) which helped with the mass production that firms were
using. For example, it was Hoover who
came up with a standard paper size of 8-1/2”
x 11”.
During
the disastrous Mississippi River flood of 1927, he coordinated the flood relief
across six states. He also promoted the development of inland waterways such as
the Columbia River, the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Colorado River.
But
Coolidge grew to dislike Hoover; he called him “Wonder Boy.” Coolidge said of Hoover: “That man has offered me unsolicited advice
for six years. All of it bad” (Moore,
2007).
When
Coolidge declined to run in 1928, Hoover became the Republican candidate. Given the Roaring 20s economy, Hoover had a
huge advantage. Alfred E. Smith, the
Democratic candidate was also handicapped because he was a Catholic; he was
thought by some to be more loyal to the Pope than to the United States. On election day, Hoover buried Smith with 440
electoral votes to 87 for Smith. The
popular vote total was 21.5 million versus 15 million. Hoover became the first president born west
of the Mississippi River.
In
his inauguration speech on March 4, 1929, Hoover declared that “I have no fear
for the future of this country. It is
bright with hope” (Moore, 2007)
That
didn’t last long.
At
first the stock market continued to rise due to unregulated speculation. It hit 380 in August 1929. That would be the highest the market would
reach until 1955.
But
the economy was slowing. Purchasing was
slowing down and unsold inventories were piling up—tripling in one year. With demand cooling, industrial production slowed. Producers cut prices to encourage
buyers. But that just encouraged people to
delay purchases in hopes of lower prices.
(Ironically, Hoover had gone into his presidency wanting to fight
inflation.)
Businesses
began to lay off workers, slowly at first, then in buckets. Between 1929 and 1933 unemployment would rise
from 3.2 to a jaw dropping 24.9 percent.
In
the countryside, unsold agricultural inventories were piling up. In June 1929, Hoover signed the Agricultural
Marketing Act of 1929 to give limited aid (i.e., loans) to farmers. The Federal government also funded a Wheat
Stabilization Corporation and a Cotton Stabilization Corporation to help prop
up prices. But this only led to over
production and the corporations’ funds were rapidly spent.
On
October 29, the stock market crashed—16 million shares were sold. By the end of October, $16B in market value
had evaporated.
Hoover
took the bully pulpit and attempted to browbeat industry into continued
economic prosperity. He brought rail
executives together in November 1929 and asked them to continue their construction
activities. He also met with other big
industrial leaders and asked them to avoid layoffs and keep wages up. He also asked businesses not to cut payrolls
or reduce production. He asked governors
and mayors to keep up public works and created a bureau to coordinate
this. He met with labor leaders and asked
them to avoid pushing for wage increases.
He
asked Congress to fund large public spending projects which by November 1929
had risen to the highest level in five years ($423M). By 1930, Congress had spent $100M but that had
only provided jobs to 4.5 million workers.
The
Federal Reserve did the opposite of what was needed. They tightened monetary policy which added
pressure on the banking industry which was disincentivized from making
loans. Banks began to fail. For example, in Utah 32 of 105 banks failed. In 1931, the Bank of the United States
closed.
During
the 1920s, the Republicans had favored high tariffs. But that was now straining the fragile
economy. But the President and Congress
kept pushing them. In June 1930,
Congress passed a tariff bill known as the Hawley-Smoot Bill. It was the wrong move at the wrong time. Other countries retaliated and put their own
tariffs in place. More than one thousand
members of the American Economic Association signed a letter opposing tariffs. Within two years, imports had dropped 40
percent.
And
unemployment kept rising. It reached 16
percent in 1931 and reached 30 percent in 1921.
Blacks, in particular, were especially hard hit. In Pittsburgh: 38 percent of the unemployed
were African American even thought they were only 8 percent of the population. And in Chicago, blacks made up 16% of the unemployed
even though they were only 4% of population.
But
Treasury Secretary Paul Mellon wasn’t concerned because he wanted to wring the
excesses out of the economy. The Federal government unwisely tried to balance
the budget and continued to maintain the gold standard, both of which removed
liquidity from the stagnant economy.
But
when the mid-term elections of 1930 came around, the voters remained hopeful
that the Republicans could pull the country out of its tailspin. Voters gave more seats to Republicans in the House
and maintained the status quo of Republican control in the Senate.
Europe
was sharing America’s economic woes with a steep economic downturn of their own. Some countries went off the gold standard and
devalued their currencies. But the
currency devaluation reduced their ability to buy U.S. goods adding to the
economic pressure on the U.S. To help
Europe, Hoover pushed for a moratorium on German WWI debt. But France did not support this, and German
banks began to collapse in July 1931.
