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The Occupation of Belgium and Northern France

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Feeding Occupied France during World War I

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Abstract

In their mission to invade and occupy France, German forces marched into Belgium on August 4, 1914, in contravention of Belgium’s neutrality. The country was dependent on imports for supplies and the Germans refused to feed its population. The Allied maritime blockade subjected occupied populations to reduced rations. Hoover’s CRB was set up within weeks. In early 1915, acting on its own, the CRB extended its activities into invaded Northern France. Hoover had engaged notable personal allies: Brand Whitlock, Hugh Gibson, and the Spaniard Villalobar. Druelle highlights these individuals in executing the agenda of the CRB in negotiations with allies and adversaries, including the delivery and financing of supplies. Hoover’s aim in creating the CRB was: “To keep body and mind together.” But, why did he undertake this mission?

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Sophie de Schaepdrijver, La Belgique et la Première Guerre mondiale, Bruxelles, Peter Lang, 2004, p. 69 et seq., Michaël Amara, La propagande belge et l’image de la Belgique aux États-Unis pendant la Première Guerre mondiale, Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Nieuwste Geschiedenis-Revue Belge d’Histoire Contemporaine, BTNG-RBHC, 30, 2000, 1–2, pp. 173–226.

  2. 2.

    There were about 100,000 Belgian refugees in Great Britain, 80,000 in Holland, and 215,000 in France.

  3. 3.

    The relations of the protagonists reveal, unsurprisingly, some differences of dates and roles, respectively, Hoover tends to magnify his role in the early hours: G. Nash, The Life of Herbert Hoover … op. cit., vol. 2, 1914–1917, pp. 32–33, and notes nos. 26 and 27 speak to this, pp. 390–391. On the Belgian side, Emile Francqui, the Belgian industrialist and banker (1863–1935), and his biographer, Liane Ranieri, insist on the role of national actors.

  4. 4.

    Albert Henry, The Supply of Belgium During the German Occupation, Paris, PUF, publications of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1924, p. 19 et seq.

  5. 5.

    The interests of France were entrusted to the legation of the USA.

  6. 6.

    Robert M. Crunden, A Hero in Spite of Himself: Brand Whitlock, in Art, Politics and War, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1959.

  7. 7.

    Brand Whitlock, Belgium Under the German Occupation, a Personal Narrative, London, W. Heinemann, 2 vols., 1919. For the appreciation of romance, Whitlock’s modest role in the CRB and his ability to negotiate in difficult situations with the German authorities, see H. Hoover, An American Epic, op. cit., pp. 40–41. The fact that Hugh Gibson did not appreciate the US Legation chief whom he regarded as a dilettante novelist, is undoubtedly of much importance in Hoover’s judgment. Brand Whitlock returned to Brussels from 1919 to 1922 as Ambassador.

  8. 8.

    Hugh S. Gibson (1883–1954) left several testimonies, including for the period of the Brussels Legation, A Journal of Our Legation in Belgium, New York, Doubleday, 1917. He co-wrote with Herbert C. Hoover, The Problems of Lasting Peace, New York, Doubleday, Doran & Cie, 1942. A thesis was devoted to him by Ronald R. Swerczek, The Diplomatic Career of Hugh Gibson, 1908–1938, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Iowa, 1972. After the First World War, Gibson became ambassador to Poland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and declined the post in Berlin in 1938.

  9. 9.

    From a family of grandees of Spain, born with several handicaps that he masked remarkably, Villalobar was proudly attached to his titles and prerogatives, which generated friction. Before joining Brussels, he was posted in London and Washington. See Alvaro Lozano, El Marques de Villalobar. Labor diplomatica, 1910–1918, Madrid, Ediciones El Viso, 2009.

  10. 10.

    Engineer, associate of Heineman, he was also the managing director of the Mutuelle des Tramways presided over by Emile Francqui.

  11. 11.

    Liane Ranieri, Dannie Heineman, patron de la SOFINA: un destin singulier, 1872–1962, Brussels, Editions Racine, 2005.

