The Life of Herbert Hoover: Master of Emergencies, 1917-1918 - Softcover

Nash, George H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393345955 ISBN 13: 9780393345957

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 1996

Synopsis

National Review has called this book a "magisterial work of scholarship on one of our least-known presidents, and an important era in American history."

The entry of the United States into the First World War in late 1911 found Herbert Hoover at a crossroads. Three years earlier, he had been a successful mining engineer in London. Then, as the war intensified in Europe, Hoover founded and led the Commission for Relief in Belgium, which provided desperately needed fuel to more than nine million Belgian and French citizens trapped between the German army of occupation and the British naval blockade.

That emergency undertaking eventually evolved into one of the greatest humanitarian enterprises in history. It also brought Hoover into international prominence.Here Herbert Hoover moves toward Washington and center stage in his own country. Shortly after the United States's declaration of war, he entered into able service under Woodrow Wilson as a member of the President's War Cabinet and U.S. Food Administration. His goal was to standardize food production to control surging food prices, and to create surpluses of exportable foodstuffs for America's allies. "Food will win the war" became Hoover's slogan.

About this title

About the Author

George H. Nash, a frequent contributor of articles on American conservatism, Herbert Hoover, and related topics, lives in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

From Kirkus Reviews

The third volume of Nash's definitive biography further enhances the stature of a too often disparaged great American. Nash begins with the US entry into WW I in April 1917, at a point when Hoover's extraordinary humanitarian efforts had already saved nearly ten million Belgians and French from starvation. Nash records the myriad problems Hoover faced when President Wilson made him the national ``food administrator,'' charged with ensuring that Americans had enough to eat while still exporting sufficient food to keep the embattled Allies in the war. Hoover was labeled the ``food dictator'' by hostile Farm Belt congressmen when he tried to mobilize and impose national controls on agriculture, and he quickly aroused the ire of farmers as well. But the former mining engineer was right: He clearly foresaw the problems of runaway inflation and serious food shortages as countries bid for food on the open market during panic times. Ironically, this quintessentially individualist businessman fought for, and got, strict government control of food production, food prices, and export quotas. As Nash shows, Hoover's finely tuned management abilities and determination accomplished the impossible: Neither Americans nor their allies went hungry. (``Food will win the war,'' Hoover argued, and Wilson listened.) He sketches a portrait of an intelligent, exceedingly complex man who lacked social graces but, in contrast to his tough exterior, frequently cried in private at the plight of the Belgian people. He was a marvel of dedication and hard work. Nash leaves the ``Great Engineer'' using his formidable abilities in the postWW I world to halt the spread of Communism over a devastated Europe by monitoring food distribution. Nash's well-researched reporting of Hoover's public life in 191718 should be of interest to scholars, but for the general reader, an entire volume covering two years in Hoover's life may offer more detail than they need. (41 photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0393345955
• ISBN 13: 9780393345957
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 672