Chapt Seventeen- American Dream Girl

Chapter 17

American Dream Girl

Lou about 1886, age 12- probably made by

 itinerant photographer D. S. Mitchell.

Contrary to the nation's perceptions, the Hoovers did not cause, nor could anyone have easily resolved the depression, which became an epic nightmare. And up until that inevitable and complicated series of adjustments, the Hoovers had lived the most exciting, fruitful, and satisfying lives. They were the epitome of the “American Dream.”

Lou was a natural scrapper, born into a struggling family, where her father tried various enterprises from Iowa to Texas before he found personal success as a banker in California. He adored his oldest daughter, and modified his desire for a son by entertaining Lou with affordable pastimes they both could enjoy, like camping and fishing, and she loved it. Lou Hoover was a natural “tomboy,” and loved the out of doors as much as her father. Nature truly fed her soul.

Lou grew up as comfortable in a saddle, or sleeping under the stars, as other girls might have been in the most modern ice cream parlor. Nature was her finishing school, but she excelled in the classroom as well. A talented artist and writer, she was the editor of her school paper. Even then she was ahead of her time, exploring female freedoms in an essay she named The Independent Girl, whom she proudly claimed was “truly of quite modern origin, and usually is a most bewitching piece of humanity...” and who “ never asks for and seldom receives advice of any kind.”

Fittingly, she relished in playing the role of Joan of Arc in a school pageant, she and a friend spending hours wielding tin-snips, fashioning Joan's chain mail out of tin can lids. One look at her strong, yet innocent face made her an obvious choice for the part. And she had the spirit of Joan to match. Lou, in an uncanny alignment of talent, body and spirit, was Joan!

Lou Hoover, a perfect Jehanne d'Arc, about 13

 years of age. This was a “cabinet card” made

 about 1887, probably by D. S. Mitchell, a widely

 traveled itinerant photographer.

Lou was certainly born into a generation which produced a fresh kind of warrior, and wrote of her modern idea of the battle between the sexes... and marriage, where her beloved independence might require some degree of sacrifice: “ …sooner or later she is sure to meet a spirit equally as independent as her own, and then- there is a clash of arms ending in mortal combat, or they unite forces and with combined strength go forth to meet the world.” Thankfully, Providence would insure the latter.

The saucy tomboy grew into a robust young woman, who dared to dream of competing with men for an “unladylike” career in what had always been a man's territory. Her interest in the outdoors led her to study Geology, which led her to cross paths with a handsome upperclassman at Stamford... “Bert” Hoover.

Shown here is a rare cabinet card which shows

 Hulda Hoover in the prime of life with her first son, 

Herbert'solder brother and near clone, Theodore 

“Tad” Jesse Hoover.

Herbert's father, Jesse Clark Hoover, was a respected blacksmith and implement merchant but died when he was just 34 years old. Hulda, Hoover's mother, only lived a few years longer. When she suspected that she would not survive, she sent her children to her sister in Oklahoma, to make sure they were cared for, and spared them the memory of her last days.

Jesse Clark Hoover, a rawboned blacksmith, 

never knew his youngest son would someday

 would be president

This selfless, motherly act in a time of distress was well embodied in the character and life of Herbert Hoover. Herbert and his siblings were moved to Pawhuska, Oklahoma to live with their aunt and uncle on the Osage Indian Reservation in 1882, where his uncle was the Indian Agent. Being the classic middle child, Herbert grew up quickly in the midst of tragedy and heartbreak, and began to serve his homeless brood, holding things together, following his older brother's lead, protecting his little sister, as the three faced a harsh and uncertain world. No silver spoons glistened on their high chairs... not even a silver lining in their childhood clouds of despair.

The Hoover boys- 

orphaned when just toddlers

Later they were sent to live with their relatives in Oregon. The children were raised as Quakers and all of them got educations, including college for the boys... and they made the most of their narrow stepping stone to the “American Dream.”

The larger part of these Hoover family tintypes unveiled in this book were of poor quality and the aged originals are in rough condition, and required restoration. It appears that they may have been “borrowed” from Hoover's sister Mary, who lived in California. And most probably they were borrowed by Rose Wilder Lane, a young writer who lived in California at that time and was writing Herbert Hoover's first comprehensive biography, long before his rise to the presidency. Most of the photos were made during their youth and long before young Bert was a successful businessman, and before he developed his trademark, rotund physique. Rusty and corroded, They well illustrate Hoover's humble, raw-boned beginnings.

