M Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover (1874–1964), the 31st President (1929–1933), took office months before the stock market crash of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression. A successful mining engineer and humanitarian before his presidency, Hoover struggled against a collapsing economy. He initiated some federal projects (like the Hoover Dam) but largely believed in limited government intervention, and he became a symbol of the economic hard times by 1932.

Interesting anecdote: Hoover and his wife Lou Henry Hoover spoke fluent Mandarin Chinese, a language they learned during his time working in China. They would reportedly converse in Mandarin at the White House when they wanted privacy or to prevent eavesdropping – the only presidential couple known to have used a foreign language in such a way.