  12. 12.

    B. Whitlock, Belgium Under German … op. cit., p. 51.

  13. 13.

    Karl Helfferich (1872–1924), one-time director of the Anatolian Railway, he took over the management of Deutsche Bank in 1908, he was Secretary of the Treasury in 1916–1917. His political and financial role in post-war Germany is well known. See John G. Williamson, Karl Helfferich, 1872–1924, Economist, Financier, Politician, Princeton University Press, 1971.

  14. 14.

    Wilhelm Leopold Colmar and Baron von der Goltz (1843–1916), who was appointed military governor of Belgium. He remained only a few weeks in this administrative post, which he hardly appreciated.

  15. 15.

    L. Rianeri, Dannie Heineman … op. cit., p. 80 et seq.

  16. 16.

    Liane Ranieri, Emile Francqui ou l’intelligence créatrice (1863–1935), Paris: Gembloux, Duculot, 1985.

  17. 17.

    T. B. Kittredge, A History of the C.R.B, … op. cit. and L. Rianeri, Dannie Heineman … op. cit.

  18. 18.

    CRB, box no. 504, Mr. Shaler’s Report to the Comité Central de Secours et d’Alimentation, 6 pp., undated; CRB, box no. 44, Shaler’s passport and his letter to his wife dated October 14, 1914, confirming the chronology and the steps taken.

  19. 19.

    Burton J. Hendrick, The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page, 3 vols., London, William Heinemann, 1923.

  20. 20.

    John Milton Cooper Jr., Walter Hines Page: The Southerner as American, 1855–1918, University of North Carolina Press, 1977.

  21. 21.

    G. H. Nash, The Life of Herbert Hoover … op. cit., vol. 1, pp. 22, and 32–33 on Hoover activity in the days preceding the official meeting on 20 October.

  22. 22.

    CRB, box no. 44, letter from Shaler to his wife of October 14, 1914. This document and passports and safe conduit papers appear to have been given by Shaler to the CRB in the mid-1920s. He was one of the directors of the CRB in London from October 1914 to July 1919.

  23. 23.

    T. B. Kittredge, A History of the C.R.B. … op.cit., p. 39, and New York Times, October 13, 1914, p. 2.

  24. 24.

    CRB, box no. 7, Hoover letter to Page, October 22, 1914, 5 pp.

  25. 25.

    At the end of October 1915, Lindon W. Bates of the CRB in New York contacted the State Department to denounce Hoover’s activity that he considered to be contrary to the Logan Act. Publicity for such attacks from the New York Director of the CRB led Hoover to seek the support of President Wilson, his counselor, Colonel House, and Senator Lodge, leader of the Republican opposition to the Foreign Affairs Committee of Congress. All of them assured him of their support. Thus, Bates resigned from directing the New York Committee. It seems that the cruel loss of his son during the torpedoing of the Lusitania contributed to trigger an emotional and political reaction in the man. We follow day-by-day the treatment of this sensitive file in memos conserved, CRB, box no. 8.

  26. 26.

    G. H. Nash, The Life of Herbert Hoover … op. cit., vol. 2, p. 18.

  27. 27.

    See Henri Haag’s detailed analysis of the negotiations of the Belgian government with the Allies to perpetuate the American supply, in Leopold Charles de Broqueville, Minister of State and the struggles for power 1910–1940, 2 vols., Louvain la Neuve, College Erasme, Bruxelles, Editions Nauwelearts, 1990, particularly vol. 1, p. 304 et seq.

  28. 28.

    T. B. Kittredge, A History of the C.R.B. … op. cit., p. 175.

  29. 29.

    For a more complete examination of the organization by the actors, see the different chapters of G. I. Gay and H. Fischer, Public Relations … op. cit., vols. 1 & 2.

  30. 30.

