Herbert Hoover
1874-1964. 31st president, by locating his library and gravesite in his native West Branch, bequeathed the area a research facility and tourist attraction. Although admired for humanitarian efforts in Europe and two government reorganization commissions, criticism of his response to the Great Depression damages his presidential legacy. Orphaned at age 9 and raised by Quaker relatives, he attended night school, not high school, entering Stanford on its opening day, where he met wife-to-be Lou Henry. Gold mine engineering took them to Australia, then China where they learned Mandarin Chinese, later using it for private conversations in the White House.