Episode Details

Herbert Hoover saved more lives before becoming president than almost any private citizen in history. He organized the feeding of Belgium during World War I, directed European famine relief afterward, and was called "the Great Humanitarian." Then the stock market crashed, the Depression destroyed his presidency, and the man who had fed millions became the face of American suffering — Hoovervilles, Hoover flags, Hoover blankets.

This episode traces Hoover from his orphaned Iowa childhood through the mining fortune, the humanitarian campaigns, the presidency that the Depression devoured, and the decades of post-presidential rehabilitation.

• Hoover's orphaned childhood and the mining career that made him a millionaire before forty
• The Belgian relief, the European famine response, and the humanitarian reputation he built
• The 1929 crash, the Depression, and the Hooverville legacy that defined his failed presidency
• The post-presidential decades, the Hoover Commission reforms, and the gradual rehabilitation of his reputation