    The Commission for Relief in Belgium, Personal Executive, Balance Sheet and Accounts, Statistical Data, 1914–1920, 176 pp., p. 39 et seq. shows the list of committees constituted in 36 federated states. California, Hoover’s State, and the North-East states appear particularly active. CRB officials and delegates often changed positions and responsibilities between 1914 and 1919.

  31. 31.

    Idem., p. 47 et seq. Committees, called associates, collected donations for the Belgian cause in other parts of the world, especially those of the British Empire.

  32. 32.

    G. I. Gay and H. H. Fisher, Public Relations … op. cit., vol. 2, p. 467.

  33. 33.

    Hoover provided its own CRB expenses and youth volunteer funds, R. T. Austin, Creating a “Piratical State” … op. cit., p. 150.

  34. 34.

    Among others, Bronnemann, Vice President of the New York Produce Exchange headed the purchasing department, Hemphill, Chairman of the Guarantee Trust Co, took over financial operations, A. Henry, The Supply of Belgium … op. cit., p. 53. Lindon W. Bates, a famous international engineer and businessman, headed the New York office before serious disagreement with Hoover.

  35. 35.

    G. I. Gay and H. H. Fisher, The Public Relations … op. cit., vol. 2, p. 469 and CRB, box no. 218, list of US companies that helped CRB in the U.S., Executive No. 2754 CRB July 12, 1919 and list of 2 pp.

  36. 36.

    Idem., note p. 469, 0.43%.

  37. 37.

    See G. I. Gay and H. H. Fisher, The Public Relations, op. cit., vol. 1, Chapter IV, Government Subsidies, p. 214 et seq.

  38. 38.

    Herbert Louis Samuel, Viscount of Mount Carmel (1870–1963), then President of the Local Government Board.

  39. 39.

    H. Haag, Count Charles de Broqueville … op. cit., vol. 1, pp. 309, 315 et seq. The form of the grants: in kind or in money, amount and beneficiaries were the subject of much discussion. Hoover was reluctant to implement certain processes of the Société Générale de Belgique, fearing that clandestine allocations would jeopardize the neutrality of his organization.

  40. 40.

    MAE War 14–18, Financial Affairs Belgium, Advances to Belgium 1438, see the various notes exchanged. In mid-February 1915, the London government informed Le Havre that it was ready to open a loan of 500 million FF in cooperation with France and Russia.

  41. 41.

    On August 3, 1914, representatives of the 20 leading banks in Brussels, headed by Jean Jadot, Governor of Société Générale de Belgique (SGB) and its director Emile Francqui, met to organize a General Consortium of Banks, a mutual assistance to prevent the fall of the most fragile credit institutions. During the war years, SGB issued banknotes instead of the National Bank. On the role of SGB in the CRB, see R. Brion and J.-L. Moreau, Société Générale de Belgique 1822–1997, Fonds Mercator, Antwerp, 1998.

  42. 42.

    Successively: John F. Lucey, Albert N. Connett, Oscar R. Crosby, Vernon Kellogg, William B. Poland, Warren Gregory, and Prentiss N. Gay.

  43. 43.

    B. Whitlock, Belgium Under German … op. cit., p. 351.

  44. 44.

    The small margin applied by the CNSA to the Provincial Committees seems to have served as a sort of war chest for the Belgian Committee, which redistributed it in an unlikely form in the form of relief with the help of the CRB. The mechanism is mentioned in A. Henry, The Supply of Belgium … op. cit., p. 54 but no details are given.

  45. 45.

    Idem., p. 55. At the end of 1916, a few seizures took place; the terms and conditions of passage were regularly modified by the occupier.

  46. 46.

    Ibid., p. 60 et seq.

  47. 47.

    See, Christophe Vuilleumier (ed), Switzerland and the War of 1914–1918, Geneva, Slatkin, 2015.

  48. 48.

    Paul Beau (1857–1926) went to Berne in 1911 after spending three years in the Legation of France in Belgium.

  49. 49.

    MAE, 428, no. 86, 7 pp.

