Life of Herbert Hoover

In this capstone volume to the magisterial six-volume biography of Herbert Hoover, historian Gary Dean Best provides the definitive account of the final years of America's thirty-first president. Though he found himself exhausted and dispirited upon his departure from the White House during the worst period of the Great Depression, Hoover's recovery was quick and his post-presidential years kaleidoscopic - filled with the activities of a man constantly on the move, both physically and mentally. He remained an active presence in politics, exerting his considerable influence in the Republican Party to maintain the GOP as the bulwark of conservative principles in American politics. He was also a leading figure in the debate over American involvement in World War II, and after the war he helped to forge a bipartisan foreign policy for the United States. Throughout his political activities he maintained his concern for public welfare through his efforts to feed children in war-torn Europe. In later years, he chaired commissions that ushered in major reforms of the executive branch and restructured the federal government, even as he remained a productive historian and prolific author of articles and books. By the time of his death in 1964, Hoover's post-presidential accomplishments - much like those of his earlier years - were the hallmarks of a distinguished career that extended far beyond the presidency.