The Crusade Years, 1933–1955

Herbert Hoover's Lost Memoir of the New Deal Era and Its Aftermath

George H. Nash

• Publisher: Hoover Institution Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780817916749
• eBook ISBN: 9780817916763
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political Biographies
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Covering an eventful period in Herbert Hoover's career—and, more specifically, his life as a political pugilist from 1933 to 1955—this previously unknown memoir was composed and revised by the 31st president during the 1940s and 1950s—and then, surprisingly, set aside. This work recounts Hoover's family life after March 4, 1933, his myriad philanthropic interests, and, most of all, his unrelenting "crusade against collectivism" in American life. Aside from its often feisty account of Hoover's political activities during the Roosevelt and Truman eras, and its window on Hoover's private life and campaigns for good causes, The Crusade Years invites readers to reflect on the factors that made his extraordinarily fruitful postpresidential years possible. The pages of this memoir recount the story of Hoover's later life, his abiding political philosophy, and his vision of the nation that gave him the opportunity for service. This is, in short, a remarkable saga told in the former president's own words and in his own way that will appeal as much to professional historians and political scientists as it will lay readers interested in history.

THE

CRUSADE YEARS

1933–1955

by

Herbert Hoover

INTRODUCTION

This volume recounts my activities during the 22-year period after leaving the White House in 1932 [1933–ed.] until my 80th birthday in August 1954.

The material in this volume was put together incidentally during the work on the three volumes of Memoirs, published in 1951–1952,1 and on the two volumes of Memoirs entitled Foreign Relations of the United States from 1932 to 1954.2 Its composition has served to fill in many lonesome hours between public service and occasional periods of recreation.

I have divided this volume into six parts,3 treating the subjects topically rather than chronologically. Within the sections I have also followed the topical pattern. Although there is, as a result, an overlap in time, much confusion of the various subjects is avoided.

The Parts are:

Part I	Some Notes on Family Life
Part II	Crusades for Benevolent Institutions
Part III	Crusade against Collectivism in American Life
Part IV	Crusade against American Entry into World War II4
Part V	The Crusade against the Four Horsemen in World War II5
Part VI	Crusade for Less Involvement in Europe.6

In this text, wherever possible, I have condensed documents and statements to eliminate repetitions and subordinate matter. My public addresses during this period have been published in full in a series of volumes entitled Addresses upon the American Road. The full texts of all other documents referred to are in the War Library7 at Stanford University.

NOTES

1. The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: Years of Adventure (Vol. I); The Cabinet and the Presidency (Vol. II); The Great Depression (Vol. III). All three volumes were published by The Macmillan Company in 1951–1952.

2. To be published at some subsequent date. [Editor’s note: Hoover is referring here to the portion of his memoirs known informally as the Magnum Opus. It bore different working titles, including the one given here, over a number of years. Hoover ultimately settled on the title Freedom Betrayed, under which it was published long after his death. See George H. Nash, ed., Freedom Betrayed: Herbert Hoover’s Secret History of the Second World War and Its Aftermath (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2011).]

3. [Editor’s note: Only parts I, II, and III are published in this volume. See notes 4, 5, and 6.]

4. [Editor’s note: No Hoover manuscript of this title has been found. Hoover may have been referring to his chapters on this topic in volume I of his work Freedom Betrayed.]

5. [Editor’s note: Also known as “The Crusade against Famine in World War II.” It is not printed here. This was Hoover’s account of his humanitarian relief efforts during and after World War II. As he put it in his introduction to the 1951 version of the present volume, this was his “account of my crusades on behalf of starving peoples and my relief activities.” In the 1951 manuscript, this section comprised more than 160 pages in page proofs. Hoover published this section, in revised and expanded form, as volume IV of his American Epic series. See Herbert Hoover, An American Epic, vol. IV: The Guns Cease Killing and the Saving of Life from Famine Begins, 1939–1963 (Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1964).

Hoover’s reference to the “Four Horsemen” was an allusion to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in chapter 6 of the Book of Revelation in the Christian Bible. Hoover came to believe that the Four Horsemen were War, Death, Famine, and Revolution. See Herbert Hoover, Addresses upon the American Road, 1955–1960 (Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers, 1961), pp. 383–87).]

6. [Editor’s note: No H...

Table of contents

• CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• CHAPTER 1
• CHAPTER 5
• INTRODUCTION
• CHAPTER 6
• CHAPTER 8
• APPENDIX I
• APPENDIX II
• About the Author and the Editor