31^st PRESIDENT

NAME: Herbert Clark Hoover. From his youth he was known as Bert to friends.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Hoover stood 5 feet 11 inches tall and had straight brown hair, parted just to the left of center, hazel eyes, a round fleshy face, ruddy complexion, and a husky build. He was slightly round-shouldered. As a young man he wore a beard and mustache to look older. He dressed simply.

PERSONALITY: Hoover was hardworking, incorruptible, self-assured and self-reliant. But he was also aloof, shy, wary of crowds, awkward at superficial social relations, and extremely sensitive to criticism. “It was,” biographer David Burner has written, “perhaps the private man’s shrinkage from rough political contact, the predilection for working by himself, and the habit of perceiving problems as requiring rational, impersonal solutions that made Hoover uncomfortable with the rude, demanding Congress as well as with the press.” Hoover often was curt with subordinates. A model of efficiency himself, he expected the same of others. Characteristically, he concentrated on detail rather than on the broader significance of a problem. He was a dull speaker, rarely lifting his eyes from the prepared text.

PRIMARY SOURCE: DeGregorio, William A. The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents. 7th ed. Fort Lee: Barricade Books, 2009.