Hoover's little sister Mary, probably the

 source of these tintypes, which appear 

to have landed in a publishing house.

Bert and Lou met at Stamford and immediately shared an affinity. Both born in eastern Iowa, in fact less than a hundred miles apart, both relocated through struggles and hardship to seductive, bountiful California, both growing up with a special love and curiosity for Nature, and sharing a devoted fascination in Geology. No doubt the predictions of Charles Darwin, that some geologist of their generation would uncover the missing link in the geological record, to connect humans to the chain of previous mammalian evolution, inspired their imaginations. But neither of them could afford any “higher education.” Providentially, Stamford College had special financing available for those stellar students like them who could not afford it. Here at Stamford the God they worshiped had supplied them with everything they would need to get an education, pursue a career, and ultimately, marry and raise a family.

As if mapped by destiny, the two Iowans had crossed paths in California at Stamford in their individual searches for self-betterment. And every element for their future had been made possible by Providential guidance, in a serendipitous field of opportunity; two underprivileged youths striving in a harsh world which had no favorites, but armed with no less than the omniscient blessing of a generous God.

“Knock, and the door shall be opened to you...”

Strangely, as they met, one could say their “luck had changed,” from two poor youths laden with big dreams into budding elites, standing at the threshold of life. This invisible door, rarely ever perceived by most individuals, was opened wide simply by walking in faith. Both of them were too young and inexperienced to have had very grand aspirations, or to realize what was happening then. California was crawling with optimistic, progressive opportunists, ambitious young men and women seeking their fortunes, ready to climb the ladder of American success. The world has no favorites, but they were both raised to believe that God loves everyone, and keeps his promises to the faithful.

Faith would make the difference. Both of them were inculcated with noble aspirations, regardless of financial circumstances, especially Bert who had been discipled in a Quaker community. Quakers emphasized the “priesthood of the believer,” placing every individual soul at God's throne, with no mediator, and moral responsibility in the lap of each person. And Quakers had a very rare and high regard for the role of women in the family and the church and in the community. Thus Lou would have started out on a nearly even plane with Bert- in his mind, from the very beginning. This was an extremely unusual situation for any woman, even an American female. And Quakers were instinctive Capitalists, as prudent, godly living led to stability and prosperity, and prosperity led to security and investment and even philanthropy, and God was thus glorified.

Young Quaker-raised Bert Hoover

Lou had been exposed to these unique Quaker concepts when she first moved to a Quaker settlement in California as a young teen... and must have seen a glimpse of these qualities in her beau, and embraced them wholeheartedly, and as time passed, she faced his future and his challenges with no hesitation. She was one of his early devotees, and she would be the ideal helpmate designed by God for Man as described in the Bible; the lieutenant always there to tip his scales towards success. And he to hers. She became his trusted accomplice, yet a worthy iconoclast with her own ambitions, and thus would become a first lady of firsts.

They married and, individually admired by their professors and employers, fulfilled expectations as they rose to the top through hard work, and incredible sacrifice. Herbert Hoover was already a world traveler when they wed, first working in Australia as a mining engineer. Unthinkable for most people, together Bert and Lou translated Agricola's De re Metallica, an ancient mining manuscript which they had studied in college, from Latin into English, in their spare time. This obscure cache of wisdom would help to revolutionize modern mining operations. This was the kind of superfluous mental power available to the two, and the way Lou utilized her time and abilities.

Herbert Hoover, educated as an engineer, 

ready to take on the world. The oval inset is 

from a tintype in the collection of the author

Soon Hoover and his talents were sent to Burma, and then Russia, providing modern mining solutions to his employer in developing countries, as the couple gained several new languages and a deep understanding of international social and political dynamics.

The epitome of proverbial American “boot-strappers” the Hoovers never forgot the status they grew up in, and were known as generous, even philanthropic achievers. The Hoover's record before their residency in the White House was laden with brilliant achievements, both industrial and humanitarian, rarely matched by any presidential couple, of any era. The two were an amazing team, adventuresome, multi-lingual problem solvers. And the problems were sometimes as formidable as they come.

