American Scientist

Herbert Clark Hoover was among the first class of students to enroll in Leland Stanford Junior University when it opened its doors in 1891. He graduated with a degree in mining engineering and began his career in China, but he had to flee that country during the Boxer Rebellion. By 1902, he was based in London and practicing as a mining engineer on an international scale. When World War I broke out, he was still in London and organized efforts to get stranded Americans back home. He stayed on to organize relief efforts, and according to one reporter, from 1914 to 1922 "he got money from governments and charity, sailed his own fleet which flew his flags, took over railways, set up a telegraph network, issued his own passports, made treaties with governments, negotiated safe passages through war zones on land and sea and saved countless lives."