20th-century American history
The crazy career of Herbert Hoover 赫伯特胡佛疯狂的职业生涯
America’s 31st president overcame extraordinary obstacles, but the Great Depression overwhelmed him
美国的第31任总统克服了极大的困难，但是大萧条最终还是推倒了他。
Print edition | Books and arts
Oct 19th 2017
Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times. By Kenneth
FOR his philanthropic efforts during the first world war, Herbert Hoover was described as a “man who began his career in California and will end it in heaven”.
胡佛，因其他在一战中富有人道主义的行为，被评述为“一个事业始于加利福尼亚州，并终将把它发展至天堂的人。”
In a new biography, Kenneth Whyte lists the many hardships Hoover went through.
在一本新的传记里，作者Kenneth Whyte列出了胡佛所经历的许多困难。
Generally, he used them to his advantage—to increase his wealth, achieve fame and become America’s 31st president. At least, that is, until the Great Depression, which ruined him politically.
总体上来说，他运用自己的优势，渡过了这些难关，并积累了自己的财富，以及名望，并且最终成为了美国第31任总统，至少，在颠覆了他政治生涯的大萧条到来之前如此。
Born in Iowa in 1874, Hoover became determined early in life to earn a fortune for the security and independence it would bring.
胡佛于1874年，出生于爱荷华州，他在生命的很早期就决心要为了财富所能带来的，安全，以及独立而奋斗。
After graduating as a geologist from Stanford, he managed gold mines on the hot Australian frontier and mines in China during the dying days of the Qing empire. His career brought him the money he craved.
在从斯坦福大学地理学专业毕业以后，胡佛就在，澳大利亚火热的边境，以及清王朝快要覆灭时期的中国管理矿产。他的职业生涯，为他带来了早年渴望的财富。
Hoover learned that the best way to thrive in a hellish place is by being a self-described devil.
胡佛意识到要在这个地狱一般的地方变得富强就必须要把自己刻画成一个魔鬼。
He fudged his age and experience to get his job in Australia. He overworked his employees. During the Boxer rebellion in China he swindled a captive mandarin to gain control of mines there (an action later judicially overturned). Ultimately, though, his own diligence was most important to his success.
他伪造了自己的年龄和经历，在澳大利亚获得了工作，之后还压榨服务于自己自己的劳力。在中国爆发义和团起义的时候，他还骗取了一处铜矿的控制权（虽然之后在法律上被推翻了。）但最终，他的勤奋，还是他成功的最大原因。
Fortunately, Hoover was a devil with a conscience. After securing his wealth, he longed to work for the public good.
幸运的是，胡佛是一个有良知的魔鬼，在保住了他自己的财富之后，他渴望着，为公众福利，做出一些努力。
The first world war gave him the opportunity to lead a great philanthropic mission.
第一次世界大战就给了他这么一个领导一项富有人道主义精神任务的机会。
Working as a mining financier in London when the war began, Hoover learned of the dire food situation in occupied Belgium.
战争爆发的时候，还在伦敦做矿产投资商的胡佛意识到了被占领的比利时，所面临的严峻的食物短缺的情况。
He abandoned his career and, between 1914 and 1917, when America entered the war, he led thousands of volunteers to raise money, buy food and ship it to Belgium and other occupied areas. They sent more than 2.5m tonnes of food in all, feeding over 9m people.
他放弃了自己的职业，并且在1914-1917年间，美国加入了，一战之后，他，领导了上千名志愿者筹集资金，购买食物，并且将它们运输至比利时以及其他的一些敌占区，他们在这段时间里，共，运输了250万吨食物，喂养了900万人。
Hoover gathered an intelligent group around him, worked astoundingly hard and expected the same from his staff. He also engaged in a vigorous propaganda campaign to get donations, portraying the relief as a “bottom-up” effort on the part of ordinary people while quietly seeking government support.
胡佛在他的身边聚集了一个智囊团，这群人工作起来是令人震惊的勤奋，并且跟他的其他下属有着一致的理想与盼望。胡佛同样还加入了一些富有，活力的，宣传活动，以筹集资金，将这种救济描述成是一种自上而下的努力——依赖普通人的同时，悄悄的从政府寻求帮助。
Success brought admiration and further opportunities. Hoover was put in charge of America’s food supply after it entered the war, and he oversaw its aid to Europe after the armistice. He served as secretary of commerce under Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge throughout much of the 1920s, using his position to make government more efficient.
人道主义事业的成功，给胡佛带来了，令人景仰的名望，以及更多的机会，他在美国参战后，被任命掌管美国的粮食供应。同时他还在停战之后，监督了，对欧洲的，救助工作。他在，十二十世纪20年代的大部分时间都在时任总统手下担任商务部秘书长，利用他的地位，使得政府的运作变得更为有效。
In 1927 the flooding of the Mississippi River provided the perfect opportunity for a man with disaster-relief experience. Hoover’s success there provided him with a springboard to the presidency. He won the Republican nomination on the first ballot in 1928. The prosperous mood, attributed to the Republicans, ensured that Hoover easily won that year’s election.
1927年爆发的密西西比河洪灾，又给了他一个绝佳的赈灾的经验。胡佛领导正在工作的成为了他继任总统的跳板。=他在1928年第一轮投票中，获得了共和党人的党内提名。共和党人热切的情绪很轻松的就确保了胡佛赢得了那年的大选。
He began his presidency in March 1929 with ambitious plans for reform. The Great Depression, which began seven months later, dashed his hopes.
他在1929年的3月，开始执政，带着雄心壮志想要开展改革，可七个月之后到来的大萧条，却粉碎了他的梦想。
Banks failed, people queued in soup lines and Hoover lost control of events. He became embroiled in disputes with Congress, and balked at using federal funds to solve problems he felt should be left to the states. Blamed for presiding over the crash and failing to deal with its aftermath, he was soundly defeated in the election in 1932.
银行倒闭，人们排着长队等待着粮食救济。湖泊失去了对场面的控制，他卷入了同国会的争端之中，并且大胆的动用应当留给各州的联邦资金，以解决他认为需要解决的问题。被指责导致了灾难以及未能处理好随之而来的后果的胡佛，自然而然的在1932年的大选中被击败了。
After losing office, Hoover became a spectator to events. Though he lived until 1964, he would never influence events as he had before his defeat.
在失去政权之后，胡佛便成了一个活动的观察家，尽管他一直活到了1964年，但是他被击败之后，其影响力就再也不复当年了。
Why was it that Hoover, hitherto so talented at overcoming crises, was unable to overcome the Great Depression?
到底为什么是胡佛，迄今为止，在处理危机问题上都这么有天赋的一个人，还是倒在了大萧条面前呢？
Perhaps he had come to believe his own propaganda about ordinary people collectively solving problems without government aid.
可能是他相信了自己，关于普通人团结起来，不需要政府的协助，就能够渡过难关的宣传。
Or maybe the scale of the problem was too great even for someone of Hoover’s abilities. Mr Whyte does an excellent job of describing the qualities that brought Hoover his early successes—but provides too little guidance as to why, in the end, he failed his severest test.
又或者是大萧条，这个问题的规模实在太过巨大，以至于连胡佛，这么有能力的人也难以解决。本传记的作者Whyte先生对，胡佛在早年，取得巨大成功的，品质，作出了精彩绝伦的描述，可对于胡佛为什么没能够挺过大萧条的考验，只给出了甚少的观点和证据。
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