The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch, Iowa

   Herbert Hoover, the country's 31st president.

Hoover was internationally famous long before he became president, having led the American Relief Administration after World War I, which helped to feed 350 million people in 21 countries after the devastation of the war. He then served as Secretary of Commerce for presidents Harding and Coolidge in the 1920s and is credited with revolutionizing that department. He was elected president in 1928, not long before the onset of the Great Depression. His administration was blamed for doing too little, too late to combat that economic catastrophe, and he lost his re-election bid in 1932 to Franklin Roosevelt. Although he left office with his reputation diminished, he rehabilitated his image and later chaired a Presidential Commission that helped re-organize the executive branch of the government.

The presidential library not only has memorabilia and papers from Hoover's life and presidency, but it is unique in being part of a national historic site that includes his birthplace. Hoover was born there in 1874 in a two-room cottage, which was later restored and is now open to visitors. The 186-acre Herbert Hoover National Historic Site also includes the gravesite of the former president and his wife and a National Recreational Trail through tallgrass prairie that once dominated the local landscape. Additionally, there is a one-room schoolhouse, blacksmith shop, and a Quaker Friends Meetinghouse, all paying tribute to the rural Iowan culture into which Hoover was born.

The Hoover Library is open daily except for major holidays and is located off I-80 just 10 miles east of Iowa City.