In
1932, Congress passed, and Hoover signed, a tax increase bill (Revenue Act of
1932) which raised the top rate from about mid-20 percent to 63 percent. It was yet another wrong move.
But
Hoover did create the Reconstruction Finance Corps in 1932 to loan money to banks
and industry.
Overall,
Hoover was taking an increasing share of the blame for the economic
depression. (It was actually Hoover who came up with term
“depression”; previously they had been called “panics” (McElvanie, 1984)). The shacks built by the homeless became known
as “Hoover Hotels.” Groups of shacks were
a “Hooverville.” A “Hoover Flag” was empty
pants pockets turned inside out.
In
the summer of 1932, things got worse.
Between
ten and twenty thousand jobless veterans gathered in Washington, DC to demand an
immediate bonus for their service rather than have to wait until the date that Congress
authorized the payment: 1945. The so
called “Bonus Army” set up a makeshift camp in Anacostia Flats, within sight of
the U.S. Capitol. President Hoover was
opposed to paying the bonuses and called on the Army to remove the vets. The Army assigned future WWII generals, Douglas
MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower and George Patton to the task. They used tanks,
gas masks and fixed bayonets to rout the vets.
Then they burned the camp. Hoover
said, “Thank God we still have a
government…that knows how to deal with a mob” (Smith, 2005). When Franklin Roosevelt, the Democratic
presidential nominee, heard about the debacle, he crowed, “This elects me”
(Moore, 2007).
* * *
It
took us a while to visit President Herbert Hoover. It wasn’t that we didn’t
want to, it’s that we couldn’t.
We
didn’t want to travel to his birthplace in Iowa — a great decision because he moved
to Oregon by age 10. Instead, we found his Summer White House, Rapidan Camp, in
nearby Shenandoah Valley, VA. Rapidan, named for the nearby Rapidan River, was
Hoover’s Summer White House.
But
Rapidan is closed in the winter and doesn’t open until “late spring.” This
year, late spring meant the beginning of meteorological summer, or June. That’s
because ice storms pounded Shenandoah National Park last winter and kept
Skyline Drive — the only public road in the park — closed for four months. The
National Park Service got part of the road open only at the end of March. That
delayed things.
However,
it was worth the wait.
We
drove a little more than two hours from our home in Kensington, MD through farmlands
and forests to Shenandoah for our 2 p.m. tour. We had a quick stop for lunch at
scenic Skyland, eating outside on the patio with beautiful views of the mountains
and trees.
We met “Ranger Ginny” (Browne), a retired schoolteacher, and our
12-person tour group 10 miles down the road at the Harry F. Byrd Visitors
Center at Big Meadows.
Ginny
started talking to our 12-person group about five minutes before we were to set
off on our journey …. And didn’t stop talking. She warned, “Now I tend to talk a lot. So, if you have a question, there won’t be a
natural place to jump in. You’ll just
need to cut me off.”
She
was full of information about Hoover’s life and his presidency. This is not a
“here’s the president’s dining room table” tour. She told us, “He is not the J. Edgar Hoover,
nor is he related to him. He’s also not
the vacuum cleaner guy—although he would have appreciated that technology.”
We
drove about 20 minutes in a small shuttle over a super-bumpy gravel road,
through the wide-open Big Meadow and down into the shady forest.
She
cautioned, “We pass bears all the time.
You’ll only see their butts since they’re bent over foraging for food. They look like tree stumps. I’m convinced we pass bears all the time.”
While
Cathy looked out for bears and listened to Ranger Ginny discuss the founding of
Rapidan, Tom somehow took a nap.
When
Hoover was elected president, he wanted a place he could escape to since he
loved the outdoors and was an avid fisherman. He wanted his escape to be in the
mountains, close to Washington, with good trout fishing. So, his aides drew a
100-mile radius around Washington on a map and found the Blue Ridge Mountains,
part of which park activists were trying to turn into a national park.
Hoover
sent his secretary to scout locations. With his own money, the new president
bought 164 acres at $5 per acre and said he would donate it to the U.S. for the
future use of presidents, as part of the national park.
At
first, the camp, built by the Marines, was just five tents on platforms and was
called — un-imaginatively — “Five Tents.” The site is near the confluence of
the Laurel and Mill creeks, which create the Rapidan River.
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| Hoover, the fisherman. |
Hoover
went fishing that first summer of 1929 and had lots of guests. But Hoover and
Lou quickly realized that they needed to upgrade since they were spending so
much time at the camp and their guests were too important to house in tents. So,
the Marines built cabins that included electricity, hot and cold running water,
flush toilets, and phones.
The
camp, which grew to 13 buildings, a Marine camp and a Cabinet camp — used by
Cabinet members who spent their weekends working at Rapidan during the Great
Depression —
is now down to three, with one used to house seasonal workers. The other
two are open to visitors.
