It’s interesting to note, as American’s try to figure out what a Recession is, and whether we’re actually in one or not – that Hoover wrestled with what to call his crisis.  Up to that time, massive financial reverses had been referred to as PANICS.  But Hoover didn’t want to scare folks, so he made sure the obviously more benign term – DEPRESSION – was used.  Of course, he didn’t foresee the adding of the enduring modifier GREAT to it.

Mr. Hoover was swept out of office by a promise of change including the “yes we can” of the day: “Happy Days are Here Again!”  Of course, the truth is that Franklin Roosevelt didn’t really change that much, adopting and continuing many of Hoover’s policies and approaches.  But his frenetic first hundred days and his savvy use of the media of the times made sure that people “felt” like things were changing.  FDR was, in many ways, the father of the post-modern politics of meaning.

Hoover lived for more than thirty-one years as a former President.  He wrote sixteen books (including one entitled: “Fishing for Fun – And How to Wash Your Soul”), and eventually was able to serve his country again with great distinction.  I say eventually because he was banned from the White House during FDR’s lengthy administration.  In fact, the relationship between President’s 31 and 32 was probably the worst ever between two former chief executives.  For all of FDR’s purported charm, he also had a capacity for brutal pettiness.

In the early days of Harry Truman’s presidency, he invited Hoover back to the White House – something both men felt was long overdue.  And as Europe struggled to recover from the ravages of World War Two, Mr. Hoover was dispatched by the President to tour Germany – using Herman Göering’s old train car - to investigate the food supply there. Hoover told Truman that the situation was dire, and this was the catalyst for an extensive program that provided food for millions of school children. 

The 40 tons of food were described by the beneficiaries at the time as Hooverspeisung – Hoover Meals.

Soon another assignment came from Truman – asking Hoover to serve on a commission to reorganize the executive departments of the federal government.  He was elected chairman – and it came to be known as the Hoover Commission.  When Dwight D. Eisenhower became President in 1953, he asked his most recent Republican predecessor to serve as chairman of another such commission. 

And by the time he died at the age of ninety in October of 1964, having lived out his final years in an apartment at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, he had proven himself to be a dedicated and constructive former President of the United States.

It seems to me that former Presidents have two good options if they want to preserve or enhance their legacies.  They can go to the ranch like Lyndon.  Or they can wait to be called on to serve, like Herbert. 

When former Presidents take too much initiative to seize the moment, they are forgetting that they already had their turn.