Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

Herbert Hoover has a bad rap from history. He was elected president during the great economic boom of the 1920s only to see the stock market crash a mere seven months after taking office. Some bad options by his administration helped push a deep recession into a full-fledged depression. However, my visit to the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in West Branch, Iowa documented the life of a man whose good works clearly outweigh his poor presidency.

This site was the first one I visited on my quest for all 423 units of the NPS. However, it was not my first visit here. In 2006, the family took a three-week trip throughout the west, visiting ten NPS sites and introducing my then 7-year-old daughter to a big swath of the country. On that trip, our first stop was the Herbert Hoover site. During that visit, the site was still conducting ranger tours/talks (I hope they come back to all of the NPS sites soon) and I recall being the only person to answer one of his questions.  Hoover was raised a Quaker.  One other president was also raised a Quaker. Who? Do you know?

Hoover was born in a small two-room cabin. He grew up fishing in the nearby stream and playing in the fields of the small farming community. Unfortunately, before he was even 10, both parents had passed away, and Herbert was put on a train alone to travel to Oregon and live with relatives.

I arrived at the Visitor Center just after its 9:00 am opening, chatted briefly with the ranger on duty, got my Passport stamp, and headed outside to explore the site.  It was a beautiful summer day – deep blue sky and quite warm (Iowa hot in summer, who’da thunk it?).  His two-room birth home, one-room schoolhouse, and Quaker meeting house are all open (the meeting house was relocated to its current location). The blacksmith shop is a reconstruction but appears fairly period-authentic.

From such humble beginnings, Hoover was able to attend Stanford University, studying engineering. He was apparently quite successful in that field, but his most notable accomplishment (beyond being President) was organizing a massive food campaign for post-WWI Europe. While the victorious governments argued about the best way to ensure a second world war (the Treaty of Versailles), famine was afflicting millions in the defeated countries. Hoover’s efforts are credited with saving possibly millions of lives, including many in the new Soviet Union.

This site is definitely worth a visit. It’s well laid out in a stereotypical midwestern farm town. Hoover’s presidential library is also here, but was closed when I visited. Both Hoover and his wife are buried nearby on a hill, overlooking his childhood home.

Steve

BTW: The only other U.S. President to be raised a Quaker was Richard Nixon.