The idea of American exceptionalism is a strong cord in our history, especially within the philosophy of American conservatism. Conservatives from the Puritans to Alexander Hamilton to President Ronald Reagan have championed the principle that the United States was divinely created as a “shining city upon a hill” and beacon of liberty. As Herbert Hoover wrote, “the Founding Fathers consecrated a new republic ‘under the protection of Divine Providence.’”
Hoover’s own philosophy was deeply shaped by American exceptionalism and the civic religion of the nation, as defined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. He also believed America’s uniqueness was shaped by its religious heritage and its economic system, which encouraged “equality of opportunity.”
Hoover’s life experience shaped his belief in American exceptionalism, not only his childhood in the small Iowa village of West Branch, but also his successful career as a mining engineer, which took him to several continents. George H. Nash, a Hoover historian and biographer, wrote that “more than any other man who held the American presidency, Hoover was profoundly acquainted with the social systems of the Old World.” In Hoover’s own words:
I have seen America in contrast with many nations and races. My profession took me into many foreign lands under many kinds of government. I have worked with their great spiritual leaders and their great statesmen. I have worked in governments of free men, of tyrannies, of Socialists and of Communists. I have met with princes, kings, despots, and desperadoes. I have seen the squalor of Asia, the frozen class barriers of Europe. And I was not a tourist. I was associated in their working lives and problems. I had to deal with their governments. And outstanding everywhere to these great masses of people there was a hallowed word — America. To them, it was the hope of the world.
The Great War (World War I) was a major factor shaping Hoover’s worldview. Its outbreak placed Hoover on the road of public service when he organized the Commission for the Relief of Belgium (CRB) to prevent the starvation of millions and also led him to serve in President Woodrow Wilson’s administration as head of the Food Administration. Then, the war’s outcome left him very aware of the various dark ideologies of the Twentieth Century, including communism, socialism, and eventually fascism.
Politically, Hoover identified as a Republican, but he was a progressive. He had supported Theodore Roosevelt’s Bull Moose campaign in 1912 over President William Howard Taft, and his service in the Wilson administration resulted in conservative Republicans’ viewing him with suspicion. Nevertheless, Hoover was popular and appealed to many, including Republican Warren G. Harding, who won the presidency in a landslide in the 1920 election. President Harding selected Hoover to serve as Secretary of Commerce.
While President Harding, Vice President and later President Calvin Coolidge, and Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon put Hoover’s progressivism in stark contrast, they were all in agreement in viewing America as an exceptional nation. The Republicans of the era had a reverence for the Constitution and the values and history of the nation. They also saw the need to defend what they considered to be traditional constitutional government.
To explain why the United States was an exceptional nation, Hoover wrote American Individualism, published in 1922. He understood the threat posed by the “social philosophies,” or ideologies, arising in the aftermath of World War I. These, Hoover believed, were not only radical, but dangerous. “Now, as the storm of war, revolution and of emotion subsides there is left even with us in the United States much unrest, much discontent with the surer forces of human advancement,” he wrote.
The objective of American Individualism was to “review the political, economic, and spiritual principles through which our country has steadily grown in usefulness and greatness, not only to preserve them from being fueled by false notions, but more importantly that we may guide ourselves in the road to progress.” According to historian Nash, “To Hoover the need for a definition of the American alternative was urgent.”
In the book, Hoover explained the philosophic, spiritual, economic, and political grounds of American individualism. He defined it “as the source of human progress — that each individual shall be given the chance and stimulation for development of the best which he has been endowed in the heart and mind; it is the sole source of progress.” Hoover described the “ideal of equality of opportunity — the fair chance of Abraham Lincoln.” The values that made up the “American System” allowed both Lincoln and Hoover to grow from humble beginnings, through hard work and self-initiative, to become successful. This individualism applied to all Americans.
Hoover’s worldview as outlined in American Individualism was a cornerstone of his philosophy, and his belief in American exceptionalism helped him deal with the two major issues confronting the United States. On the domestic side, the Great Depression and the emerging New Deal liberalism of President Franklin D. Roosevelt were significant concerns for Hoover. The second major issue was the foreign policy of President Roosevelt and, later, President Harry S. Truman during World War II and the Cold War that followed.
