Review: Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times

Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times by Kenneth Whyte
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One of the more interesting presidential biographies. Hoover reminded me a lot of John Quincy Adams. He was extremely prepared for the presidency in many ways, including a huge amount of international experience, from Shanghai to Burma to England. He and his wife spoke Chinese, and he was in Belgium during WWI and headed up relief efforts to get American aid through the German blockade to the Belgian population. 

However, like with Adams, his presidency was lackluster at best. He was hit with the great depression, which pretty much put a halt to all his plans. 

But after the presidency he went back to work, eventually working closely with Truman, Eisenhower and even Kennedy into his 80s. 

Some of my notes:

Smoot Hawley seems to have been the beginning of his downfall.

It will be very interesting to see how the FDR biography I will read treats the Hoover administration, the great depression and the New Deal. This book seems to infer that the depression was well into reversal by the time FDR entered office, and in fact, he actively kept out of a smooth transition since a continued fall under Hoover's watch would only benefit him later on. In other words, FDR is seen as an opportunist with few scruples, while Hoover's administration is "one of the cleanest" on record, with Hoover refusing to mention FDR's invalid state seeing it as a personal attack (my impression is it would have backfired regardless). 

Regardless, it is true that Hoover was probably the only cabinet member who preached moderation throughout the 20s and was probably one of the earliest to say there would be a reversal in the booming economy. So it is somewhat ironic that it happened during his presidency, and it is unlikely he could have done much more to combat it. In fact an FDR administration "insider", Rexford Tugwell, apparently said "The New Deal owed much to what (Hoover) had begun". Although the author goes on to say how FDR actually went much further than Hoover ever did with these policies. 

Another statement made by this book is that FDR's nationalization (and retreat from the gold standard) sent a message to other countries that they "had nothing to gain or fear from America". So Japan dropped out of the League of Nations and assaulted China, while Hitler assumed absolute power in Berlin. I'm very curious to see what an FDR biography says about that. 

Hoover was also dead against including the Soviet Union in the Lend-Lease act. 

This biography gives the impression that his reputation was vindicated by his death, but I confess all I knew about him before was that the great depression happened under his watch, Hoovervilles and the Hoover dam were named after him, and FDR followed him with a 4-term act. 

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Review: Wilson

Wilson by A. Scott Berg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It is refreshing to read about probably the most intellectual president since John Quincy Adams, if not Thomas Jefferson.

A man of letters, he attended Davidson, Princeton and Johns Hopkins, became the dean of Princeton and 'modernized' it, and was also one of the most popular historians in the country.

Herbert Hoover's reputation after WWI was excellent. He convinced Americans to save and be sparing, and people would "Hooverize" gladly for the war effort. He probably should have never run for president.

Very interesting to notice the parallels with today. Americanism, Jingoism and "America First" all featured prominently in the US during this time. However, Wison was an intellectual dealing with it, so the response was very different.

Also interesting to see how he, a very intellectual and academic president, is followed by Warren Harding, one of biggest failures of a president.

Also, Henry Cabbot Lodge deserves a lot more vitriol and hate from history books. He obviously didn't cause WWII, but I'm starting to think that his dogged refusal to pass the League of Nations for purely personal political aims is what eventually led to the possibility of a second World War. But we'll see how these biographies progress. I may be wrong there.

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