The Hoovers were sent to China just in time to be surrounded at Tientsin by a hostile Chinese throng, intent on killing all foreigners. Lou met the siege with insolence, carrying her trusty pistol, dodging bullets on her bicycle, aiding medical operations at the local hospital during what became known as the Boxer Rebellion, where thousands of whites were proudly killed throughout China in the name of racial and religious cleansing. 250 Christian missionaries were executed, along with 30,000 of their Chinese converts. Lou's bicycle tires were shot out... but not her spunk. But she did confess to a friend in a letter that she and others had no choice in the incident but to...

“...stand by our guns until the end with one last bullet kept back for each one of ourselves...” And yet she never allowed others to characterize her as a hero, in that or any other situation. It was no big thing.

The Hoovers had two sons, both born in England, both of whom grew up to be engineers... Lou told her sons that their father, for instance, had done many “big things,” but at the time, nobody realized they were big, or thought they were ever going to be perceived as such. She doubted that they would ever be called upon for such dramatic things... It was best to just greet each task, whatever you do as if it were important, and to cheerfully do what God places in your path. Lou heartily exemplified the pioneer adage: “Stir what you got.” Her sons were shaped with this challenge: “...to make the things that are, better, in a little way, with what is at hand.”

Confidence, independence, self-reliance, these were their guides. She taught her boys that taking charity of any kind was only an option of last resort; That “...We must be trying as hard as we can first with what we have before we ask for anything else,- or any more.”

The Hoovers were based in England when World War I erupted, partly because of Lou's second pregnancy. Over 100,000 fellow Americans were suddenly stranded in Europe, and Herbert accepted an assignment to lead American businessmen in England to help get them home quickly and safely. This required loans, sometimes outright mercy offerings, and diplomatic miracles. But by late 1914, Hoover and his team had already assisted 40,000 of those stranded. Lou led the Resident American Women's Relief Committee, which assisted over 26,000 women and children in returning to the States. Again, “no big thing,” but it was a big thing to those they helped, to stop your life and get so involved in other people's plight. To the Hoovers, it was merely an act of conscience for a patriot, or for any compassionate person, who could not have done otherwise.

After the stranded Americans were successfully repatriated, the Hoovers turned their attention to the terrorized European citizenry, who were suffering greatly and dying by the tens of thousands.

It is human nature to tell oneself that “It is not my problem.” It is Divine Nature to make another person's burden your own. Jesus's most famous parable, of the “Good Samaritan,” exposed the human tendency, even among the most “godly” to look the other way when we are confronted with human suffering. But the Hoovers were always going upstream. This inner compulsion for service to mankind had been inspired by the Quaker definition of humanity, and refined in the fires of a continental holocaust, and this was the anvil upon which the Hoover's marriage and mission was forged.

Always at the vanguard of human response to a community threat, Lou would have shrugged at her efforts helping to implement her husband's programs through the Commission for Relief in Belgium. Hoover's hand-picked committee and the Red Cross joined in an effort to save as many homeless and hungry persons as possible after the Germans bombed and besieged its European neighbors. While in England, Lou focused her wartime efforts on the occupants of 200 beds at the Red Cross Surgical Hospital. Then, in typical humanitarian activism, it was no big thing for Lou to sail back on the ocean liner Lusitania to California, and in so doing risk being sunk by a German submarine and lost at sea.

That risk was braved in order for her to work tirelessly to raise money for Bert's European relief efforts. So she did, making many public appearances and pleas up and down the West Coast for the beleaguered Belgians, which translated into hundreds of thousands of dollars being fed into relief efforts.

The Lusitania was sunk by the Germans not long after, destroying the ship and killing nearly one thousand, two hundred persons aboard, including 114 Americans. Lou had been spared, as if her life still had much more to do in the future.

Together the Hoovers majestically executed a worldwide campaign to deliver badly needed food and supplies to innocent European victims of the war. Out of gratitude, Herbert Hoover was named an honorary citizen of Belgium. General John J.“Blackjack” Pershing dubbed him “Food Regulator of the World.” Edith Jordan, a prominent California professor, declared his tireless wife “the most capable woman alive.” There can be no doubt, that even today the Belgians know it was a “big thing.” This was the beginning of the Hoover's International popularity as one of the world's most admired couples.

