herbert hoover's american relief administration for help. next on american history tv, historian douglas smith gives an illustrated talk about the story based on his book, "the russian job: the forgotten story of how america saved the soviet union from ruin." hillwood estate museum and gardens hosted this event. kate: good evening and welcome to hillwood estate museum and gardens. i know many of you know already, but in case we have not met, my name is kate markert, the executive director here. i want to thank you in joining us tonight as we welcome back douglas smith, longtime friend of hillwood and author of the book "the russian job: the forgotten story of how america saved the soviet union from ruin." you may have noticed that the theater looks just a little bit different tonight. i am very pleased to welcome c-span. while this is their very first time at hillwood, it is not the first time that our lectures are accessible to folks at home. many of our fantastic programs are available on the hillwood museum youtube channel, so check that

they had been a herbert hoover memorial highway. that was quickly renamed. there had been a memorial hospitals named after americans. those were renamed. many of the people in russia who had worked for the americans were arrested as spies. in fact, some were still being arrested after world war ii for having worked for the americans. the whole operation, when it was discussed, was discussed as it was a plot by hoover to overthrow the soviet government, but the vigilance of the cheka had saved the soviet government from the nefarious deeds of herbert hoover. and then it was basically forgotten. i was in moscow in september, and i was walking along, and i remembered that the ara's main offices were on that street. i knew what the building looked like. sure enough, there was the building. i had this idea of getting a poster made that said, in russian, "you know who lived and worked here?" my russian friend said that probably was not a great idea. i am hoping the book will come out in russia. all of my books have been published there. i am talking with my publis

. >> henry hoover, as it turns out, is related to my great-grandfather herbert hoover.ow we're no serious genealogists at iring line," but it appears that you and i are sixth cousins once removed. >> yes. so now people right now at home are trying to adjust ' their screuse they're ng to figure out what haened here. i know. let me just say, obviously your branch of the family ended up okay. abours was -- therwas pr too much moonshine. >> well, they're all quakers. i dot know if any of them drink. >> actually, that's true. yes, that's the part of our past is that we, our ancestors are quakers. >> they we pacifists. >> pacifists. >> they were abolitionists. >> they were abolitionists. and when he told me i was related to one of the 45 presidents, i was, like, enthinking, "oh. you know,dy or, hey, maybe obama." you know, he's got the irish wing. >> so here's what you tweeted when you found out it was herbert hoover. you said... >> okay. i will say this, that since i wrote that tweet, i've done a little more research on my fourth cousin, president hoover, and -- >> what have

think about his presidency, you go there and the first thing you huge bust of herbert hoover and the square right next to the library is named after him. so it is a different history of you walk states as into that library than what you our public re in buildings. here.t question is answer to know the this so it is a legit question. going to be r is nominated for the nobel peace a number of times and the initial one has to do with this. could you talk about that why he didn't win? >> several of the people nvolved in the food aid are nominated. to my knowledge the only one who pate who was a young princeton graduate who relief and lgian poland in the a.r.a. and he is of union a -- after world war it. i have a chart in my book where men involved in 1914 to 1924 and what they end he -- union r and helm wins him at the the nobel peace prize and he before ouple months that. i think it is partly the and hoover the prize was a prickly fellow. diplomatic.ll that >> thank you. feels this relief the t affected by and influence of the pandemic that .as contemporaneous versionl give you short wh

herbert hoover was born in west branch, iowa in 1874 into a family of quakers. orphaned at the age of nine, he was sent off to live with an uncle in oregon. in 1891, he enrolled in the first class at stanford university and, four years later, graduated with a degree in geology. by all accounts, he was an average student with average grades and left with average expectations. none of his fellow students and professors held out much hope for a bright future for young herbert hoover. he proved them wrong. he went off first to the gold mines of the australian outback, a place he described as pure hell, before moving onto china. very quickly, he rose to the ranks in the international mining business. he had a rare talent as an administrator and had a way of finding new opportunities that no one had seen before, of turning around failing operations and making a lot of money. by 1914, he was living in london with his family. he was not the head of his own international firm with offices around the world. he was extremely wealthy and successful, but he was also getting

