The Peter Pan in Hoover

Abstract

Herbert Hoover loved children. They loved him as well. He treated them with respect, encouraged them to enjoy life, took their problems seriously, and conversed with them as equals. He did not preach to them nor talk down to them. The president’s time was never too valuable to turn away children. Hoover had special camaraderie with boys. The saddest part of childhood, he believed, was that it had to end. While it lasted, it existed to be enjoyed. When it did end, children should enter the adult world with healthy minds and bodies and an optimistic outlook. Hoover’s love of children never faltered and was one of the most dominant drives in his life. As an adult, the boy in him lived on. He wanted to give children a chance, including some of the chances he had missed. In his own way, Herbert Hoover was one of the great lovers of his time. He realized that what children needed most are love and nurturing. Those are intangibles that no government program can provide, yet without childhoods nourished by love, they grow up with a void inside. He did not believe the problems of children were simple or easy, but he viewed childhood not as a time of surmounting problems, but as a time of joy, to be lived to the fullest, a short precious time. The lost innocence of childhood was never lost on Hoover. His childhood had been one of adversity, and he did not want other children to suffer; otherwise, they might become hardened adults. One of the most important contributions adults can make is to listen.