Born Waterloo, Iowa First Lady 1929–1933
Iowa native Lou Henry met her future husband Herbert Hoover while the two were studying at Stanford University, where they both majored in geology. The couple traveled the world for his work as a mining engineer, and she acquired fluency in several foreign languages, including Mandarin. Exceptionally well educated, the wealthy Hoover chose to work, gaining prestige for her 1912 translation of a technical geological text from Latin to English. As first lady, she rejected restrictive social standards by inviting pregnant women to attend White House functions. She also defied segregationists by hosting Jessie DePriest, the African American wife of a Chicago congressman, at a White House tea for congressional wives.
This photographic portrait of Hoover by Edward Steichen was published in Vogue magazine. Taken in 1928, shortly before she moved into the White House, it marked the first time that this premiere fashion magazine featured a first lady in its pages.
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; bequest of Edward Steichen