- Was the first President born west of the Mississippi River
- In his last will and testament, executed in August 1964, he left the bulk of his estate, believed to be worth millions of dollars to a trust established in 1961 for the benefit of his heirs. He also left specific bequests totaling $140,000 to six female secretaries.
- Eighth cousin once removed of President Richard Nixon.
- Was the 31st President of the United States (1929 - 1933)
- Pictured on a 5¢ US commemorative postage stamp issued in his honor, 10 August 1965 (first anniversary of his birthday following his death).
- Mining Engineer (1896-1914).
- Secretary of Commerce (1921-1928).
- Dropped to fourth place among the longest-lived U.S. presidents, after been passed by Ronald Reagan (b. February 6, 1911), and Gerald Ford (b. July 14, 1913).
- Was the first of three U.S. Presidents to refuse a presidential salary. The second and third to do likewise were John F. Kennedy and Donald Trump.
- First of only two Quaker presidents, the second being Richard Nixon
- Both he and his wife spoke fluent Mandarin Chinese. They would often speak Mandarin Chinese in the White House when they did not want guests to know what they were talking about.
- Hoover's criticism of "Franklin D. Roosevelt''s New Deal policies as "collectivism" so enraged the four-term president that he refused to allow Hoover any governmental role during World War II, though he wanted to serve his country. After Roosevelt died in 1945, his successor, Harry S. Truman, appointed Hoover to oversee relief efforts in Europe, as he had done so admirably after the First World War. At the time, Hoover was the only living ex-president, and though the two had differing governmental philosophies, Hoover was the only person Truman could turn to for advice about the presidency.
- Great-grandfather of Margaret Hoover.
- He was of German, Swiss, and English ancestry.
- When twenty-thousand World War I veterans marched on Washington demanding their pensions to be paid out early, since they couldn't get work, Hoover sent General Douglas MacArthur and the army to forcefully clear them out. Instead, MacArthur went further than planned and used weapons and tear gas to force them to leave, outraging the public. This, among many other blunders and mistakes, was cited as a major reason for his losing the 1932 election.
- He was partially responsible for Republicans losing popularity among African-Americans. Following the Mississippi river flood in 1927, Hoover, who was already putting his sights on winning the Republican nomination next year, made a deal with prominent African American leaders that They tell blacks to vote for Hoover next year, and he'll champion black causes while in the White House. Hoover never did and the black vote began to leave the Republican Party for Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Democrats.
- He was the founder of UNICEF.
- He was criticized for providing humanitarian aid and food to Soviets. In response, Hoover said ''Whatever their politics, they shall be fed!".
- Received the National Football Foundation's Gold Medal in 1960.
- Inducted into the National Mining Hall of Fame, Leadville, Colorado in 1988 (charter member).
- Contrary to popular belief, he was not related to J. Edgar Hoover.
- Officially opened Manhattan's Empire State Building by pressing a button at the White House that instantly switched on the skyscraper's lights [May 1, 1931]
- His name is mentioned in the song "Those Were the Days", the opening theme of the TV series All in the Family (1971).
- According to Joe Garagiola, when Hoover met Yogi Berra, he said, "You amaze me Yogi, you've now become such a world figure that you drew more applause, yesterday, than either Prime Minister Nehru or Herbert Hoover". Berra replied, "I'm a better hitter".
- When in the public service, as Secretary of Commerce and as President, he donated all of his salary to charity and public service activities. He did the same in 1958, when $25,000 per year pensions were approved for all former presidents.
- In 1949, he declined an offer by New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey to be appointed to the U.S. Senate, due to an unexpected vacancy.
- On August 10, 1964, he became the second former US President to reach the age of 90 (the first was John Adams).
- Inducted into the Australian Prospectors & Miners' Hall of Fame.
- Inducted into the Philanthropy Hall of Fame.
- Due to his charity work, he was considered one of the most admired men in America at the time of his death.
- The Hoover Dam (1936) was named after him by then President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
- By the age of forty, he had mining investments in every continent except Antarctica and had a personal fortune of four million dollars.
- He is one of only three who men won a Presidential election without being a general or ever getting elected to public office before. The other two are William Howard Taft and Donald Trump.
- Hoover had the longest retirement of any former president until he was surpassed in 2012 by Jimmy Carter.
- He was appalled when Winston Churchill rejected Adolf Hitler's peace offers in July 1940.
- His successor, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, wrote about him in 1920: "He is certainly a wonder and I wish we could make him President of the United States. There could not be a better one.".
- He is, along with Harry Truman, the only President to outlive two of his successors: Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F Kennedy.
- He was ranked among the ten greatest living Americans in a New York Times poll.
- His March 1947 report on West Germany was instrumental in ending the implementation of the Morgenthau Plan, which Hoover claimed would lead to genocide with up to 25 million people dying.
- His Vice President, Charles Curtis, was Native American, making him the first person of color to hold that office and Hoover the first person to run with a nonwhite running mate.
- He met Adolf Hitler in Berlin on 8 March 1938. In their conversation, Hoover spoke up for personal liberty. Hitler replied that Germany, unlike the resource-rich United States, could not afford such liberties. Hitler also said he had been elected democratically as Chancellor of Germany. Hoover returned to the US confident that Germany was only a threat to the Soviet Union.
- He wanted the United States to pressure Britain and France (and later Free France) to accept Adolf Hitler's peace offers in 1939-41.
- He was the last surviving member of the cabinets of Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge.
- He is the only U.S. President to outlive his entire cabinet.
- Inducted into the National Rivers Hall of Fame in 2020.
- On April 7, 1927, he appeared as Secretary of Commerce on the nation's first television broadcast, not as president. The live picture and Hoover's voice were transmitted over telephone lines from Washington, DC, more than 200 miles north to an auditorium in Manhattan New York.
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