Lou Henry Hoover (1874-1944)

Lou Henry Hoover (March 29, 1874 – January 7, 1944) was the wife of President Herbert Hoover and First Lady of the United States. American First Lady Lou Henry Hoover, from the LOC Collection This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... American First Lady Lou Henry Hoover, from the LOC Collection This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Image File history File links Scout_logo2. ... March 29 is the 88th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (89th in leap years). ... Year 1874 (MDCCCLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link with display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... January 7 is the seventh day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Herbert Clark Hoover, (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964), the 31st President of the United States (1929–1933), was a world-famous mining engineer and humanitarian administrator. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Admirably equipped to preside at the White House, Lou Henry Hoover brought to it long experience as wife of a man eminent in public affairs at home and abroad. She had shared his interests since they met in a geology lab at Stanford University. She was a freshman, he a senior, and he was fascinated, as he declared later, "by her whimsical mind, her blue eyes and a broad grinnish smile." Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly known as Stanford University (or simply Stanford), is a private university located approximately 37 miles (60 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco and approximately 20 miles northwest of San José in Stanford, California. ...

Early history

Henry was born in Waterloo, Iowa. She grew up in Iowa until she was 10 years old, when her father, Charles D. Henry, decided that the climate of southern California would favor the health of his wife, Florence. The family moved to Whittier, California, later the childhood home of President Richard Nixon. Waterloo is the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. ... Location of Whittier in Los Angeles County Coordinates: Country United States State California County Los Angeles Government  - Mayor Cathy Warner Area  - City  14. ... Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. ...

Charles Henry took his daughter on camping trips in the hills—her greatest pleasures in her early teens. Lou became a fine horsewoman; she hunted, and preserved specimens with the skill of a taxidermist; she developed an enthusiasm for rocks, minerals, and mining. After studying at two normal schools in California, first at the Los Angeles Normal School (now University of California, Los Angeles), then transferring to and graduating with a teaching certificate from the San Jose Normal School (now San José State University), she entered Stanford in 1894—"slim and supple as a reed," a classmate recalled, with a "wealth of brown hair"—and completed her course (becoming the first woman in Stanford's geology department) before marrying Herbert Hoover. They were married in a civil ceremony at her parents home in Monterey on February 10, 1899. A Catholic priest and friend of the family, Father Mestres, performed the ceremony because there was no Protestant minister in town. A normal school is an institution for training teachers. ... The University of California, Los Angeles, generally known as UCLA, is a public university whose main campus is located in the affluent Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. ... A lithograph of the second California State Normal School, San Jose building from the 1880s. ... San José State University, commonly shortened to San José State and SJSU, is the founding campus of what became the California State University system. ... Stanford may refer: Stanford University Places: Stanford, Kentucky Stanford, California, home of Stanford University Stanford Shopping Center Stanford, New York, town in Dutchess County. ...

Family life

The newlyweds left at once for China, where he won quick recognition as a mining engineer. His career took them about the globe—Ceylon, Burma, Siberia, Australia, Egypt, Japan, and Europe—while her talent for homemaking eased their time in a dozen foreign lands. Lou and her husband collaborated on a translation from the Latin of a classic 16th-century treatise on mining, Georgius Agricola's De Re Metallica. Two sons, Herbert Charles (August 4, 1903 - July 9, 1969) and Allan Henry (July 17, 1907 - November 8, 1993), were born during her life. Georg Agricola Georg (or Georgius) Agricola (March 24, 1490 - November 21, 1555) was a German scholar and man of science. ... August 4 is the 216th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (217th in leap years), with 149 days remaining. ... 1900 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Friday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... July 9 is the 190th day of the year (191st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 175 days remaining. ... For the Stargate SG-1 episode, see 1969 (Stargate SG-1). ... July 17 is the 198th day (199th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 167 days remaining. ... 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... November 8 is the 312th day of the year (313th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 53 days remaining. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ...

During World War I, while Hoover earned world fame administering emergency relief programs, she was often with him but spent some time with the boys in California. In 1919 she saw construction begin for a long-planned home in Palo Alto, California, which she had helped design. In 1921, however, Hoover's appointment as United States Secretary of Commerce took the family to Washington. There she spent eight years busy with the social duties of a Cabinet wife and an active participation in the Girl Scout movement, including service as its president. “The Great War ” redirects here. ... Location of Palo Alto within Santa Clara County, California. ... The office of the U.S. Secretary of Commerce in the mid-20th century. ... The Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA) is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad. ...

First Lady duties

The Hoovers moved into the White House in 1929, and the First Lady of the United States welcomed visitors with poise and dignity throughout the administration. However, when the first day of 1933 dawned, Mr. and Mrs. Hoover were away on holiday. Their absence ended the New Year's Day tradition of the public being greeted personally by the President at a reception in the Executive Mansion. For other uses, see White House (disambiguation). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... For other uses, see White House (disambiguation). ...

Mrs. Hoover paid with her own money the cost of reproducing furniture owned by James Monroe for a period sitting room in the White House. She also restored Abraham Lincoln's study for her husband's use. She dressed handsomely; she "never fitted more perfectly into the White House picture than in her formal evening gown" remarked one secretary.

Return to private life

In 1933 they retired to Palo Alto, but maintained an apartment in New York. Mr. Hoover learned the full lavishness of his wife's charities only after her death there on January 7, 1944, at 69 (almost 3 months before her 70th birthday); she had helped the education, he said, "of a multitude of boys and girls." In retrospect he stated her ideal for the position she had held: "a symbol of everything wholesome in American life." January 7 is the seventh day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ...

Legacy

The Lou Henry and Herbert Hoover House in Palo Alto's foothills is now the official residence of the President of Stanford University. It stands not terribly far from the campus's Hoover Tower, home of the Hoover Institution, and is designated a National Historic Landmark. Lou Henry Hoover Elementary School in Whittier (built in 1938) was named in her honor. In 2005, Lou Henry Elementary School was opened in her honor in Waterloo. One of the brick dorms known now as "The Classics" at San Jose State University is named "Hoover Hall" in her honor. The Lou Henry and Herbert Hoover House, located on the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, USA, is a large, rambling house, resembling blocks piled up. ... Yuck, Stanford ... Hoover Tower at the Hoover Institution The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace is a public policy think tank and library founded by Herbert Hoover at Stanford University, his alma mater. ... This article or section needs additional references or sources to improve its verifiability. ... Waterloo is the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. ...

Death

Lou Henry Hoover was originally buried in Palo Alto, California, after her death from a heart attack at only 69, but upon her husband's death in 1964, she was re-interred in West Branch, Iowa. Her statue marks the approximate spot where her childhood home in Waterloo was located, at the corner of 4th and Washington Streets. Location of Palo Alto within Santa Clara County, California. ... Acute myocardial infarction (AMI or MI), commonly known as a heart attack, is a disease state that occurs when the blood supply to a part of the heart is interrupted. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Waterloo is the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. ...

References

• Anne Beiser Allen and Jon L. Wakelyn; An Independent Woman: The Life of Lou Henry Hoover Greenwood Press, 2000

External links

• The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum