It appears that the state of Iowa and the country of Belgium have ties that long precede me. Today at the Museum of the Army and Military History I learned that Iowa's not-so-favorite son Herbert Hoover, long before he was elected U.S. president, headed the Commission for the Relief of Belgium, a relief effort to provide food to the starving citizens of Belgium and Northern France at the beginning of World War I. At the time he was a wealthy, but bored, mining engineer and wanted to perform some kind of service to people that needed it. Apparently he was considered a great humanitarian in Europe: the Finns even added the word hoover to their language, which means "to help." It is said that the effort fed 10 million civilians during the war.
I found this discovery amusing since Hoover has an historical reputation as a laissez-faire president who did nothing to rescue his own country from the depression. In fact, he was probably against too much government intervention in relief efforts, worrying that it would grow too big in the meantime. The CRB was cooperatively funded by voluntary donations and government grants, and he tried the same method in the early stages of the depression, just not nearly as much as his successor Roosevelt.
Another amusing discovery was that the exhibit at the museum was largely funded by the US embassy here in Brussels, and W even sent a letter at its opening in September. My companion labelled this "propaganda" that was clearly an attempt to improve current relations with Europe through highlighting a part of America's past endeavors with Belgium. I just call it "subtle diplomacy."
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