Family Weekly April 10, i960
Not long ago a reporter was listing individuals
to interview for a story on leisure and retire
ment. Near the top he wrote, "Herbert Hoover."
On checking, however, he scratched out the name.
Not only is Mr. Hoover, at 85, not retired he's so
busy it's a feat to get an appointment with him.
Our oldest living ex-President needn't continue
working a 10-hour day. He earned a fortune years
ago (and never has accepted a salary from the
Government) . Yet he chooses work. And his "retire
ment" achievements to date have been prodigious.
In 1946, for example, at the age of 72, he was
called by President Harry S. Truman to organize
postwar relief efforts in 39 countries. One associate
still recalls how "The Chief worked hours in an
unheated room in Germany, bundled in blankets
and holding a phone in a mitten-clad hand.
At 73, he began the unprecedented task of
directing the first and second Hoover Commission
studies, both Congressionally established and ap
proved, of our Government's executive ' branch.
When he finished, he was 80.
Long a champion of the Boys' Clubs of America,
Mr. Hoover (himself a former poor boy) has been
largely responsible, as chairman, for boosting the
number of clubs five-fold. He has raised at least
$75 million for various causes in recent years and
has served on so many educational and charitable
boards that his associates have lost track.
Already author of a shelfful of books, including
a best seller about a Democratic President, "The Or
deal of Woodrow Wilson," he is writing three more,
part of a series on American citizens' world-wide
relief efforts.
' His suite in the Waldorf-Astoria Towers in New
York City at times seems as busy as his former
office in the White House. He has six secretaries.
Both the hotel and his staff screen a stream of tele
phone calls. (In contrast, I phoned Independence,
Mo., one day with a question and got former Presi
dent Truman direct.) Meanwhile, the white-haired,
HERBERT HOOVER TELLS WHY:
I DONT BELIEVE I
Family Weekly, April 10. 1960
square-shouldered "Chief," serenely puffing a pipe,
pushes on through his busy schedule, remaining
punctual almost to the second.
In addition, Mr. Hoover squeezes in periodic
doses of recreation. Each year, for instance, he tries
to go fishing at least once, perhaps in Oregon or
Florida. On occasion, he attends banquets or par
ties. Last summer, he attended an Old-Timers Day
baseball game at Yankee Stadium.
Few persons, even among "The Chief's" long
time friends, fully realize the fantastic pace this
octogenarian sets.
A Typical Day's Work
Mr. Hoover rises at 7 a.m. (He lives in New York
except in summer, when he moves to the Mark
Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco.) He tunes in radio
or TV news, shaves and dresses (he employs no
valet), and by 8 o'clock or earlier he is reading
the New York morning papers in full.
For breakfast at 9 (the hotel prepares all his
meals), he usually has invited guests. Within an
hour, he is at his desk to check mail (it averages
250 letters a day). He jots down replies by hand.
Then he has appointments concerning the Boys'
Clubs, or some of the dozen institutions he actively
helps guide or manage.
On many days, his time is devoted to his three
books, for which he personally is examining 400,000
papers, charts, and documents. He employs no
ghost writer; he writes every word in pencil in
longhand. When he tires, he stands and stretches.
Lunch is at 1 p.m. in his dining room; again Mr.
Hoover has guests. By 2, he usually is in his room
for a nap. Within an hour he is working again. The
evening papers are brought in about 6. Dinner at
7:30, again with guests.
(There also are periodic family visits. His wife
died in 1944, but he has two sons, both engineers,
Allan Henry and Herbert, Jr., the latter an ex-
undersecretary of state; six grandchildren; and
nine great-grandchildren, j
After dinner, he may resume work. "We know
.. II - f 4
he works at night sometimes, says uub Bcucicuy
Bernice Miller, "because we find things on our
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desks in the morning, usuaiiy, uiuugu, uumci
followed by conversations with friends; canasta or
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gin rummy; or possmiy iv, u a bj:v.-ii i""'
affairs show or baseball game is on.
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Finally, about lu p.m., ne is on uu way vj -How
does the ex-President maintain such a
schedule Whyr
After a visit to his office, talks with friends and
associates, and an examination ui ma uwn tum
ments, I am convinced the secret of Mr, Hoover's
... ... . .i i r
vigor and longevity is an unuruiuuu luui-iun
"nonretirement" philosophy.
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He has never set it aown, as bui-u. ininuciEsi,
it can be formalized.
Hoover's Four-Point Plan
1. Regardless of age, only work can make you
feel worthwhile.
"Any oldster who keeps at even part-time work,"
he says, has someining worm uumub
has a zest for the morning paper and his three
meals a day. The point of all this is not to retire
from work or you will shrivel into a nuisance to
all mankind."
2. Keeping busy aids an oldster's health.
Although Mr. Hoover's physical condition has
been above average, it has not been perfect. At
. . ". e 11 LI .!.... Ji
00, he underwent surgery lor a Baii-uiuua
tion. But despite the gravity of surgery at his age,
.... . i .1 . ,.L
within weeKs ne was up ana uusy, uiuugu at in
duced speed. That summer he was President Eisen-
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hower s delegate to tne orusseis wunu tan, wnws
he delivered a major address. Without such jobs
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to looK torwaro to, irienas say, mi. nura
covery might have gone more slowly and prob-
ably caused him considerably more discomfort
3. Your effort counts, no matter who you are.
A Quaker by birth, Mr. Hoover always has be
lieved strongly in service. He first came to public
attention when Woodrow Wilson named him food
administrator for hard-pressed people in Europe
in World War I. He thinks the world always has
more jobs to do than people to do them.
"Nobody has a right to retire," Mr. Hoover be
lieves. "You should take some job that will benefit
the community, even if you cannot get paid for it.
There is not a town that does not need helpers."
Suppose no job falls your way?
"I have been retired either by force or volun
tarily from many jobs," he says. "I have always
been able to find another one."
4. Only in "retirement" years can you really
"give back" to the world.
Herbert Hoover once was the most famous min
ing", engineer in the world; this earned him a for
tune. He credits education for his success, and the
United States for the kind of life he has enjoyed
including his longevity.
In the freedom of his later years, he has striven
to repay what he considers this "debt any success
ful person owes" to society.
"Repaying that," he says, "has brought me my
greatest satisfaction."
In working through his twilight years, does Mr.
Hoover fear he is missing something?
Emphatically not. He never has believed happi
ness lay in leisure. In fact, when an insurance
executive friend prescribed as a rule for happiness,
"Work a little harder, work a little longer, work,"
Mr. Hoover wrote a letter seconding it with:
"Sound advice."
Thus he has come to his golden years in happi
ness, and become the longest-lived ex-President in
history. Why then, wonders Herbert Hoover,
should he change now?
RETIREMENT k M)
x '' w iis
w ... -vvy
At 85, our
longest-lived
ex-President spends
his hours in vital
and proves age can have
its own fulfillments
By ALFRED BALK
work
Family Weekly, April 10, 1960
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