Lou Henry Hoover
As the wife of one of the nation’s preeminent engineers, Lou Hoover traveled with her husband extensively, often on trips which lasted years. Lou graduated from Stanford University in 1898 with a degree in Geology. By then she was an accomplished horsewoman, an athlete excelling in several sports, proficient in Latin, and a taxidermist of considerable talent. She traveled with her husband Herbert to China, dedicated her time and talents at hospitals around Yianjin during the Boxer Rebellion, and demonstrated her proficiency with a pistol when necessary. By the time she returned to the United States she was fluent in Chinese.
Lou’s ability to speak Chinese, a skill she shared with her husband, allowed the couple to often thwart efforts to invade their private communications when they entered the White House. The president and his wife often spoke to each other in Chinese when in the company of others from whom they wished to keep their comments confidential.
The Hoover Administration began as the Roaring Twenties came to an end and ushered in the worst years of the Great Depression. Lou Hoover became the first of the American First Ladies to regularly broadcast radio messages to the American people. Although she did not host her own broadcast she was a frequent guest, whence she urged the public to support volunteer recovery programs as the nation battled the collapse of the economy. She supported programs which she had advocated for most of her adult life, projecting an air of confidence to the nation and in her husband’s abilities to restore the economy.
Lou Hoover also saw the strain of the office and the effect it was having on her husband, until the presidency a vigorous, active man. Recognizing the need for rest and recovery, she promoted the development of Camp Rapidan in Virginia, a rustic retreat for the presidential entourage only a short distance from the White House. Hoover purchased the land with his own funds, using Marines to provide improvements in the form of buildings and shelters. Hoover, a devoted fly fisherman, used the camp for meetings and recreation throughout his presidency. It was the precursor of today’s Camp David in Maryland.
Lou Henry served as the National President of the Girl Scouts of America both prior to and following her tenure as First Lady of the United States. The home which she designed and in which she and her husband resided for many years is now the residence of the President of Stanford University. The talented and influential Lou Hoover died suddenly in 1944, more than two decades before her husband, who never remarried.