With his landslide defeat in the presidential election of 1932 to Franklin D. Roosevelt, Hoover feared the advance of New Deal liberalism at the expense of constitutionally limited government. Roosevelt’s New Deal consisted of a variety of “alphabet soup” programs to fight the Depression and, in the process, redefine the social contract of government. As Hoover stated, FDR and the Democrats “are proposing changes and so-called new deals which would destroy the very foundations of our American system.” He argued the American System — the values he defined in American Individualism and codified in the Constitution — was sufficient to handle the Depression without having to change the nature of government and society. The American System, as Hoover saw it, “has demonstrated its validity and superiority over any system yet invented by human mind.”
Hoover’s defense of what he called “true liberalism” against the philosophy of the New Deal appeared with the publication of The Challenge to Liberty in 1934. The book provided both a continuation of the ideas of American Individualism and a conservative defense of constitutional government. It gave a warning against what he described as New Deal regimentation along with the various poisonous ideologies of socialism, communism, fascism, and Nazism.
American exceptionalism was intrinsic to The Challenge to Liberty. Hoover argued that “not only in the United States, but throughout the world, the whole philosophy of individual liberty is under attack.” He described the American System as unique in the world:
Out of our philosophy grew the American Constitutional system where the obligation to promote the common welfare was mandatory and could be made effective; wherein was embodied in its very framework the denial of the right of the government itself or of any group, any business, or any class to infringe upon essential liberties; wherein the majority was to rule; wherein government was to be ‘of laws and not of men;’ whereby the individual was guaranteed the just protection of these rights by its tribunals — the structure of American Democracy.
He argued that “the rise of our race under [the American System] marks the high tide of a thousand years of human struggle.” It was out of the American System that “our country has grown to greatness and has led the world in the emancipation of men.” In Hoover’s view, the values and principles defining America made it “stand in brilliant contrast with the drab failure of the socialist system.” The Challenge to Liberty offered a fundamental defense of Americanism and a strong explanation of conservative philosophy rooted in American exceptionalism.
Herbert Hoover’s non-interventionist foreign policy was another expression of American exceptionalism. He was not an isolationist but belonged to the conservative foreign policy school associated with Republican Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio and General Douglas MacArthur. Hoover’s critique of the Roosevelt-Truman foreign policy was based upon the traditional foreign policy explained in his magnum opus, Freedom Betrayed. In this posthumously published book written in the middle of the Twentieth Century, Hoover offered a significant critique of Roosevelt’s foreign policy — not just during the war, but also encompassing decisions before declaration thereof. In 1941, Hoover recommended the United States “should provide aid to Britain and China,” while not involving American soldiers in the conflict.
Hoover’s position was that the United States should “arm to the teeth for the defense of the Western Hemisphere,” but he opposed imperialism and nation building, arguing the United States should serve as an example of liberty and freedom. “We can thus make a demonstration on this continent that true liberalism is not dead. We can hold a light to a crumbling world the lamp of liberty as the guide to regeneration,” wrote Hoover. The Soviet Union and global communism represented a serious threat to freedom, but Hoover held that defense of the nation came first, which also meant implementing sound domestic conservative policies rather than a continuation of New Deal liberalism.
Thus, American exceptionalism was at the heart of Hoover’s political philosophy. Whether defending constitutional limited government against New Deal liberalism or opposing the Roosevelt and Truman foreign policies, his focus was on preserving the American System. As Hoover stated:
The mightiest assurance of our future are the intangible spiritual and intellectual forces in our people, which we express, not by words The United States, but by the word America. That word America carries meanings which lie deep in the soul of our people. It reaches far beyond the size of cities and factories. It springs from our religious faith, our ideals of individual freedom and equal opportunity, which have come in the centuries since we have landed on these shores. It rises from our pride in great accomplishments of our nation and from the sacrifices and devotion of those who have passed on…And from these forces, solutions will come again.
In 1935, Hoover wrote that “the Republican Party today has the greatest responsibility that has come to it since the days of Abraham Lincoln. That responsibility is to raise the standard of defense of fundamental American principles.” This was in response to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. As the New Deal unfolded, Hoover warned of “nests of constitutional termites at work.”
Hoover’s exceptionalism was unpopular during this time, but he understood what was at stake if the nation continued to drift away from its constitutional principles. “Familiarity with, and respect for, this greatest of all charters of government among our fellow citizens is essential to our national welfare,” he wrote.
In the framing of America’s many modern problems and the loss of our shared national identity, we can see the effects of those constitutional termites. For Hoover, the centrality of the American Founding and its principles were “the foundations which have made our country great.” They are still worth fighting for and preserving, and Americans owe it to the prescience of this important Iowan to cultivate the familiarity he advised.
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