In 1898, a Stanford geology student married a young mining engineer and began a life of travel. 30 years later, she became America's First Lady

Lou Henry Hoover did not follow the usual path expected of women of her time. She studied geology at Stanford University, spent years traveling around the world with her husband, learned Chinese, worked on humanitarian causes and became involved in the Girl Scouts. Three decades after marrying mining engineer Herbert Hoover, the woman who had once been the only female student in her geology class was living in the White House as America's First Lady.

According to the White House Historical Association and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, Lou Henry was born in Waterloo, Iowa, in 1874 to Charles and Florence Weed Henry. Her family later moved to California, first to Whittier and then Monterey.

Lou had developed an interest in the outdoors while growing up. She enjoyed camping and fishing and had a strong interest in nature. After studying for a teaching degree, she decided to pursue geology at Stanford after attending a lecture by a university professor.


At Stanford, Lou was the only woman in her class. She eventually became the first woman in the university's history to graduate with a geology degree.

It was also at Stanford, in a geology laboratory, that she met Herbert Hoover.

Marriage took her around the world

Lou and Herbert Hoover married on February 10, 1899, at her family's home. The next morning, they left for China, where Herbert had taken a job as a mining engineer working under contract to the Chinese government.

Their new life was not exactly settled. Herbert's work took them to different parts of the world, and Lou went along, becoming involved in his work while also raising their family.

The couple had two sons, Herbert Jr., born in 1903, and Allan, born in 1907. During their travels, Lou also learned to speak and write Chinese.

The couple faced a serious crisis in China in 1900 when the Boxer Rebellion forced them and other foreigners to take refuge for about a month.

Lou and Herbert also worked together on an English translation of De Re Metallica, a 16th-century encyclopedia on mining by Georgius Agricola. Their work later earned them a Gold Medal for lifetime achievement from the International Mining and Metallurgical Society.

Her work went far beyond being a president's wife

The First World War changed the Hoovers' lives again. In 1914, Lou helped Americans stranded in Europe by providing clothing, food, lodging and information. Later, she helped raise support for the Commission for Relief in Belgium and worked to encourage American women to take part in food conservation.

Lou also became deeply involved with the Girl Scouts. She served as a troop leader, sat on the Girl Scout Council in Washington and served twice as president of the organization.

She was also an advocate for women's athletics and physical fitness, pushing for better facilities and more opportunities for girls and women to take part in sports.

From Stanford geology student to First Lady

Herbert Hoover won the 1928 presidential election, and Lou became First Lady when he took office on March 4, 1929.

During her four years in the White House, she became the first First Lady to speak on the radio. She also worked to preserve White House history and furnishings and helped establish Camp Rapidan as a retreat for the presidential family.

Her decision to invite the wife of African American congressman Oscar De Priest for tea at the White House also drew criticism from parts of the southern press.

The Hoovers left the White House in 1933 after Herbert lost the election to Franklin D. Roosevelt. They later divided their time between Palo Alto, California, and New York.

Lou Henry Hoover died of a heart attack on January 7, 1944, at the age of 69. She was eventually buried beside her husband at his presidential gravesite in West Branch, Iowa.

The National Park Service has described Herbert Hoover's journey along what he called the "slippery road of public life" as one that was not traveled alone. At his side throughout much of it was Lou, the Stanford geology graduate who had started out as a young woman with an interest in rocks, nature and the outdoors and ended up playing a much larger public role of her own.