love herbert hoover. he was brilliant, courtly, very careful with what he said from very presidential. he was an engineer. scientists, were engineers. he fed europe after world war i when they were starving. he led us through this great depression. up new thes spring major cities of america on the garbage dumps, people who could not keep their houses, so they went to the garbage dumps come up where they looked for scraps to build their own homes, where they look for food for the children. there was no sewage or running water. there were thousands of these hoovervilles across the country. that is how people suffer when the economy goes bad. it is fun when you are famous the rich, and it comedian to say we need a recession, because you want your team to win the white house. actually prosperity is a wonderful thing. 6 million people have gone off food stamps. that is a good thing. that is not a bad thing. host: did you have to sign a nondisclosure agreement in writing this book? guest: no, i didn't. that is

to 1923, the united states through organization called the american relief association led by herbert hooversecretary 1 -- atress, spent $1. one point 11 million people a day save the country from collapse. it is one of the greatest relief operations in world history that nobody seems to know anything about and i decided americans and russians needed to know the story. steve: and were the russians receptive to your research? friends,mong historian yes. others refused to believe it had happened, because the soviet union tried to wipe out any trace of this history. steve you have one last : photograph? donald: these are three little boys sitting on a bench at a famous monastery, right in the center of the city clowning here for manhoff. what is touching about it, again, stalin still alive and there's still an intense distrust and fear of foreigners. but these little boys clearly have not gotten the message and are having a great time with this american photographer. steve thank you very much for : stopping by on c-span threes american history tv. donald: thanks for having me. announcer: you ca

facade here at the memorial which forms one side of the memorial walls was dedicated in 1932 by herbert hoover and it was part of the memorial bridge project that obviously built memorial bridge, memorial drive and then this ceremonial gateway to arlington national cemetery, so 1932, three years into the depression, what happens, the memorial just sits here, and you can see that it was never finished. the niches are free of sculptures, the plaza was bare and it just sat here for some 65 years, and i always like to say it was just waiting for us to come along and bring this incredible memorial to women's service to the nation. so in essence, this is the place where the nation says thanks to the 3 million women who have served. the memorial itself is operated and maintained by the women in military service for american memorial foundation. we are a not for profit organization that relies on the donations of corporate and individual. it always pains me to say that of the money that has been raised to build and maintain this memorial, 74% of it is from the very women itself that it -- that the mem

he defeated republican herbert hoover by 7 million votes. >> let me assert my firm belief that the onlyhing we have to fear is fear itself. >> bret: trouble was brewing abroad, too. extreme nationalism was on the rise in japan. and adolf hitler was well on his way to seizing power in germany. by 1938, he was on the move. annexing austria and occupying czechoslovakia. the next year, he invaded poland. its appeasement of hitler having failed great britain turned to winston churchill to lead them. >> i can only say one word. victory. victory at all costs. victory in spite of all terror. victory however long and hard the road may be. without victory, there is no survival. >> bret: eight years older than f.d.r., churchill had also been born in a family of wealth and privilege. >> a young man in a hurry. born several weeks early. from that moment on he seemed to be racing through life. >> bret: he attended military college, he fought in cuba and sudan and served as a correspondent in the war. he was elected to parliament in 1926 and served in a series of the cabinet positions including the fi

during the depression they were in financial straits and they appeal to congress and president herbert hoover. right away. but then things can go very wel well. hoover ordered the army that king nonetheless thought to serve as a model of what they aim to do for the poor people campaign. and and the civil disobedience thousands of people of congressional offices that would and poverty ending poverty once and for all and building a case for that legislation they proposed and soon exhibit a was the strike in protest. he figured with the spotlight the very issues he was raising and that he should do that. so what is happening with the strike in memphis. how did it start? the garbage workers in memphis those low wages and those dreadful working conditions with joe warren and taylor rogers who talk about the grievances that they had. >>. >>. >> so the workers decided to start local 1733 of the american federation they brought their grievances to the city. so they were planning to strike in the summer of 1968. so talking about the timing and the morning of january 31st the black workers in the depar

