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Herbert Hoover Revises Remarkable Draft Letter by the Big Four to Fridtjof Nansen
Herbert Hoover Revises Remarkable Draft Letter by the Big Four to Fridtjof Nansen
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Hoover Herbert

Herbert Hoover Revises Remarkable Draft Letter by the Big Four to Fridtjof Nansen 



This fascinating draft shows Herbert Hoover’s attempt to navigate the complicated politics of postwar Europe and revolutionary Russia to get desperately needed food supplies to starving Russians. He edited this letter sent by President Woodrow Wilson and the other “Big Four” allied leaders to Norwegian humanitarian Fridtjof Nansen.

 

HERBERT HOOVER, Autograph Corrections in Pencil on Typed Letter of Vittorio E. Orlando, David Lloyd George, Woodrow Wilson, and Georges Clemenceau (the “Big Four”) to Fridtjof Nansen, April 7, 1919, 2 pp., 8" x 13"  All text clear and dark; Some paper clip indentations.

 

Complete Transcript [Insertions (^^) in Hoover’s hand.

                                                                       

Paris, April 7, 1919.

Dear Sir:-

            The misery and suffering in Russia described in your letter of April 3rd appeals to the sympathies of all peoples. It is shocking to humanity that millions of men, women and children lack the food and necessities, which may like endurable.

           

The governments and peoples whom we represent would be glad to cooperate, without thought of political, military or financial advantage, in any proposal which would relieve this situation in Russia. It seems to us that such a Commission as you propose would offer a practical means of achieving the beneficent results you have in view, and could not, either in its conception or its operation, be considered as having any other aim than the “humanitarian purpose of saving life.”

           

There are great difficulties to be overcome, political difficulties, owing to the existing situation in Russia, and difficulties of supply and transport. But if the existing local governments of Russia are as willing as the governments and peoples whom we represent to see succor and relief given to the stricken peoples of Russia, no political obstacle will remain. There will remain, however, the difficulties of supply ^finance^ and transport, which we have mentioned, and also the problem of distribution in Russia itself. The problem of supply we can ourselves hope to solve, in connection with the advice and cooperation of such a Commission as you propose. ^The problem of finance would seem to us to fall upon the Russian authorities whose interest should be as great as our own and whose losses have been far less.^ The problem of transport of supplies to Russia we can hope to meet with the assistance of your own and other neutral governments. The problem of transport in Russia and of distribution can be solved only by the people of Russia themselves, with the assistance, advice and supervision of your Commission.

           

Subject to such supervision, the problem of distribution should be solely under the control of the people of Russia themselves. The people in each locality should be given, as under the regime of the Belgian Relief Commission, the fullest opportunity to advise your Commission upon the methods and the personnel by which their community is to be relieved. In no other circumstances could it be believed that the purpose of this relief was humanitarian, and not political, under no other conditions could it be certain that the hungry would be fed.

           

That such a course would involve cessation of all hostilities within ^definite lines in^ the territory of Russia is obvious. And the cessation of hostilities would, necessarily, involve a complete suspension of the transfer of troops and military material of all sorts to and within Russian territory. Indeed, relief to Russia which did not mean a return to a state of peace would be futile, and would be impossible to consider.

           

Under such conditions as we have outlined, we believe that your plan could be successfully carried into effect, and we should be prepared to give it our full support.

                                                                       

[V. E. Orlando.

                                                                       

D. Lloyd George.

                                                                       

Woodrow Wilson.

                                                                       

G. Clemenceau.

 

Historical Background

To combat starvation in Europe during World War I, President Woodrow Wilson created the United States Food Administration by executive order. Under the direction of Herbert Hoover, it became one of the most efficient and successful governmental initiatives in American history.

 

Although Norway, like Sweden and Demark, declared its neutrality during the war, its loss of overseas trade led to food shortages. In 1917, Norway sent explorer and scientist Dr. Fridtjof Nansen to the United States, where after months of discussion, he obtained food supplies in return for the establishment in Norway of a rationing system. He also met Herbert Hoover, and they quickly became good friends.

