 by John Godl © 2005 Photographs courtesy of the Leonora Gwalia Historical Museum
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Hoover set sail for Monterey, California, Lou's hometown, and married her without delay. The day after the ceremony they were on their way to his new post in China, where he would put the knowledge and experience honed in Australia to good use and rise to stratospheric levels in the company and on the international business scene. They sailed straight into the Boxer Rebellion, but once the conflict was put down he set to work restructuring the companies operations, success breeding success he rose through the ranks to serve as the Chinese Government's chief engineer in the Bureau of Mines. Turning their fortunes around, as a reward he was given a percentage of their revenues which made him a multi millionaire. Looked upon as a whiz-kid he was affectionately referred to as "Young Hoover" and the "Great Engineer" by people in awe of him. As his income increased he used it to speculate in other mining projects, acted as a financier, promoter and metallurgist with success. The San Francisco Chronicle reported he was the highest paid young man in the world, earning US$33.000pa not including stock options and other bonuses he received prior to being made a full partner of the company in 1901 which were in the hundreds of thousands.
He had never been involved in political affairs until he started moving in the upper echelon of society, where he came into contact with power brokers of the Republican Party and didn't need much coaxing to support Teddy Roosevelt's bid for the presidency in 1912. Like his engineering career his political career could be summed up as meteoric, after the First World War he ran various international relief operations which revealed his bureaucratic abilities and in 1920 he supported Warren Harding's bid for president and upon his success was appointed Secretary of Commerce, which he excelled at and remained at the helm of when Calvin Coolidge took office on Hardings death in 1923. Foiled in his move to become Vice President in 1924 he remained Secretary of Commerce until 1928 when Coolidge decided to retire whereupon he launched his own bid for the Oval Office, he ran against New York Governor Alfred Smith and won 40 of 48 states to become the 31 st President of the United States in 1929 at the age of 54. His presidency started promisingly, prior to taking office the country had undergone a period of unprecedented economic expansion, all seemed bright and rosy for the future before the Great Depression ruined the dream just seven months after taking office.  Hoover's world in WA Lamentably most historians and Hoover biographers have missed the importance of his travel to and life in Australia, traditionally taking an American-centric view of their presidents. However the time Herbert Hoover spent in Australia was profoundly important and transformed his life, had he not lied about his age and experience to land the "Bewick, Moreing & Company" job in Western Australia the blacksmiths son would not have been able to seize the rare opportunities he did to become the business tycoon he became let alone 31 st President of the United States of America. He arrived in Perth an ambitious young mining engineer, untested, no professional achievements under his belt, too poor to marry the woman he loved but within a few short years he learned and achieved a great deal to become a rising star in business which led to politics. His time in Australia and China gave him a taste of foreign affairs most people of his class and generation didn't possess, it served him well as president although his many achievements in office are now overshadowed by his disastrous free market, laissez-faire approach to America's economic collapse which entrenched the Great Depression and saw him lose power to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 after just one term in office. After which he would hold a variety of public service positions, helped coordinate aid to post war Europe and promote philanthropic causes which endeared him to people around the world. He received 84 honorary degrees, 78 medals/awards and keys to innumerable cities. Herbert Clark Hoover died in New York City in 1964 aged 89, his wife Lou dying in 1944, he was buried in the town of his birth, West Branch, Iowa, one of his last public appearances being the dedication of his Presidential Library. |