president herbert hoover called prohibition a good experience, but it also very much helped organized the u.s. so why do we let that happen? joining me tonight club university associate professor of history and author of go ye west young women the rise of early hollywood professor hilary college is here. welcome hilary. so one of the most interesting things, a lot of people know that the crime rate spiked, the homicide rate spikes. these criminal syndicates exploded because they were making so much money, but the government wasn't making money. so income taxes went up, and that extended beyond the end of prohibition. >> income tax did not go up in the 1920s. kennedy: according to the research i read the government is looking for new ways to make monies because the gangs are making all the money. >> it was true they lost a great deal taxes when they made the sale of alcohol illegal. but by and large, the 20s is known as the decade in which taxes were cut. on all levels. kennedy: oh interesting how about that? sumac yell it's pretty much my thing. kennedy: so what are some of the instit

setting aside political differences, vladimir lenin's new soviet government asked herbert hoover's americannistration for help. next on american history tv, historian douglas smith gives an illustrated talk about the story based on his book, "the russian job: the forgotten story of how america saved the soviet union from ruin." hillwood estate museum and gardens hosted this event. kate: good evening and welcome to hillwood estate museum and gardens. i know many of you know already, but in case we have not met, my name is kate markert, the executive director here. i want to thank you in joining us tonight as we welcome back douglas smith, longtime friend of hillwood and author of the book "the russian job: the forgotten story of how america saved the soviet union from ruin." you may have noticed that the theater looks just a little bit different tonight.

now, we know that herbert hoover signed the smoot-hawley tariff in 1930, exacerbated the depression.ne in the last two weeks, stuart? pulled back from the tariffs, done the trade deals, his phase one with china, pulled back a lot of his tariffs which i think shows that he's going to be more like coolidge, kennedy and reagan than herbert hoover and keep your eye on the fact that if he wins re-election, what's going to continue? deregulation of the private sector. that has been going on in the background. this is one of the biggest underreported stories out there. i think it's entirely possible that the 2020s under donald trump could roar just as they did a hundred years ago. stuart: what a contrast. you look at the media, it's all doom and gloom, always something wrong, whining and moaning left, right and center and here you are saying we might get another roaring '20s. what a place to have you on the show. >> it's nice to be optimistic at the beginning of a new year but i think it's right. we have been reporting for a year, what's been going on in the private economy is extraordinary

he was appointed under calvin coolidge and he lasted through coolidge and then through herbert hooverso he was there in the early years of the great depression. he was there through franklin roosevelt's presidency, through the new deal. truman kept him on. hoover was there through the early cold war, mccarthyism. when truman left, eisenhower came in. hoover stayed through eisenhower's terms. through the developing cold war through the 1950's. he stayed on through john f. kennedy. he stayed on for lyndon presidency. he stayed on through richard nixon's presidency and finally may in the position in 1972. throughout this time, as you can this world of in bipartisan establishment politics, eight presents, two attorneys general, republicans and democrats. he was never elected to this position, but was reappointed repeatedly and over the course the fbiareer, he don't from being a rather small and .nsignificant bureaucracy the investigative wing of the justice department into a really substantial part of the national security state, an institution created within his own image. imagination, i

big liberal new york governor like fdr have a chance against what was once a popular president, herbert hooverthe depression? >> we have talked before about how a lot of trump is purposely betting on a lot of his 2020 election on the economy and how strong it has been. if the economy is still strong in november, you know, trump's probably -- neil: strong economy got ronald reagan elected in a landslide. just the opposite took barack obama to the white house. it's the environment. >> one thing to keep in mind is the incumbent always has the advantage because they are in charge of the airplane controls. they are managing the economy until the election. it doesn't always work but it works most of the time. neil: all right. a lot more coming up after this, including uber in the sky. yeah. after this. what a time to be alive. the world is customized to you. built for you. so why isn't it all about you, when it comes to your money? so. what's on your mind? we are edward jones, a 97-year-old firm built for right now. with one financial advisor per office, we're all about knowing what's important to y

worst famines in history, setting aside political differences, the new soviet government asked herbert hoover's american relief administration for help. douglas smithn gives an illustrated talk about the story based on his story the russian job, the forgotten the story of how america saved the soviet union from ruin. >> good evening and welcome to hillwood estate museum and gardens. i know many of you know already but in case we haven't met, i am the executive director here. i want to thank you for joining us tonight as we welcome back