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Lou Henry Hoover
Date of Birth: March 29, 1875
Date of Death: Jan 7, 1944 [68]
Married: Feb 10, 1899 -
Herbert Hoover
Children: 2

  • Lou was the first woman to major in geology at Stanford
  • It was there that she met Herbert Hoover, a mining engineer student
  • After Herbert's graduation, he took a job in Australia and cabled Lou with a marriage proposal
  • She answered in a one word telegram, yes.
  • She was the first national president of the Girl Scouts
  • In the first year of her husband's presidency the stock market crash led to the great depression
  • The Hoover's, who were millionaires, would often help members of her staff with money for bills, and at the same time Lou sent checks to needy families who wrote requesting financial support
  • She gave the first radio address by a First Lady when she spoke to children regarding the Depression, and ways to cope wit the situation
  • In favor of prohibition, she ordered a gift case of whiskey to the White House poured down drain
  • As First Lady she enlisted the Signal Corps to record the first White House inventory
  • The Hoovers both spoke Chinese
  • At the White House they often conversed in the tongue in order to keep their conversations secret