Sheri King: Hoover's humanitarianism serves as beacon for us all
When I began working as a tour guide at Newberg’s Hoover-Minthorn Museum, in the spring of 2024, I knew about as much about Herbert Hoover as most Americans — that he was the Great Depression president.
My overall impression, from what I had heard, was that not many people seemed to think he was worth learning about. But part of my new job description was to learn as much as I could. And once I did, I realized that I had been fed a misguided narrative about him.
It was stories like the following one that helped me see the light:
At 9 p.m. on Aug. 12, 1919, some 10 years before he became president, Hoover and his military escorts stepped out of a car and onto the streets of Poland. He was given a hero’s welcome, with military units and bands serenading him with Polish and American tributes.
The Poles had anxiously been preparing for his arrival. They drove him around Warsaw to show him a public square and other landmarks that had been named in his honor.
On Aug. 14, during the final day of his visit, he was seated as the guest of honor at a race track among the country’s highest-ranking leaders. Then the grand finale of tributes began: Armies of children gathered onto the track in a parade given to honor the American.
He was taken aback as 30,000 to 50,000 young people, many of them barefoot, poured through during the afternoon and on into the evening, waving the little paper napkin American flags they’d been given for the occasion.
You may be wondering how the people of Poland even knew of Hoover. In fact, during and after World War I, almost everyone did.
He became known as the “Great Humanitarian,” as he had been responsible during the war for the feeding of millions who might otherwise have starved, and he continued that mission in its aftermath. He dined with kings and other notables, received at least 80 honorary degrees from universities, and was awarded more than 40 medals for his humanitarian work.
That reputation helped propel him to appointment as U.S. Secretary of Commerce, and then on to a landslide election to the presidency in 1928.
Then the Depression hit. Ever since, historians and economists have debated his role in it.
The Depression debate overshadowed the rest of Hoover’s life story. But the 86 years he spent out of office were not insignificant, as you can now see.
Europeans continued to flood him with letters of thanks, explaining they had been “Hoover fed” as children. The Hoover Presidential Library in Iowa was still collecting them long after he had completed his presidency.
Hoover’s humanitarian work did not end after World War I, either. During World War II, he went back to feeding innocent victims of conflict, especially the youngest.
One of today’s best-known relief organizations for children, UNICEF, was established during this time as a direct descendant of Hoover’s relief work. The charity’s first executive director was a close friend of Hoover’s who had served on one of Hoover’s feeding committees.
One of the recurring themes in biographies of our 31st president is how he prioritized children in all of his work.
Months before the Polish children’s parade, associates said he had become concerned about reports that even after the war ended, children there were too weak from hunger to play outside, leaving the streets void of their innocent voices.
The parade had been given to show Hoover that, because of his team’s post-war feeding efforts, the youngest Polish survivors of the war were now healthy again.
He was a fierce advocate for children. To understand why, we need only return to our little Quaker city of Newberg, where Hoover lived for three years as a boy.
He was sent across the U.S. from Iowa to Oregon because he was an orphan in need of guardians, and an uncle and aunt in Newberg wrote the extended family to invite him to live with them. They said he could attend a new Quaker school they were overseeing.
“Bert,” as he was known in his early years, ended up losing more than his parents at this point. He also lost the remnants of what was left of his familiar life when he was moved out west, away from two siblings and other relatives.
This painful chapter in his life is not one he discussed much as an adult. But one need only look at the rest of his life to see how it instilled in this private-minded Quaker a life-long compassion for those who had experienced childhood trauma, including the youngest victims of both world wars.
The Newberg orphan grew up to feed millions of orphans around the world. That’s a story worth learning about — especially for those who would gain the most from it: children.
In my opinion, every Oregon student should be learning about the only president who ever lived in our state. As history often feels irrelevant to kids, this fact alone should bring the story to life for them.
After all, Hoover fished some of the same rivers, drove on some of the same roads and ate from the same blackberry bushes as they did. And in fact, he shared some of these Pacific Northwest memories in his memoirs.
In early adulthood, Hoover became a successful mining engineer, which is what first led him overseas. His wife shared his love for earth science, becoming the first woman to earn a geology degree from Stanford University.
Both of his pre-presidential careers, first as an engineer and later as a humanitarian, offer models for future scientists and public servants.
Although school has started and the lesson plans are already in place, kids don’t need a textbook to learn about the adventures of our 31st president. They can learn his story as they embark on their own adventures.
We can teach them about his geological legacy by exploring Mount Saint Helens or digging for Oregon rocks. Give them a feast for their eyes by visiting the majestic Crater Lake. Help them appreciate his youthful journey to Oregon by riding one of our state’s tour trains. Introduce them to his favorite fishing spots by participating in a themed scavenger hunt or his humanitarian work by finding a place to volunteer together.
Of course, I think young Oregon students should also get a chance to come by the Hoover-Minthorn Museum for a tour. It provides the perfect gateway to this very forgotten story.
I hope to see you there — along with your kids or grandkids — sometime this school year.
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