The Life of Herbert Hoover: The Humanitarian, 1914-1917 (Life of Herbert Hoover, Vol. 2) - Hardcover

Nash, George H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393025500 ISBN 13: 9780393025507

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 1988

Synopsis

It has been said that Herbert Hoover was responsible for saving more lives than any other person in history with his efforts in the Commission of Relief in Belgium. This side of Hoover is the focus of Nash's comprehensive volume. 

At the outbreak of World War I, Hoover was a wealthy mining engineer living in London. In a short time, he became the founder and brilliant director of an unprecedented international relief organization, which provided desperately needed food to more than 9,000,000 Belgian and French citizens trapped between the German army of occupation and the British naval blockade. By 1919, when his Commission for Relief in Belgium closed its operations it had expended nearly $1 billion―and had created a twentieth century hero. By then, Hoover had embarked on the "slippery road of public life," which eventually led him to the White House door. This book―based on research conducted on three continents―is the second volume of Dr. Nash's definitive account of Hoover's life.

About this title

About the Author:

George H. Nash, a frequent contributor of articles on American conservatism, Herbert Hoover, and related topics, lives in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

From Publishers Weekly:

In the opening volume of this biography, Nash covers the first 40 years of Hoover's remarkably varied and productive life, with emphasis on his career as a mining engineer. The second installment deals with his masterful administration of the Commission for Relief in Belgium during World War I, which saw to the acquisition and distribution of food, clothing and medical supplies to more than nine million Belgian and French citizens trapped between the German army of occupation and a British naval blockade. It was the largest relief program in history, and the fulcrum of its success was Hoover's ability to elicit cooperation from British and French cabinet ministers, German generals, Belgian financiers and American charity officials. Nash leaves no doubt that Hoover's cultivation of public support for the effort in the U.S. was crucial. By 1917, the one-time mining engineer who was to become our 31st president had earned an international reputation as a humanitarian and had taken his first major step on the long road to the White House. A memorable portrait of a man who was "a personified combination of idealism and power." Photos.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0393025500
• ISBN 13: 9780393025507
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 497