  50. 50.

    In the spring of 1917, the Grimm-Hoffmann case resulted in the resignation of the Swiss Minister. He had supported Robert Grimm’s move toward a separate peace for Russia with Germany: François Bugnion, The Grimm-Hoffmann Case and the Election of Gustave Ador to the Federal Council: Shipwreck and Restoration of Swiss Neutrality, in C. Vuilleumier, Switzerland and the War … op. cit., p. 513 et seq.

  51. 51.

    MAE, 428, no. 86, note idem., p. 4.

  52. 52.

    Ibid., p. 7.

  53. 53.

    MAE, 428, no. 184. The possibility of supply via Switzerland was not abandoned before the end of February 1915. Eugene Touron and two of his colleagues of the French Senate had been entrusted by the parliamentarians of the north to negotiate in Berne the passage of supply for the invaded departments through Swiss and German territories. Marseilles Chamber of Commerce proposed to assist and send food. The CRB considered it very costly and impracticable to supply the north from Marseilles. CRB, box no. 4, copy of Hoover’s telegram to Chevrillon, March 11, 1915.

  54. 54.

    MAE, 428, no. 127 et seq., letter of January 24, 1915, 5 pp. Handwritten mention of the discount to Margerie.

  55. 55.

    Idem., pp. 1 and 2.

  56. 56.

    I.e., increased levies on Belgian goods.

  57. 57.

    Words underlined by the reader of the letter.

  58. 58.

    MAE, 428, no. 127 et seq.

  59. 59.

    MAE, 428, no. 181, note dated 19 February 1915 from the Ministry of the Interior, Office of General Security, Second Bureau, to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The special Commissioner of Annemasse indicated that his service had been informed by civilian internees repatriated from Germany that the German military authorities required the municipal authorities of the invaded localities to send petitions to the Swiss Government for food.

  60. 60.

    MAE, 428, no. 96.

  61. 61.

    MAE, 428, no. 132 et seq., letter of January 25, 1915, 4 pp.

  62. 62.

    MAE, 428, no. 164 et seq., letter from Klobukowski to Delcassé, February 15, 1915.

  63. 63.

    MAE, 428, no. 172 et seq.

  64. 64.

    MAE, 428, no. 235 et seq.

  65. 65.

    MAE, 428, no. 136 et seq.

  66. 66.

    MAE, 428, no. 171.

  67. 67.

    MAE, 428, no. 192, question no. 939, February 25, 1915.

  68. 68.

    MAE, 428, no. 74.

  69. 69.

    MAE, 428, no. 153, the undated letter arrived at the Political Directorate on February 5, 1915. In CRB, box no. 4 is the 3-page report dated March 2, 1915, addressed to the CRB office in London, about this visit to this Army Zone by A. N. Connett, a representative of the CRB in Brussels. It is interesting to note that his remarks do not include the details that could attract the readers’ compassion found in dispatches and articles. It is, however, noted that “The result of these interviews and what we saw ourselves convinced Mr Gibson and myself that the conditions in Northern France (…) are really worse than the American people think that the condition of Belgium is. (…)”. The German officers accompanying the Americans, or those they met, were very willing, according to the author, to facilitate the present work of the Commission and its future extension.

  70. 70.

    MAE, 428, no. 156.

  71. 71.

    This is James Stillman, President of National City Bank, holder of one of the first American fortunes of the period. A benefactor of the French Fine Arts, he created a prize awarded in France by his foundation before the war.

  72. 72.

    MAE, 428, no. 197 et seq.

  73. 73.

    MAE, 428, no. 201.

  74. 74.

    MAE, 428, nos. 230 and 237.

  75. 75.

    CRB, box no. 302, note of February 25, 1915 from C. S. Thompson to Mr. Van Norman, 3 pp.

  76. 76.

    M. L. Sanders, Wellington House and British Propaganda During the First World War, The Historical Journal, vol. 18, 1975, pp. 119–146.

  77. 77.

