(1874-1964) 31st president of the US 1929–33, a Republican. He was secretary of commerce 1921–28. Hoover lost public confidence after the stock-market crash of 1929, when he opposed direct government aid for the unemployed in the Depression that followed.
As a mining engineer, Hoover traveled widely before World War I. After the war he organized relief work in occupied Europe; a talented administrator, he was subsequently associated with numerous international relief organizations, and became food administrator for the US 1917–19. He defeated the Democratic candidate for the presidency, Al Smith (1873–1944), by a wide margin. The shantytowns, or Hoovervilles, of the homeless that sprang up around large cities after the stock-market crash were evidence of his failure to cope with the effects of the Depression and prevent the decline of the economy. He was severely criticized for his adamant opposition to federal relief for the unemployed, even after the funds of states, cities, and charities were exhausted. In 1933 he was succeeded by F D Roosevelt.
Hoover was called upon to administer the European Food Program 1947, and in the late 1950s he headed two Hoover commissions that recommended reforms in government structure and operations. + prikaži više