1874: Born in Iowa

1885: Left an orphan, Hoover travels by train from Iowa to Oregon to live with an uncle

1897: Hired by Bewick-Moreing, a London mining firm, and sent to Australia to search for gold

1900: While working in China, Hoover is trapped along with his wife and other westerners in an uprising against foreigners called the Boxer Rebellion

1908: Forms his own mining and engineering consulting firm

1914: Organizes assistance and safe passages for Americans stranded in Europe at the beginning of World War I; also forms the Commission for the Relief of Belgium during the war

1915-19: Heads the U.S. Food Administration

1921-28: Serves as secretary of commerce under presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge

1929-33: Serves as thirty-first U.S. president

1929: Stock market crashes; Great Depression begins (ends in 1941)

1946: Named head of the international Famine Relief Commission by President Harry S. Truman and...