    CRB, box no. 302, History of the Press Department as Related by Walter S. Hiatt, February 16, 1915, 11 pp. On Will Irwin, see Robert V. Hudson, The Writing Game: A Biography of Will Irwin, The Iowa State University Press, 1982. Trained at Stanford like Hoover, a long friendship bound the two men. For the presidential election of the autumn of 1928, Irwin devoted a book to Herbert Hoover: A Reminiscent Biography, New York, Grosset & Dunlap, 1928.

  78. 78.

    CRB, box no. 302, list of articles.

  79. 79.

    MAE, 428, no. 189.

  80. 80.

    CRB, box no. 504, note on Development of the Relief to the People in Northern France, undated, author not given, 8 pp.

  81. 81.

    Gifford Pinchot (1865–1946) conveyed a long letter written by Hoover to the President of the French Republic. It is not certain that it reached its addressee. CRB, box no. 4, letter from Hoover to the President of the French Republic, copies of 17 and 20 February 1914. It is known, however, from Poincaré’s diary that he was aware at the time of Hoover’s initiatives.

  82. 82.

    MAE, 428, no. 187, February 23, 1915. Pinchot returned to London for consultation and did not meet Delcassé. Idem., no. 195.

  83. 83.

    CRB, box no. 4, note of a conversation between Mr. Gifford Pinchot and Mr. Ribot.

  84. 84.

    CRB, box no. 4, copy of telegram from Pinchot to Hoover, February 24, 1915 and letter from Hoover to Pinchot of February 25, 1915.

  85. 85.

    Abel Ferry, Les Carnets Secrets, Paris, Grasset, 1957, pp. 60–61.

  86. 86.

    H. Haag, Count Charles de Broqueville … op.cit., vol. 1, Le Second Voyage de Broqueville, February 1915, p. 319.

  87. 87.

    Idem.

  88. 88.

    MAE, 428, no. 238 et seq. In the note, Paul de Margerie mentions that during his stay in the USA he knew Pinchot, and it is remembered that he was student of the French Ecole nationale des Eaux et Forêts.

  89. 89.

    MAE, 428, nos. 245–246.

  90. 90.

    Due to his family ties in Great-Britain, German authorities prohibited Pinchot to head the Brussels CRB office.

  91. 91.

    CRB, box no. 4, letter from Chevrillon to Hoover, March 25, 1915, 2 pp.

  92. 92.

    CRB box no. 6, letter from Chevrillon to Hoover, March 9, 1915.

  93. 93.

    MAE, 429, no. 16, telegram from Jusserand, 22 March 1915 complaining of his four telegrams that remained unanswered.

  94. 94.

    MAE, 429, no. 19, undated handwritten note and no. 25, Belgian Finance Minister’s telegram to Octave Homberg of March 25, 1915, claiming communication of a written document, marked with a “no”.

  95. 95.

    CRB, box no. 4, Memorandum of Mr. Hoover’s Trip to Havre and Paris, March 1915, 2 pp, and other documents related to the interview and financial arrangements.

  96. 96.

    MAE, 429, no. 40, telegram from Allizé (The Hague) to MAF, April 9, 1915.

  97. 97.

    CAEF B 0067580/1. Dossier Belgique, règlements franco-belges, 1914–1925, table of French advances to Belgium.

  98. 98.

    See in particular Liane Ranieri, Emile Francqui … op. cit.

  99. 99.

    George H. Nash, The Life of Herbert Hoover: The Engineer (1874–1914), vol. 1, 1983, The Humanitarian (1914–1917), vol. 2 1988, Master of Emergency (1917–1918), vol. 3, 1996, New York, W. W. Norton.

  100. 100.

    Kendrick A. Clements, The Life of Herbert Hoover: Imperfect Visionary, 1918–1929, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

  101. 101.

    Glen Jeansonne, The Life of Herbert Hoover: Fighting Quaker, 1928–1933, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013

  102. 102.

