Excellent article. Sad. And I had no idea how extensive the US famine relief program was. Feeding 10 million Russians a day!
>The appeal landed on the desk of U.S. Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover, who wrote back that he was ready to create a program of the American Relief Administration (ARA) in Russia if the Soviet government requested it formally and with the understanding that the assistance did not mean American recognition of the Bolshevik government.
A century on, famine isn’t really something that most of the developed world has seen. But back then it was. Hoover had become known for famine relief work prior to entering government.
>Hoover was born to a Quaker family in West Branch, Iowa, but he grew up in Oregon. He took a position with a London-based mining company after graduating from Stanford University in 1895. After the outbreak of World War I, he became the head of the Commission for Relief in Belgium, an international relief organization that provided food to occupied Belgium. When the U.S. entered the war, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Hoover to lead the Food Administration, and Hoover became known as the country’s “food czar”. After the war, Hoover led the American Relief Administration, which provided food to the inhabitants of Central and Eastern Europe. Hoover’s wartime service made him a favorite of many progressives, and he unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination in the 1920 presidential election.
(Also, this was when the Republican Party was the more progressive of the Big Two parties in the US.)
2 comments
Excellent article. Sad. And I had no idea how extensive the US famine relief program was. Feeding 10 million Russians a day!
>The appeal landed on the desk of U.S. Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover, who wrote back that he was ready to create a program of the American Relief Administration (ARA) in Russia if the Soviet government requested it formally and with the understanding that the assistance did not mean American recognition of the Bolshevik government.
A century on, famine isn’t really something that most of the developed world has seen. But back then it was. Hoover had become known for famine relief work prior to entering government.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Hoover
>Hoover was born to a Quaker family in West Branch, Iowa, but he grew up in Oregon. He took a position with a London-based mining company after graduating from Stanford University in 1895. After the outbreak of World War I, he became the head of the Commission for Relief in Belgium, an international relief organization that provided food to occupied Belgium. When the U.S. entered the war, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Hoover to lead the Food Administration, and Hoover became known as the country’s “food czar”. After the war, Hoover led the American Relief Administration, which provided food to the inhabitants of Central and Eastern Europe. Hoover’s wartime service made him a favorite of many progressives, and he unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination in the 1920 presidential election.
(Also, this was when the Republican Party was the more progressive of the Big Two parties in the US.)