Herbert Hoover was a man of many talents: engineer, successful businessman, President of the United States and Elder Political Statesman. Few politicians or public figures were subject to public adulation and scorn for as many years as Herbert Hoover. Most books about Hoover emphasize his successes and failures in the political and economic arenas but say little about the man himself, his drive, his motivation, and his character. Hoover’s intellectual development has seldom been touched by historians; a major exception is Joan Hoff Wilson’s Herbert Hoover; Forgotten Progressive. Hoover’s life experiences shaped his values and these values are embodied in four of his own books: De Re Metallica, Principles of Mining, American Individualism and The Challenge to Liberty. These four works illuminate his intellectual development.
Herbert Hoover was born in West Branch, Iowa, on August 10, 1874. By the age of ten he had lost both parents. His father succumbed to typhoid fever when Hoover was six years old and his mother died of pneumonia three years later. After his mother’s death Hoover moved to Oregon to live with his maternal uncle and aunt, who raised him until he left to attend Stanford University. Much of Hoover’s intellectual development occurred during these early years under the influence of his uncle, Dr. Henry John Minthorn, a country doctor who taught history and literature at a Quaker college in Newberg, Oregon. These experiences would impress upon Hoover the importance of an education and a profession.
