10. Herbert Hoover
Born to a Quaker family in West Branch, Iowa on August 10, 1874, (but he grew up in Oregon) Herbert Hoover would gain a positive reputation as “The Great Humanitarian” before during, and after the outbreak of World War I, becoming the head of the Commission for Relief in Belgium, an international relief organization that provided food to occupied Belgium.
Despite his actions making him extremely popular, he would fail to convince Republicans to choose him as their nomination in the 1920 presidential election. Instead, he was appointed by President Warren G. Harding as Secretary of Commerce that same year. He would eventually win the Republican nomination in the 1928 presidential election and destroy his Democratic opponent Al Smith by securing 58.2% of the vote. However, the taste of victory would soon turn bitter as this once lauded humanitarian would preside over one of the most disastrous presidencies in US history.
Although it wasn’t his fault that the stock market crashed in his first year in office, beginning the onset of the Great Depression, his response to the economic crisis did little to help. Despite pursuing a series of economic policies in an attempt to lift the economy, he was deeply opposed to any form of intervention from the federal government, causing millions of Americans to suffer. He even tried to blame Mexicans for the Depression, but it was clear when shantytowns called ‘Hoovervilles’ began appearing all over the country, exactly who people thought was to blame.
These Presidents may have not left their mark on the Oval Office, but did you ever wonder what jobs Presidents did BEFORE they became politicians? Click —>HERE<— to find out.
