THE MEMOIRS OF HERBERT HOOVER: Vol. II

Quite frankly, this is less interesting reading than volume one, in which the engineer Hoover emerged as the best type of American in the making, a success story in the old tradition. Now- with volume two, Hoover turns to the record of his years of service to his country in the role first as Secretary of Commerce, then as President. A third volume will complete the Political Years- from the Manchurian Affair, with which this volume ends. Inevitably, there is less of glamor in the conscientious record of seven years (under Harding and Coolidge) during which reconstruction took great strides and many of the reforms attributed, loosely, to the New Deal, were launched. But it is important for the record, particularly as we approach the vortex of an election year. Many things in relation to labor, industry and government that we now take for granted; many forward steps in conservation, public utilities, development of aviation, of Merchant Marine, of fisheries; many phases of government control of trade associations, of government itself ""in business""; many of the steps towards reorganization of the executive branch; the establishment of the RFC, of the Federal Reserve, of the Federal Farm Board; progress in housing, in child welfare, in education -- these were but a few of the goals set when Hoover was Secretary of Commerce, and carried on into the Presidency. If this book proves anything, it establishes Hoover as one of the ""great"" Secretaries, who brought the Department of Commerce to a position of importance. But somehow, when one continues on into the record of the Presidency, one does not feel that much has been added....There is little that is news in this volume. One senses early his perceptive awareness of Soviet Russian duplicity. One reads with interest his sometimes reserved, sometimes caustic comments on his fellows in office. And one views with dismay the apparent tranquility of the years before the deluge.