    Gary Dean Best, The Life of Herbert Hoover: Keeper of the Torch, 1933–1964, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

  103. 103.

    For a more manageable biography, see David Burner, Herbert Hoover, A Public Life, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1979. Herbert C. Hoover also left memoirs in three volumes: Years of Adventure (1874–1920), The Cabinet and the Presidency (1920–1933), The Great Depression (1929–1941), New York, Macmillan, 1951–1952; not to mention the four volumes devoted to the humanitarian aspects of his work: An American Epic, Chicago, H. Regnery Co, 1959–1964. A prolific author, the bibliography of his writings was compiled by Kathleen Tracey, Herbert Hoover—A Bibliography: His Writings and Addresses, Stanford, CA, Hoover Institution Press, 1977.

  104. 104.

    With his wife, Lou Henry, he translated from 1907 to 1913 the Latin text De Re Metallica, a state of the art in mining, ore processing and metal smelting, written by Georg Bauer, as his Latinized name Georgius Agricola, and published in 1566. Hoover’s translation and notes are still deemed authoritative.

  105. 105.

    Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, Pre-commerce Papers, box no. 46, file Information for Biographers.

  106. 106.

    Idem.

  107. 107.

    Joan Hoff Wilson, Herbert Hoover: Forgotten Progressive, HarperCollins 1975, Waveland Press, 1992.

  108. 108.

    Michael McGerr, A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870–1920, Oxford University Press, 2003; Olivier Zunz, Why the American Century? Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1999, in particular the chapters “Producers, Brokers, and Users of Knowledge” and “Defining Tools of Social Intelligence”.

  109. 109.

    See the stimulating contribution of Robert D. Cuff, Herbert Hoover: The Ideology of Voluntarism and War Organization in the Great War. In Lawrence E. Gelfand (ed), Herbert Hoover: The Great War and Its Aftermath, 1914–1923, Iowa City, University of Iowa Press, 1974, pp. 21–39.

  110. 110.

    Reprinted and cited by Herbert Hoover, The Uncommon Man, published by the Hoover Presidential Library Association, 1974, p. 8.

  111. 111.

    On this aspect, which is not unique to the USA at the turn of the twentieth century, see Edwin T. Layton, Jr., Revolt of the Engineers: Social Responsibilities and the American Engineering Profession, Cleveland, Press of Case Reserve University, 1971.

  112. 112.

    The Times, August 10, 1915, The Relief of Belgium, cited in. R. T. Austin. The CRB … op. cit., 2009.

  113. 113.

    See Lee Nash (ed), Herbert Hoover and World Peace, Lanham, Maryland University Press of America, 2010, especially Martin L. Fausold, Quaker President Herbert C. Hoover and American Foreign Policy, p. 2, and Robert O. Byrd, Quaker Ways in Foreign Policy, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1960. See also David Hinshaw, Herbert Hoover, American Quaker, New York, Farrar Straus, 1950.

  114. 114.

    Helen H. Hatton, Largest Amount of Good: Quaker Relief in Ireland, 1654–1921, Montreal, McGill-Queens University Press, 1993.

  115. 115.

    On this little-known episode see: William K. Sessions, They Chose the Star: Quaker Relief Work in France, 1870–1875, York, The Ebor Press, 1991. The Great War marked for the first time the massive intervention of the American Quakers in Europe, especially in France. The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) was founded in 1917. In 1947, the two branches British (Friends Service Council) and American (AFSC) received the Nobel Peace Prize. The now well-known organization Oxfam, the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, was founded in 1942 and among the founders were several British Quakers.

  116. 116.

    Ellis Hawley, The Commerce Secretary and the Vision of an Associative State (1921–1928), Journal of American History, vol. 1, June 1974, pp. 116–140 and by the same author, The Discovery and Study of a Corporate Liberalism, Business History Review, Autumn 1978, pp. 321–341.

  117. 117.

    H. Hoover and H. Gibson, Problems of Lasting Peace, op. cit.

  118. 118.

