Herbert Hoover

He lived a long life and died at the age of 90 in New York City on October 20, 1964.

Herbert Hoover was born on August 10, 1874, in Iowa to Jesse Hoover and Hulda Randall Minthorn. His father was a blacksmith and farm implement store owner, and both his parents were Quakers. Herbert had one brother and one sister.

Tragedy struck the family when his father died in 1880 and his mother too perished a few years later in 1884. Herbert eventually went to live with his uncle Dr. John Minthorn, a physician and businessman. He received a good education at the Minthorn household and developed strong work ethics.

In 1891, he enrolled in the Stanford University and graduated in 1895 with a degree in geology. As a college student he did various jobs to fend for himself.

He began his career in 1897 as an employee of Bewick, Moreing & Co., a London-based gold mining company in Western Australia. Then he went to China where he worked as a chief engineer for the Chinese Bureau of Mines, and as general manager for the Chinese Engineering and Mining Corporation.

He worked hard over the next few years and became a very successful mining engineer. He started working as an independent mining consultant in 1908 and travelled all over the world. Eventually he set up offices in San Francisco, London, New York City, St. Petersburg, Paris and Burma. He was a wealthy man by 1914 with an estimated personal fortune of $4 million.

The World War I began in August 1914 and Hoover became involved in the relief work. He led a large group of 500 volunteers in distributing food and other necessities to the affected people and helped organize the return of thousands of Americans from Europe.

He became the chairman of the Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB) and worked together with the leader of the Belgian Comité National de Secours et d'Alimentation (CNSA) to help feed the Belgians during a period of severe food crisis.

In 1917, the United States entered the war and President Woodrow Wilson appointed Hoover to head the U.S. Food Administration. He continued his relief work even after the war and helped in providing relief to millions of starving people in Central Europe and Russia.

Herbert Hoover is best remembered for his works as a humanitarian during and after the World War I. He was actively involved in providing relief to millions of starving people around Europe and especially respected for his work as the head of the Commission for Relief in Belgium.