4 ms·

>The guy is a bad ass. If he wanted to run for President, he would win. It's interesting to note that we had a president like this, and that was Herbert Hoover

>The guy is a bad ass. If he wanted to run for President, he would win. It's interesting to note that we had a president like this, and that was Herbert Hoover. Hoover's claim to fame before being elected president was saving Belgium from starvation during WWI[1], the dude deeply understood logistics and had lots of connections so was able to negotiate with all the parties to get humanitarian relief and set up his own NGO. I picked this up from reading this biography of him.[2] Unfortunately he's become only associated with fumbling the Great Depression. [1] https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1989/spring/hoover-belgium.html https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1989/spring/h... [2] https://smile.amazon.com/Hoover-Extraordinary-Life-Times/dp/0307597962 https://smile.amazon.com/Hoover-Extraordinary-Life-Times/dp/...

jrumbut 5y ago
Jimmy Carter was the other engineer-president. His post-presidential career has burnished his image a bit but on the whole engineers who become president haven't been too popular. I've been meaning to read that Hoover biography forever.
acjohnson55 5y ago
A very interesting guy, for sure. People respected his acumen, but no one seems to have liked the guy. Like a surprising number of presidents, he basically lucked into the job. I thought the humorous podcast American Presidents: Totalus Rankium had an excellent two-parter on him: Part 1: https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-64j34-f045e3 https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-64j34-f045e3 Part 2: https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-zsqhc-f1a4af https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-zsqhc-f1a4af
viburnum 5y ago
Hoover didn’t just fumble it, he was absolutely committed to passivity. If only he had shown the same determination that he had for postwar relief.
- G3rn0ti 5y ago
  > Hoover … committed to passivity That’s a legend that is in fact not true. He actually laid the ground for most of Roosevelt‘s „New Deal“ policies. These policies were likely ill-conceived and turned a bad recession into decade long depression. https://www.history.com/news/great-depression-herbert-hoover-new-deal https://www.history.com/news/great-depression-herbert-hoover... https://mises.org/library/great-depression https://mises.org/library/great-depression

jrumbut 5y ago

Jimmy Carter was the other engineer-president. His post-presidential career has burnished his image a bit but on the whole engineers who become president haven't been too popular. I've been meaning to read that Hoover biography forever.

acjohnson55 5y ago

A very interesting guy, for sure. People respected his acumen, but no one seems to have liked the guy. Like a surprising number of presidents, he basically lucked into the job. I thought the humorous podcast American Presidents: Totalus Rankium had an excellent two-parter on him: Part 1: https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-64j34-f045e3 https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-64j34-f045e3 Part 2: https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-zsqhc-f1a4af https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-zsqhc-f1a4af

viburnum 5y ago

Hoover didn’t just fumble it, he was absolutely committed to passivity. If only he had shown the same determination that he had for postwar relief.

G3rn0ti 5y ago
> Hoover … committed to passivity That’s a legend that is in fact not true. He actually laid the ground for most of Roosevelt‘s „New Deal“ policies. These policies were likely ill-conceived and turned a bad recession into decade long depression. https://www.history.com/news/great-depression-herbert-hoover-new-deal https://www.history.com/news/great-depression-herbert-hoover... https://mises.org/library/great-depression https://mises.org/library/great-depression