Lou Henry Hoover was married to Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States. She served as First Lady from 1929 to 1933 and is remembered for being the first in the role to make regular nationwide radio broadcasts.
Early Life
Lou Henry was born on March 29, 1874, in Waterloo, Iowa. At the age of 10, she moved to California, where her father took her on camping trips in the hills. As a teen, she rode horses, hunted, and developed an interest in rocks, minerals, and mining. Lou graduated from San Jose Normal School (now San Jose State University) in 1893. She then attended Stanford University, where she received a B.A. in Geology.
Marriage to Herbert Hoover
Lou met Herbert Hoover in a geology lab at Stanford University. According to her White House biography, Hoover stated that he was fascinated “by her whimsical mind, her blue eyes and a broad grinnish smile.”
The couple decided to delay getting married until Lou graduated from Stanford. Herbert wired a marriage proposal from Australia, where he was studying, in 1898. The couple married on February 10, 1899, at her parents’ home in Monterey, California. They would go on to have two sons, Herbert and Allan.
The couple left for China shortly after the wedding. They lived there for a year, as Herbert worked as a mining engineer. His job also took them to Ceylon, Burma, Siberia, Australia, Egypt, Japan, and Europe. They also worked together to translate from Latin to English Agricola’s De Re Metallica, a 16th-century encyclopedia of mining and metallurgy. During World War I, Herbert Hoover chaired the Commission for Relief in Belgium, while Lou raised relief funds from California. In 1921, the family moved to Washington, D.C. upon Herbert Hoover’s appointment as Secretary of Commerce.
While Lou Hoover supported her husband’s political ambitions, she also dedicated herself to her own causes. She was greatly involved in the Girl Scouts of the USA, serving as the national president from 1922 to 1925, and again from 1935 to 1937.
First Lady of the United States
Herbert Hoover was elected President in 1928 and assumed office on March 4, 1929. Lou Hoover was the first First Lady to speak on the radio, giving regular addresses to the nation.
As the country faced growing economic hardships, the Hoovers relied on their own money to fund White House social events. Lou Hoover also used her own money to commission the reproduction of furniture owned by President Monroe for a period sitting room in the White House. She also restored President Lincoln’s study. Lou Hoover also designed and supervised the construction of a presidential retreat at Rapidan Camp in Madison County, Virginia.
Later Life
When Herbert Hoover’s term ended, the couple returned to Palo Alto. They also spent time in New York City, where they kept an apartment. On January 7, 1944, Lou Hoover suffered a fatal heart attack. She died at the age of 69.
