CEO Stories: A Modern View of the Hoovers

Listen to the podcast to learn more about their lives and how they regarded, and influenced, capitalism and the market economy in America.

Millennial Lifestyle

Henry Hoover and his wife Lou Henry Hoover were true life partners at a time when tradition and society called for women to stay at home while men worked. Both graduates of Stanford, they traveled the world together and were first-hand witnesses to and participants in such events as China’s Boxer Rebellion and the crisis of Americans trapped in Europe at the outbreak of World War I.

National Prominence

Their roles in helping Americans navigate life in London as the city was paralyzed by war and then in arranging for food to be imported to Belgium – saving the lives of millions ­– for most of the war in brought them to great prominence, setting the stage for Hoover’s eventual foray into politics. It also helped crystallize the couple’s beliefs in the power of American individualism, the superiority of our economic model, and the inherent generosity of the American people – beliefs that would shape their actions for the rest of their lives.

Girl Scouts

While the Hoovers did most things together, Lou’s involvement with the Girls Scouts of America was a labor of love from the organization’s founding in 1914 to her death in 1944. Having been raised with a passion for nontraditional activities like camping, hiking, and sleeping under the starts, she saw the outdoor-oriented skills taught by the Girl Scouts as an important path to self-empowerment for girls. She served as chairwoman both before and after her time as First Lady, and as honorary chairwoman while First Lady – a tradition that began, at Lou’s suggestion, with First Lady Edith Wilson.