Herbert Charles Hoover (August 4, 1903 – July 9, 1969), better known as Herbert Hoover Jr., was an engineer, businessman, and politician who served as United States Under Secretary of State from 1954 to 1957. He was the elder son of President Herbert Hoover. Biography Early years, 1903–1928 Herbert Charles Hoover was born in London on August 4, 1903. He was the elder son of President Herbert Clark Hoover (1874–1964) and First Lady Lou Henry (1874–1944). He was named for his father, Herbert, and his maternal grandfather, Charles Delano Henry, but throughout his life was known as Herbert Hoover Jr. His father, an engineer, was in London working for Bewick, Moreing & Co. By the age of two, Herbert Jr. had been round the world twice. One of his earliest memories was riding a wagon piled high with gold with his father in Australia. The family lived near Stanford University while he was growing up, and he took great pride in serving as water boy for the Stanford Indians football team. During the 1918 flu pandemic, Hoover contracted influenza, which left him with a hearing impairment that affected him for the rest of his life. Hoover began taking an interest in radio sets at age 14. He attended his father's alma mater, Stanford University, graduating with a degree in general engineering in 1925. He later studied at the Harvard Business School and was awarded a Master of Business Administration with distinction before winning a fellowship from the Daniel Guggenheim Fund to study aviation economics. His work focused on the economics of radio in the aviation sector. Aviation radio, 1928–1930 In 1928, Herbert Jr was hired by Western Air Express to set up its communications system. Over the next year and a half, he set up a network of stations across the Western U.S. capable of guiding radio-equipped aircraft along 15,000 miles of airways. As communications chief of Western Air Express, he soon was managing a staff of 75 engineers and overseeing the purchase of over $200,000 of radio equipment. In June 1930, he was promoted to chief engineer of Western Air Express. During his time with Western Air Express, he was mainly located at Alhambra, California, but also made frequent trips to the airline's headquarters in Los Angeles. In 1929, Western Air Express, Boeing and American Airways formed a non-profit corporation, Aeronautical Radio Inc. to serve as the airline industry's