    Eustace Percy, Some Memories, London, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1958, p. 46.

  119. 119.

    T. B. Kittredge, The History of the Commission, op. cit., p. 54.

  120. 120.

    E. Percy, op. cit., p. 46. In this, Hoover was lucid about his own limits and abilities.

  121. 121.

    L. Ranieri, Dannie Heineman, … op. cit., p. 93.

  122. 122.

    B. Whitlock, Belgium Under German … op. cit., vol. 1, p. 51.

  123. 123.

    Craig Lloyd, Aggressive Introvert: Herbert Hoover and Public Relations Management 1912–1932, Columbus, Ohio State University Press, 1972.

  124. 124.

    Peter Cahalan, Belgian Refugee Relief in England during the Great War, London, Garland Publishing, 1982.

  125. 125.

    Robert de Forrest and Thomas F. Ryan, had interests in the Belgian Congo, see L. Ranieri, Dannie Heineman, … op. cit., p. 93 and G. H. Nash, The Life of Herbert Hoover … op. cit., vol. 2, p. 40 et seq.

  126. 126.

    What makes Hoover’s biographer say that Wilson would thus have renounced the formal engagement of the USA in assisting Belgium, the American ambassadors being only privately engaged in order to preserve American neutrality, idem p58. While this may have been a factor, we doubt whether it was the basis of Wilson’s decision. The formalization of the CRB offered more disadvantages than advantages.

  127. 127.

    G. H. Nash, The Life of Herbert Hoover … op. cit., vol. 2, p. 51 et seq.

  128. 128.

    Dr. Ernest Percy Bicknell, In War’s Wake 1914–1915: The Rockefeller Foundation and the American Red Cross Join in Civilian Relief, American National Red Cross, 1936. Dr. Rose was appointed in October 1914 to head the War Relief Commission.

  129. 129.

    Undoubtedly Edgar Ansel Mowrer (1892–1977), brother of Paul Scott Mowrer, Editor of the Chicago Daily News. The young man was sent as a correspondent to France in 1914. He remained in Europe for the duration of the Great War, the various moments of which he reported. Also in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, he received the Putlizer Prize for his reporting of Hitler’s arrival in power.

  130. 130.

    CRB, box no. 31, letter from Hoover to Lucey, November 12, 1914, 3 pp.

  131. 131.

    Olivier Zunz, Philanthropy in America, Paris, Fayard, 2012.

  132. 132.

    Merle Curti, American Philanthropy Abroad, New Brunswich, NJ, Rutgers University Press, 1983.

  133. 133.

    CRB, box no. 4, Confidential Report of the Herrick Commission, by Irwin, undated, 6 pp. There are many discussions between Hoover and Lindon W. Bates in charge of the New York office about the attitude to adopt against the claims of the ambassador.

  134. 134.

    Percy Mitchell, American Relief Clearing House: Its Work in the Great War, Paris, Herbert Clarke, 1923. At that time, Herrick returned as Ambassador to Paris in 1921 and died at his post in 1929. See also the early hours of the work in William G. Sharp, Ambassador and Gabriel Hanotaux, Le Secours Américain in France, Paris, Alcan, 1915. The ARCH rescued populations and refugees in France.

  135. 135.

    CRB, box no. 4, Hoover letter to Bates, 19 January 1915, 2 pp.

  136. 136.

    B. Whitlock, Belgium Under German … op. cit., p. 237.

  137. 137.

    R. D. Cuff, Herbert Hoover, Philosophy of Voluntarism … op. cit. Hoover will once again showcase his capabilities on the occasion of the disastrous flooding of the Mississippi Valley in 1927. He was then Secretary of Commerce.

  138. 138.

    O. Zunz, Why the American Century? … op. cit.

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    Clotilde Druelle

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Druelle, C. (2019). The Occupation of Belgium and Northern France. In: Feeding Occupied France during World War I. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05563-9_2

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-05562-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-05563-9

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

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