In 1945 , as World War II struggled towards its eventual close , a foreboding Oval Office meeting between Herbert Hoover and Harry Truman over Europe ’s fate sparked what became not only an effective professional relationship , but adeeply personal one as well , despite their huge partizan conflict . “ Yours has been a friendly relationship which has reached deeply into my lifetime than you know , ” Hoover once wrote of Truman , a persuasion often reciprocated by the latter president .
It all began towards the close of World War II in 1945 , just over a calendar month into Truman ’s organisation . Hoover had efficaciously exiled himself from public service since his landslip going to FDR in the election of 1932 . Before occupying the oval office himself , Hoover had doubly risen to political gibbousness : First as a self - made millionaire in the excavation industry , and again as a humanitarian organizer whose endeavor in healing war - tear Europeearned him outside renown . Capitalizing on his surge popularity , “ the groovy applied scientist ” conveniently win the presidency as a Republican in 1928 , only to become the target of nationwide scornafter the bloodline market crashedjust under a twelvemonth later ( hitchhiker in 1932 often successfully develop ride simply by holding up signs which take “ Give me a lift or I ’ll vote for Hoover ! ” ) . After his triumph , Roosevelt was quick to distance himself from his progressively - dislike predecessor and , fearing that his political calling was over , Hoover finally retreated to a private living in California .
hark back Hoover ’s prima performance in distribute nourishment and supplies to starving European syndicate scourge by the first World War , Truman determine to enlist the x - president ’s aid in reconstruct the continent after the 2nd , write in an invitational letter , “ I would be most well-chosen to talk over the European food for thought position with you … Also it would be a pleasure for me to become acquainted with you . ” On May 28 , 1945 , the two met in the White House — marking the first time Hoover had entered the building in 12 years — to discourse famine stand-in . Impressed by his human-centred certification and fervor , Truman later appoint Hoover honorary chairman of the Famine Emergency Committee , a function which send him across the globe toprocure ration for the impoverished and homeless .
Truman also secured Hoover ’s legacy by avail toofficially give the Hoover Dam its current namein honor of the president who had play a vital role in its construction ( antecedently , it ’d been dubbed the Boulder Dam ) .
But apart from just working well together , the two developed a solemn friendly relationship over the years , one that lasted until Hoover ’s expiry in 1964 . In fact , the last Book ever known to have been written by Hoover were post to Truman via telegram on October 14 , 1964 , after the former learned Truman had slipped in his lav and fracture two rib . The content read : “ tub are a threat to ex - presidents for as you may retrieve a bathtub rise up and fractured my vertebra when I was in Venezuela on your world shortage mission in 1946 . My warmest sympathy and expert wishes for your recovery . ”
