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Uncommon Words: Belgian Village tells Hoover’s humanitarian story from WWI
by Jerry Fleagle, Hoover Association · Op-Ed · May 21, 2015


Last month I wrote about the Savoy Hotel and how it became the starting point for Herbert Hoover’s entry into a life of public service.


It began with Hoover helping 120,000 stranded Americans return safely home from Europe as The Great War made travel unsafe 100 years ago. But Hoover’s story doesn’t end there.

His work in the rescue effort exposed him to a variety of issues facing civilians caught in the path of the battle.

The Kingdom of Belgium, although neutral, was occupied by German forces, who confiscated much of Belgium’s food supply for their soldiers. The seaport had been mined and was blocked by the British.

The people of Belgium, who imported 80 percent of their food, had no means to acquire fresh supplies. Millions were starving.

Hoover stepped up again. And through the Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB), he brought food to millions of starving civilians.

Hoover had crossed the North Sea 40 times for discussion with British and German factions to convince them to allow relief ships into port safely. Keeping the CRB going was a full-time job and then some for Hoover and his associates.

The Germans resented the presence of the foreigners in the country and were bitter about the British blockade, which they saw as the reason for Belgium needing foreign aid in the first place.

The British felt that Germany needed to either feed the Belgians themselves or deal with the resulting starvation riots right behind their lines, and that international help to relieve that pressure was helping the Germans and thereby lengthening the war.

At several points both sides tried to shut down the relief, and then there was the constant issue with German submarines pursuing relief ships.

In the end, the CRB bought and shipped 11.4 billion pounds of food to 9.5 million civilian victims of the war.

Hoover had arranged safe passage for the chartered vessels in meetings with British and German authorities.

Again, Hoover’s organizational skills and diplomatic efforts have grown to save millions of lives.

Hoover would also feed millions in France during the war, and over his lifetime the number of lives he kept from starvation would hit the one billion mark.

When you know Hoover’s story, it’s easy to see why we call the new exhibit, The Making of the Great Humanitarian.

You can get the rest of the story with a visit to the exhibit!



Jerry Fleagle is the executive director of the Hoover Presidential Foundation. You may reach him at 319-643-5327 or JFleagle@hooverpf.org.