 

In Russia a pair of revolutions in 1917 left the Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin in power, and Lenin ended Russian participation in World War I by March 1918. Civil war erupted within Russia, which continued for several years, but the Bolsheviks emerged victorious as the Communist Party, which led to the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922.

 

By the spring of 1919, Russia had been out of the war for a year, but the civil war created havoc, and millions neared starvation. To extend the reach of the American Relief Administration, which he directed, into Russia, Hoover needed to find a “neutral executive” like Nansen to serve as an intermediary with the Russians. Nansen sent an initial radio message to Lenin to gauge his interest in allowing a “purely humanitarian effort” to feed starving Russians.


On April 3, Nansen sent a telegram (edited by Hoover), to American President Woodrow Wilson, French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, and Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando (the “Big Four” Allied leaders of postwar Europe), proposing the plan. This April 7 letter was the response from the allied leaders, but this draft was edited by Herbert Hoover.

 

After obtaining this approval, Nansen wired the offer to Lenin on April 17. The French, unwilling to do anything to keep the Bolsheviks in power, never sent Nansen’s telegram to Lenin. The offer had to be resent, by radio on May 3. The Russians responded on May 14 (their reply was also blocked by the French but picked up by radio and relayed to Hoover), insisting that the Allied leaders were mixing politics with humanitarianism in their demands. The Bolsheviks refused to stop fighting until they had achieved their objectives and therefore blocked the proposed plan. 

 

Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) was born in Iowa into a Quaker family, but both of his parents died before he was ten years old. After living with relatives in Iowa and Oregon, Hoover became one of the first students to attend newly established Stanford University, from which he graduated in 1895. Hoover worked as a mining engineer in California, Australia, and China. He became an independent mining consultant in 1908 and traveled the world until the outbreak of World War I, building his reputation and fortune. When the war began, he helped organize the return of 120,000 Americans from Europe and spearheaded humanitarian relief efforts in Belgium, from his administrative base in London. After the United States entered the war, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Hoover to head the U.S. Food Administration. He lobbied for the job and agreed to accept no salary. After the war, the U.S. Food Administration became the American Relief Administration, which, at its height, fed 10.5 million people daily. Elected President of the United States in 1928, Hoover took office less than eight months before the Wall Street Crash of 1929 plunged the nation into the Great Depression. Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Hoover’s 1932 bid for reelection.

 

Vittorio E. Orlando (1860-1952) was the prime minister of Italy from October 1917 to June 1919.

 

David Lloyd George (1863-1945) was the prime minister of the United Kingdom from December 1916 to October 1922.

 

Thomas Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) was born in Staunton, Virginia, and graduated from Johns Hopkins University. He served as president of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and as governor of New Jersey from 1910 to 1913. Wilson won the presidential election of 1912, when William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt split the Republican vote, and Wilson became the 28th President of the United States in March 1913. As the first southerner elected president since Zachary Taylor, Wilson brought to the office a progressive zeal for reform, both economic and social, and stressed individualism and states’ rights. He is perhaps best known for leading the United States into World War I, despite an election vow to do otherwise, and for helping to negotiate the resulting Treaty of Versailles, for which he was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. Although he helped create and championed the League of Nations, Wilson could not obtain Senate approval for U.S. membership.

 

Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929) was prime minister of France from November 1917 to January 1920.

 

Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930) was born in Christiania (now Oslo), Norway, and became a champion skier and ice skater. He was an explorer, and led a North Pole expedition from 1893 to 1896. He studied zoology and his study of the central nervous system of marine creatures earned him a doctorate. He made many scientific cruises in his study of oceanography. From 1906 to 1908, Nansen served as the Norwegian representative to the United Kingdom. He devoted himself to the League of Nations and secured Norway’s participation in the League in 1920.  At the League’s request, he organized the repatriation of half a million prisoners of war, including 300,000 in Russia. Nansen received the 1922 Nobel Peace Prize for his work on behalf of persons displaced by World War I.

 

 

 

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