"President Herbert Clark Hoover", our thirty-first President was born at West Branch, Iowa, the son  of a blacksmith. President Hoover's parents died when he was very young. President Hoover was brought up by an uncle in "Indian territory in Oregon", and managed to work his way through "Stanford University" studying mining engineering.

After a short time as a clerk in an engineering office, President Hoover was sent to Australia to supervise a gold mine. On his return in 1899, President Hoover married "Louise Henry". President Herbert Clark Hoover and Louise Henry Hoover were blessed with two sons.

In 1900, President Hoover went to China to be the "Chief Engineer of the Chinese Bureau of Mines". While there, the "Boxer Rebellion" broke out and President Hoover directed food relief for stranded Europeans.

President Hoover organized his own engineering firm in 1904. He was so successful that within four years President Hoover was worth four million dollars. When "World War I" began, President Hoover and his wife were in "London, England."

One hundred thousand Americans were stranded in Europe and at the request of the American Amassador, President Hoover got loans and ships to get them home. But there was a larger job to do. The Germans had overrun Belguim.

The people in Belgium were starving, and President Hoover set out to feed them. During the next three years, President Hoover fed over ten million people with more than a billion dollars he collected.

When the "United States" entered World War I, "President Woodrow Wilson" gave President Hoover the job of managing voluntary rationing of food in the United States. President Hoover was so successful that to "Hooverize" meant to sacrifice so that other might eat.

At the end of World War I, there were millions of destitute people in Europe and President Hoover was given the job of feeding them. President Hoover distributed twenty-three million tons of food to more than thirty countries. Although President Hoover had never had anything to do with politics, "President Warren Gamaliel Harding"  named President Hoover "Secretary of Commerce", a post President Hoover also held under "President Calvin Coolidge".

In 1928, President Hoover, highly respected and well known, seemed the logical candidate for President when President Coolidge refused to run for another term. President Hoover was nominated by the Republicans Party and won an overwhelming victory.

When President Hoover took office, the country was fat and prosperous. Within seven months the "Stock Market" crashed and panic followed. President Hoover tried to reassure the public, but the United States sank deeper and deeper into depression.

Farmers lost their farms, factories were forced to close, hunger drove the people into breadlines, and President Hoover was unable to help them. When President Hoover ran against "President Franklin Delano Roosevelt" in the 1932 election, the voters rejected him.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt won by a huge majority. President Hoover retired to private life until after World War II when he again organized European relief operations. President Hoover died in New York City, New York in 1964.

Written by:
Karen Palumbo
Photography "NOT" by:
Robert Palumbo
6/1/2010