A Positive Story

Herbert Hoover Did Good Things Too: Bread and Medicine

When most people hear the word “Hoover,” they think of one of two things: (1) the vacuum cleaner, another word for which is “Hoover,” and (2) President Herbert Hoover’s disastrous tenure, during which the stock market crashed and the nation sank into economic depression. People were forced to sleep on the streets and called the newspapers they wrapped around themselves for warmth, “Hoover blankets.”

But President Hoover’s legacy extends beyond the Depression.

During Russia’s Famine from 1921-1923, Hoover answered writer Maxim Gorky’s call for “bread and medicine.” Hoover helped organize and authorized the American Relief Administration, which orchestrated tremendous medical and nutritional intervention during a terribly dark period in Russian history.

Part of the relief efforts included a very large-scale vaccine drive. It’s remarkable to think of the efforts to deliver vaccines across an ocean back in the 1920s. The ARA’s efforts saved millions of lives during the famine. Cholera, typhoid, typhus, and severe malnutrition were among diseases treated. Hoover was a well-known anti-communist. Yet, his administration fed 10.5 million Soviet adults and children each day. That legacy shouldn’t be forgotten!