Lou Henry Hoover: Activist First Lady

Modern First Ladies

by Nancy Beck Young

Although overshadowed by her higher-profile successors, Lou Henry Hoover was in many ways the nation’s first truly modern First Lady. She was the first to speak on the radio and give regular interviews. She was the first to be a public political persona in her own right. And, although the White House press corps saw in her “old-fashioned wifehood,” she very much foreshadowed the “new woman” of the era. Nancy Beck Young presents the first thoroughly documented study of Lou Henry Hoover’s White House years, 1929–1933, showing that, far from a passive prelude to Eleanor Roosevelt, she was a true innovator. Young draws on the extensive collection of Lou Hoover’s personal papers to show that she was not only an important First Lady but also a key transitional figure between nineteenth- and twentieth-century views on womanhood. Lou Hoover was a multifaceted a college graduate, a lover of the outdoors, a supporter of Girl Scouting, and a person engaged in social activism who endorsed political involvement for women and created a program to fight the Depression. Young traces Hoover’s many philanthropic efforts both before and during the Hoover presidency—contrasting them with those of her husband—and places her public activities in the larger context of contemporary women’s activism. And she shows that, unlike her predecessors, Hoover did more than she revolutionized the office of First Lady. Yet as Young reveals, Hoover was constrained as First Lady by her inability to achieve the same results that she had previously accomplished in her very public career for the volunteer community. As diligently as she worked to combat the hardship of the Depression for average Americans by mobilizing private relief efforts, her efforts ultimately had little effect. Although her celebrity has paled in the shadow of her husband’s negative association with the Great Depression, Lou Hoover’s story reveals a dynamic woman who used her activism to refashion the office of First Lady into a modern institution reflecting changes in the ways American women lived their lives. Young’s study of Hoover’s White House years shows that her legacy of innovation made a lasting mark on the office and those who followed.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, American History

252 pages, Hardcover

First published November 30, 2004

About the author

Nancy Beck Young is a historian of twentieth-century American politics. Her research questions how ideology has shaped public policy and political institutions. Much of her work involves study of Congress, the presidency, electoral politics, and first ladies. Dr. Young is also interested in Texas political history, especially Texans in Washington. She joined the faculty of the University of Houston in 2007 after teaching for ten years at McKendree College in Illinois. She has held fellowships at the Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University and at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. Along with colleague Leandra Zarnow, she was awarded funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to host a 2017 Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers entitled Gender, the State, and the 1977 International Women’s Year Conference.

Reviews

[Jill Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most likely, the content (or lack thereof) of this book is the unfortunate result of the lack of documents/papers, etc. available on Lou Henry Hoover. Despite the effort, the information presented does little to provide a glimpse into what made Lou, Lou. Unlike other First Ladies biographies I’ve read, the reader is left with no sense of Lou’s childhood/teen/young adult experiences and how they impacted the adult women she became. I also take issue with some of the claims made by the author touting Lou Hoover as the ‘first’ First Lady to do this and that. Having read remarkable biographies on Florence Harding and Grace Coolidge, both these ladies were ‘activists’ who owned their causes and had frequent interactions with politicians in DC.

[Don Heiman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nancy Beck Young’s biography ”Lou Henry Hoover: Activist First Lady” was released in 2004 by University Press of Kansas. The book is based on access to papers and personal documents of Lou Henry Hoover which became available for the first time in 1985. The book ends with a detailed discussion of these papers in a “bibliographic essay” chapter. The book also has a very helpful topic index and 27 pages of reference footnotes. Lou Hoover was the first United States female geology major when she received her degree from Stanford University in 1894. She was a prolific Latin scholar, fluent in 6 languages, and she had a lifelong love for music. While studying geology Lou met Herbert Hoover who was also a student at Stanford. They married in 1899 and had two children. Nancy Young’s book discusses Lou Hoover’s family, her commitment to female rights, philanthropy, and community liberty organizations. She was the top leader of the Girl Scouts of America from 1922 to 1925 and from 1935 to 1937. Her First Lady innovations and her support of local as well as national social justice initiatives underpin her legacy. She died at the age of 69 and is buried next to her husband who died in 1963. Their gravesites are in West Branch, Iowa adjacent to the Herbert Hoover National Library and the restored Quaker Community were Herbert Hoover was raised. (P)

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you ever get the chance to visit the Herbert Hoover memorial site in West Branch IA, you really should because you'll learn American history you were never taught in school. Same with reading this book. Unfortunately for the Hoovers, "Bert" got blamed for the Depression because he brought it all on himself....ahem! Any way, Lou Henry Hoover changed the way First Ladies "behaved"....and in a good way....so the book is quite interesting.

[Linsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a brief, but informative book about the former first lady Lou Henry Hoover. As a Girl Scout alumna, I was very interested to learn about what she did as the honorary president of Girl Scouts of the USA. It was also very interesting to learn of the large amount of activism and volunteering she was involved in while also being the wife of a conservative Republican president.

[Judith Kerr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A first lady long ignored deserved this great biography of her days of influence in our country. She was an activist in many women's groups---Girl Scouts, Federated Womens clubs, DAR and many athletic groups. Certainly, a libber sort with great energy.

[Toby Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Way too short. Seemed to ignore huge parts, specifically the Great Depression and even her marriage. Jumped around too much as well.

[Katrina Hosking · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very well balanced in presenting Lou Hoover's viewpoint while also answering the question of what went wrong to change this highly successful couple into a political disaster by the time they left the White House. The author writes about the Hoover's rise to prominence where in what they saw as the one driving force behind their success in Belgium was actually another factor they hadn't considered. So when they tried to replicate the success during the Great Depression they only had minimal success. She also writes about Lou Hoover's tendency to avoid publicity for her projects and the help she provided, which might have helped the public image of the couple. The author writes of Lou Hoover's favorite organizations and how she remained involved in many of them after her time as First Lady, Girl Scouts for example. Overall a very informative book about a little known First Lady. Would highly recommend this book to anyone with even just a passing interest in Lou Hoover.

[Joann Glasser · Rating 5 out of 5]

finally learned something about this first lady and what she stood for and what a helpmate she was to her husband the president