The
two cabins are nestled in the woods along a stream that was created by the
Marines so that Hoover could enjoy the sound of the water from his cabin.
The
first cabin we visited was the Prime Minister’s Cottage, named for British Prime
Minister Ramsey McDonald, who was the camp’s first real guest in 1929. Prime
Minister McDonald traveled to the U.S. to meet with Hoover because he was concerned
that European countries were rebuilding their Navies in defiance of the
post-World War I agreement.
Hoover
met McDonald and his daughter Isabel (another building at the camp had been
named after her) at the White House portico and told them he was taking them to
Rapidan. McDonald had to borrow Hoover’s clothes for the outdoorsy weekend.
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| Cathy enjoying the porch off the Prime Minister's cabin. |
The
cabin is small with several rooms housing exhibits about Hoover’s presidency,
the camp and the park.
Next
up was the Brown House, home of Hoover and his wife, Lou.
But
first, a note. The Shenandoah is a national park. In this case, that means lots
of trees and rocks and …. animals. As we
approached the Hoovers’ house, Ranger Ginny stopped and said, “I have to let
you know that we have snakes that hang out here.”
“They
look like copperheads,” but they’re northern water snakes. They’re “aggressive”
but not venomous, she continued.
While
Tom was thrilled with this news, Cathy was not.
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| A big, fat northern water snake. |
And
lo and behold, 10 seconds later someone pointed out what looked like a thick
tree branch, was rather a big, fat snake.
After
that, we followed Ginny’s advice and stayed in the middle of the path and did
not stray.
The
Brown House is a traditional cabin with dark wood floors and walls and a
lovely, wide deck wrapping around three-fourths of the house and big, open
rooms. The deck is perfect for sitting and reading, contemplating nature, or (our
favorite) taking a nap.
Lou
enclosed the screened-in porch in the front and made it her office area — it
has a beautiful view of the trees and stream and is the best room in the cabin
(in our opinion).
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| The Brown House |
There
are big open areas to the left and in front, with stone fireplaces and
comfortable chairs, rocking chairs and sofas for sitting and chatting or
reading.
To
the right are the bedrooms. They are spare but do have built-in bookshelves.
Originally it was one bedroom with twin beds. The Hoovers added another bedroom
for Lou in case Hoover was working. He didn’t think it was fair to disturb her
sleep if he had to stay up late.
 |
| Ranger Ginny showing us the porch of the Brown House. |
In
the bedroom is a photo of men tossing a big ball over what looks like a
volleyball net. This is “Hooverball,”
invented by Hoover and his White House physician, Joel Boone. It consisted of tossing a 7-8 pound medicine
ball over a net spanning a tennis court.
Hoover was a big believer in physical fitness and believed your mind
needed exercise before you could work.
Hoover played the game with his cabinet members before work. (The game
is still played during Hoover’s Hometown Days every August in his hometown of
West Branch, IW.)
In
1932, FDR beat Hoover by 7 million votes.
During the transition, the country continued to suffer but FDR didn’t
offer to help the outgoing administration.
He wanted the country to continue to go downhill so Hoover would get
more blame (Shlaes, 2007).
When
Franklin D. Roosevelt took office, he visited Rapidan. But since he was in a
wheelchair, and Rapidan is not very accessible, he couldn’t use it. But he
liked the concept, so he created another version in Western Maryland, which was
called Shangri-La until the 1950s, when Dwight D. Eisenhower renamed it for his
grandson, David. Since then, it has been known as Camp David.
Directions
Rapidan
Camp is located in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, about 70 miles
from Washington, DC. Reservations must
be made in advance to visit the camp.
Tickets for the 2.5 hour tour can be purchased on this website: https://www.recreation.gov/ticket/facility/251745
or by phone: 540-999-3500 x3283. Tickets are $10. Children 12 and under are free.
References
Current, Richard N.,
Williams, T. Harry, Freidel, Frank.
1975. American History: A Survey,
Fourth Edition, Volume II: Since 1865. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
Ernsberger,
Jr., Richard. 2014. The ‘Man of Force’ Who Saved Belgium. American History. Pp. 35-43.
McElvanie, Robert S. 1984.
The Great Depression: America 1929-1941.
Times Books. New York, New York.
Moore, Kathryn. 2007. The American President. Fall River Press. New York, New York.
Shlaes, Amity. 2007. The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression. Harper Perennial. New York, NY.
Shlaes, Amity. 2013. Coolidge. Harper Perennial. New York, NY.
Smith, C. 2005. Presidents: Every Question Answered. Smithsonian Metro Books. New York, NY.
Videos
History
Channel. 2005. The
Presidents: The Lives and Legacies of
the 43 Leaders of the United States.