WWI was an unfathomable apocalypse, which America had been forced to enter and shut down at her own great cost. The staggering loss of FORTY MILLION lives left the world in temporary depression and chaos. It was no big thing again, when Lou led American women in England to assist wounded and crippled American servicemen in getting home to America after this devastating war had run its deadly course.

Herbert Hoover was credited for saving thousands of Belgians from starvation when their country was cut off from their food supply for many months during the war. He had a knack for attacking a certain problem and convincing others, powerful, moneyed others to cooperate. He was a genuine “man of the world” and had established himself as an able manager and dependable performer in desperate situations. Many Americans watched with pride as the Hoovers did what they would- if they could.

Sadly, and not surprisingly, global money manipulators were taking advantage of this crisis, scarfing up European assets on the cheap, and even profiting from the transfer of American goods to European distress. The final peace left most European countries impoverished and in insurmountable debt, which would result in a continuing food crisis, and eventually- another world war.

Upon her return to the States, Lou Hoover was typically exemplary, modestly noble, and downright useful. What was life's purpose if not applying oneself to worthy causes, and ones which affected many lives? Lou Immediately went to work in support of Herbert's latest passion, the European Children's Relief. She found and exploited her talent at fund-raising, as she introduced a novel strategy.

At banquets all over the country, she won American's hearts by honoring an “invisible guest” of honor. At the place of honor was a empty high chair, with the iconic placement of a crude tin dish topped in gruel, the typical meal of a Belgian orphan. As all the attendees were served the same, Lou described the circumstances and children across the pond, whom she knew too well, and people automatically gave up their money... into the hundreds of thousands.

Among her many interests and causes, Lou helped to found the Girl Scouts of America.

Juliette Low founded the Girl Scouts in 1912, and once on its feet, she personally recruited Lou Hoover in 1917, upon her return from her post-war humanitarian efforts. First Lou agreed to be the Acting Commissioner in Washington DC. Together she and Low expanded the Girl Scout organization from 13,000 members to 840,000 by 1945.

Because of her devotion to the organization, girl scouting ultimately impacted millions of children's lives, becoming one of the most important youth organizations in the world.

Through Girl Scouts, girls were finally learning the life skills and getting the leadership training that American boys had been benefiting from. It was the culmination of patriotism, religious faith, camping, and preparation for life. Lou was impressed that girl scouting, by role-modeling and instruction, “makes them want to do the things they should do.” Girls learned camping and domestic skills, under an umbrella of Judeo-Christian values and American citizenship. Lou Hoover's love of the out of doors, and children, and our American culture, prompted her into its cause, and she became an active influence in the organization and served it in various capacities for most of her adult life.

Her greatest contribution may have been fund-raising, which she dreaded but in her humility had noteworthy success, landing significant grants from the American Relief Administration and the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Foundation. Lou's goal was to fund leadership training for GSA, which insured its success as well as its reputation. Girl Scouts of America became one of the top charities, ranking as the eighth most popular in the nation. Lou would serve many years on the Girl Scout Council in Washington, and twice as its president. When Herbert was elected President, she was named the Honorary President of the Girl Scouts as well. But she loved working directly with the girls, and was also a troop leader for a decade.

Lou Hoover also pioneered the establishment of Girl Scout “Little Houses,” beginning in 1925, which gave girls a place to meet and learn Girl Scouting. By 1930 there were seventy such houses all over the United States. The title of “Little Houses” was most likely an inspiration for Laura Ingalls Wilder, mother of Herbert Hoover's biographer, who wrote the popular “Little House” series of children's books starting in 1932. She might well have dovetailed her series with the Girl Scout movement, capitalizing on the opportunity to make the out of doors an exciting and nostalgic challenge for American girls. Boy Scouts had Davy Crockett. Girl Scouts would have Laura Ingalls.

Lou was an instinctive leader and educator, and insisted that Girl Scouts not be like school, but something fun for girls. “Don't forget the joy!” was her insistent motto. Fittingly, there is a Girl Scout camp named after her.

An avid outdoorswoman, a woman of action, she was a natural leader for the Girl Scouts of America. In 1937 she confided to a GSA crowd in Iowa how happy she was to address them, at the place where scouting had started for her. “My first camping, my first cooking and eating outdoors, my first night sleeping under the stars, my first canoeing and fishing... I was a Girl Scout before Girl Scouting.”

