The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was the most destructive river flood in the history of the United States, with 27,000 square miles inundated in depths of up to 30 feet over the course of several m
An aerial view of one of the levee breaches (Mound Landing, Mississippi, breached 21 April)
Submerged farmland
A river levee is blown up in Caernarvon, Louisiana (29 April)
Poultry and livestock sit on a levee just above the water
Herbert Hoover
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Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. Hoover's term as president was dominated by the Great Depression, which his attempts to alleviate proved un
Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
…agricultural labor. To prevent future floods, the federal government built the world's longest system of levees and flood-ways. Then-secretary of commerce Herbert Hoover's handling of the crisis gave him a positive nationwide reputation, helping pave the way to his election as U.S. president in 1928. Political turmoil…
Hoover in 1928
Hoover's birthplace cottage in West Branch, Iowa
Hoover in 1877
Hoover, aged 23; taken in Perth, Western Australia, in 1898