A Visitor’s Gift: Honoring Hoover’s Relief Efforts in Poland

By Sheri King

Going to the mailbox in this day and age largely just means you are going to pick up your bills and junk mail. Outside of the holiday season, receiving a personal letter is a rare occurrence for most of us. Much to my delight, I had one of those rare magical moments recently and when I saw what was inside of the letter, the experience was even more memorable.

Inside of the envelope was a note with a Polish flag. I had not recognized the name on the envelope but when I saw the flag, I knew exactly who had sent it.

This summer, a visitor had said she was going to mail a Polish flag to me, after she and I had discussed Hoover’s strong friendship with Poland. She wanted to donate it to the museum so we could display it with our Belgian and American flags.

I’m glad she mailed it to me because now we have a physical symbol to represent one of my favorite Hoover stories: his 1919 visit to Poland.

At the end of World War One, President Wilson started a program called the American Relief Administration (ARA) that would provide much-needed aid to post-war Europe. He assigned Hoover as the ARA’s chairman.

Hoover had been trying to help Poland with food support since 1915 when the war was just starting but complex politics between battling nations prevented him from succeeding. Finally, in 1919, Hoover was able to send the first few ships of supplies to Poland.

Then he began to hear reports that child mortality rates were especially high and that you would not find children playing in the streets of Poland because they were weak from malnourishment. Many were too weak to even stand up.

Hoover’s ARA immediately began to concentrate efforts on feeding the nation’s children. After months of shipments of food being sent to feed the youngest demographic, Hoover went to Poland to assess the progress being made. On August 14, 1919, when he arrived, he was presented with a special parade meant to show Hoover that Poland’s children were now strong enough to walk, thanks to his efforts.

Children gather on August 14th, 1919 to put on a parade for Hoover. Obtained from “American Friendship: Herbert Hoover and Poland,” The Hoover Institution. hoover.org

Image of Polish flag, public domain.

Over 25,000 of them marched with their teachers from their schools to Warsaw–most of them barefoot–to thank President Hoover for feeding them. They waved their tin cups and American flags. A witness of the event reports that these children knew Hoover’s name as much as they knew their own. He had become a hero to them.

Hoover was visibly moved, not just by their demonstration of gratitude but because of the poverty he witnessed firsthand. After leaving, he immediately installed a program to start shipping coats, shoes and stockings to them.

Now you know why this generous visitor sent me a Polish flag. Poland is a very special part of Hoover’s history and now we have a flag at the museum to honor the story.

References

Adams, Matthew Lloyd. “Herbert Hoover and the Organization of the American Relief Effort in Poland, 1919-1923.” In European Journal of American Studies, Autumn 2009.

Siekierski, Maciej. “History of a Friendship: Herbert Hoover and Poland.” Hoover Institution, October 30, 2004. https://www.hoover.org/research/history-friendship-herbert-hoover-and-poland#:~:text=He%20organized%20American%20relief%20efforts,and%20military%20leader%20Jozef%20Pilsudski.

Siekierski, Nicholas. “Herbert Hoover’s Grand Parade in Warsaw.” Hoover Institution, August 14, 2012. https://www.hoover.org/research/herbert-hoovers-grand-parade-warsaw