After the “War to end all wars,” President Wilson put Herbert Hoover in charge of the U. S. Food Administration, to help stabilize food production and prices and to efficiently distribute food to Americans, to hopefully mitigate the global food crisis. This assignment soon evolved into the American Relief Administration, as Americans, who suffered little domestic damage or crop losses during the war, sought to share their bounty with their allies. So busy in Europe, Hoover was not brought back to the States until the Harding Administration in 1921, when he was appointed Secretary of Commerce.

Amazingly, when President Warren Harding was embarrassed by the infamous “Teapot Dome” scandal, Hoover's star still shone brightly. His hardy reputation would require more than a presidential political scandal to be tarnished. Horrified by the scandals, Lou provided leadership at the ground-breaking National Women's Conference on Law Enforcement. She was very concerned that the Hoover name be associated with integrity, and Law and Order.

After President Harding's sudden death, and Vice President Coolidge's unexpected ascent, Herbert was naturally grafted into Calvin Coolidge's Administration in1923.

Even then, Lou was perceived as being an emerging force of Nature, a valuable female voice who had earned her stripes and the administration's ear, and TIME Magazine put her on their cover in April of 1924. Her husband Bert followed the next year, donning his western-style Stetson on the 1925 November issue. It was imperceptible who was following who. Biographers like Rose Wilder Lane saw the Hoover's growing popularity and clamored to gain approval for themselves by getting interviews with the man sure to be president some day. If they could find him.

When the Mississippi River flooded in 1927 and displaced one and a half million people from their homes, governors of six states affected by the disaster petitioned President Coolidge to put the one man in charge of disaster relief in whom they had confidence, Herbert Hoover. After his effective performance there, and recognition by the Press, his commanding persona began to overshadow and inadvertently threaten the brooding and jealous President in Washington D.C... sadly straining their trust and friendship.

President Coolidge's support from the American people was waning even faster than his personal enthusiasm for Secretary Hoover, whose aura of heroism began to displace his preeminence. Having inherited his office and the subsequent advantage as an incumbent after the sudden death of President Harding, Coolidge was beginning to feel very vulnerable, and suspected that Secretary Hoover had presidential aspirations. And Coolidge not only saw the writing on the wall, but feared that he could not beat him. He surprised everyone when he announced that he would not seek re-election in 1928.

Public servants can do a great deal of good, and please many citizens, until they are elected to office and suddenly have to please everyone. And number one will always be “Big Money.” Coolidge had not impressed the average American, and he had not served, or perhaps refused to serve the country's economic powers either. And superficially, President Coolidge may have been distracted and acted emotionally in his response to an unfair popularity contest. Hoover was a commanding rival, in a national competition which he was losing, and it would have been frustrating to watch Secretary Hoover make points with special interest groups outside of his reach, while the Media made sport of his own quirks.

Still, bizarrely, Coolidge and his wife were often seen accompanying the Hoovers, helping to pick his running mate at the Republican National Convention, and riding together as tradition required on the day of Herbert Hoover's inauguration. President Coolidge could hardly maintain his sarcasm as the American people anxiously awaited the new first lady. Already identified by one journalist as the “intellectual light of the cabinet,” the Woman's Home Companion described Lou Hoover as a bona fide woman of the world, who had already met with many of the greatest crises in world history. She was further hailed as “an experienced observer of statesmen and statesmanship,” the ideal future mistress of the White House, which Lou supposedly described as “the most beautiful as well as the most honored home in the world.” It was all too perfect. And so they ran, but they were lambs before the slaughter.

Apparently no other Republican thought they could beat him either. It was thought impossible, but Herbert Hoover was nominated on the first ballot at the Republican National Convention. He shrugged and stepped into history, and ran an easy race against Al Smith, a weak Democratic opponent. He won in an historic landslide victory, garnering 444 of 531 electoral votes, even taking five states in the deep Democratic south. Herbert Hoover gathered more votes than any other candidate in American history, carrying 40 of the 48 states.

Quick to use his coming office, Hoover and his wife then made an unprecedented and overdue “goodwill” tour of Latin America. They truly anticipated a benevolent new world, with International cooperation and shared prosperity, if the Nations would only follow. At his inauguration, President Hoover spoke ambitiously of “the day when poverty will be banished from this nation.”

“If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.”