Health and Medical History of President
Herbert Hoover
President #31: 1929-1933
Lived 1874-1964
Lived 1874-1964
"A sound doctor must be opposed to exercise and in favor of tobacco."
1a
Health and Medical History of President
Herbert Hoover
President #31: 1929-1933
Lived 1874-1964
Lived 1874-1964
↓
Lived 1874-1964
2023
1776
Revolutionary War1776-1783
War of 18121812-1815
Mexican-American War1846-1848
Civil War1861-1865
Spanish-American War1898-1899
World War 11917-1918
World War 21941-1945
Korean War1950-1953
Viet Nam War1964-1975
Desert Storm1990-1991
Bush's Wars2001-2021
Lived 1874-1964
2023
1776
Revolutionary War1776-1783War of 18121812-1815Mexican-American War1846-1848Civil War1861-1865Spanish-American War1898-1899World War 11917-1918World War 21941-1945Korean War1950-1953Viet Nam War1964-1975Desert Storm1990-1991Bush's Wars2001-2021
"A sound doctor must be opposed to exercise and in favor of tobacco."
1a
Maladies & Conditions
· croup · childhood ills · snored · healthy despite work · handshake problems · fast easting · gall bladder · shingles · intestinal cancer · deaf and nearly blind · GI hemorrhage
Odds & Ends ·
Doctors ·
Resources ·
Cited Sources
Maladies and Conditions
Almost suffocated from croup at age 2. His Aunt Agnes wrote: "We all thought he was dead.
... The eyes of the infant were pressed closed with pennies; and a sheet was drawn over his
body; but after resuscitation by his uncle, John Minthorn, Herbert stirred to life."
1b
Hoover had several health problems as a child, including measles, mumps, diphtheria, earache,
and chicken pox. He badly burned a foot when he stepped, barefoot, on a hot iron in his father's
blacksmith shop. Another time, he almost chopped off his right index finger while playing with
a hatchet.
1b
Reliability of this information is uncertain.
2
Is reported to have not missed a day of work during his presidency as a result of illness
1c.
This was despite a gruelling work schedule and an aversion to exercise
MORE.
Hoover worked "at all hours" and did not take a single vacation, not counting
Rapidan Camp near Washington where he would go for a weekend with a few old
trusted friends
3a.
"He seemed tense and utterly pre-occupied with the nation's ills"
(the Great Depression)
3b.
The annual White House reception, in which Hoover had to shake hands with thousands of visitors,
was a problem. His hand was at times so swollen that he could not write for days. Once he received
a bad cut from a diamond ring that was turned inward; the reception was abruptly halted.
1a
It was observed that Hoover "eats twice as fast as his guests and leaves the
table before they have finished"
3c.
He averaged nine or ten minutes for dinner, but could do a full course dinner
in eight minutes
3d.
It's unclear whether this was a lifelong habit, or a product of the enormous
workload facing Hoover during the Great Depression. But he was always anxious
to get back to work
3d.
Hoover had a gall bladder attack in 1949 (age 75), which he described to reporters as "Much
ado about nothing." In 1958, while attending the Brussels World Fair, he developed abdominal
pain and was diagnosed with cholecystitis. His gall bladder was removed.
1a
A malignant intestinal tumor was removed in his 88th year. Ten months later he had severe gastrointestinal
bleeding and seemed terminally ill. He improved. In early 1964, he was frail, but his mind
was clear and he maintained a great deal of correspondence.
1a
In his later he years he was "deaf and nearly blind."
1a
Hoover could use this to his advantage. In 1963 there were several celebratory events upon
the successful conclusion of NASA's Project Mercury...
Finally there was another banquet, with a lot of speeches. Former president Herbert Hoover was there, sitting next to Walt Williams at the head table. When Jim Webb [the chief of NASA] got up to talk, I noticed Hoover whispering in Williams's ear. I asked about it later. "He asked who that was," Williams said. "When I told him Jim Webb, he turned his hearing aid off and asked me to poke him when Webb was finished." 4a
Gastrointestinal bleeding recurred in February 1964, and was complicated by pneumonia. He lingered
until October, when a severe gastrointestinal hemorrhage occurred. He refused to be hospitalized,
and died in a coma on October 20, 1964.
