Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st president of the United States. During his first year in office the Wall Street crash of 1929 occurred. He was blamed for the resulting collapse of the economy, and his unpopular policies brought an end to a brilliant career in public office. After the inauguration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933, however, Hoover remained a leading critic of the New Deal and a spokesman for the Republican party. Early Life Born on Aug. 10, 1874, the son of a blacksmith in the Iowa village of West Branch, Hoover was orphaned at the age of eight and sent to l