1d
Odds and Ends
- Through his mother, Hoover was an eighth cousin once removed of Richard Nixon 5a.
- He took an occasional social drink and learned to enjoy a good cigar. (Later, however, he would refuse to allow photographs while cigar smoking.) 1e
- Hoover's only recreation during his presidency was a pre-breakfast session with a medicine ball 3e, six days a week, regardless of season or weather. He missed only one session during his term in office 1c. MORE
- Anger over the Great Depression sparked many threats to Hoover's life. For example, at the White House an angry man had come in off the streets and gotten to Hoover, who was sitting in the dining room 3b. During his 1932 re-election campaign a man was caught attempting to remove the spikes securing the railroad track on which Hoover's train would travel from St. Paul, MN to Beloit, WI 3f. Because of security worries, no servants were to be in sight when the President came into the White House hallways 3b.
- Hoover had the dental facility installed in the White House 6.
- His wore size 7 1/2 shoes 3g.
Doctors
During Presidency
Resources
Hoover6 Series
Hoover6 Series
Hoover6 Series
Hoover6 Series
Hoover6 Series
Hoover6 Series
Cited Sources
- Bumgarner, John R. The Health of the Presidents: The 41 United States Presidents Through 1993 from a Physician's Point of View. Jefferson, NC: MacFarland & Company, 1994.
a p.203 b p.201 c p.202 d p.204 e pp.201-202Comment: Devotes one chapter to each President, through Clinton. Written for the layperson, well-referenced, with areas of speculation clearly identified, Dr. Zebra depends heavily on this book. Dr. Bumgarner survived the Bataan Death March and has written an unforgettable book casting a physician's eye on that experience.
- Dugan, James. Bedlam in the boudoir. Colliers. 22 Feb. 1947; pages 17, 69-70.
Comment: Credibility is dubious. Just before a list of Presidents, the article states: "Twenty of the 32 Presidents ... are proved or believed on a thick web of circumstance to have been nocturnal nuisances in the White House." - Parks, Lillian Rogers. My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House. New York: Fleet Publishing, 1961.
a pp.216, 219 b pp.219-220 c p.72 d p.221 e p.226 f p.231 g p.56Comment: This book stayed on the New York Times best-seller list for 26 weeks, prompting Jacqueline Kennedy to require all staff at the White House to sign a pledge agreeing not to write about their experiences (NY Times, page B8, Nov. 12, 1997). Parks's mother, a maid at the White House from 1909-1939, had actually been encouraged by Eleanor Roosevelt to write and publish a memoir (p260).
- Kraft, Christopher. Flight: My Life in Mission Control. New York: Dutton, 2001.
a p.188
- Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh (ed). Burke's Presidential Families of the United States of America. 2nd ed. London: Burke's Peerage Limited, 1981.
a p.480Comment: Maps -- in great detail -- the ancestors and descendants of American presidents through Ronald Reagan. They would have had an exhausting time with President Obama's family tree! MORE
- Ward, Myah. The tooth is out there: Biden gets a root canal. (Published 12 June 2023. Downloaded on 2023-06-16.) Available on the web: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/12/joe-biden-root-canal-00101523
Other Sources
George Washington · John Adams · Thomas Jefferson · James Madison · James Monroe · John Q. Adams · Andrew Jackson · Martin van Buren · William Harrison · John Tyler · James Polk · Zachary Taylor · Millard Fillmore · Franklin Pierce · James Buchanan · Abraham Lincoln · Andrew Johnson · Ulysses Grant · Rutherford Hayes · James Garfield · Chester Arthur · Grover Cleveland · Benjamin Harrison · Grover Cleveland · William McKinley · Theodore Roosevelt · William Taft · Woodrow Wilson · Warren Harding · Calvin Coolidge · Herbert Hoover · Franklin Roosevelt · Harry Truman · Dwight Eisenhower · John Kennedy · Lyndon Johnson · Richard Nixon · Gerald Ford · James Carter · Ronald Reagan · George Bush · William Clinton · George W. Bush · Barack Obama · Donald Trump · Joseph Biden