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was at this time that Lou Hoover took an active interest in the Girl Scout movement. She was asked to be a troop leader for a Washington, D.C. scout troop. Lou's love of young people and her interest in the scouting movement led her to take over Troop VIII. One project that Lou had the scouts do was to cultivate a war garden. Lou actively directed the girls to plant plots of vegetables.
Lou devoted many hours and much energy to the Girl Scouts. She was a strong advocate for girls being able to experience a love of the outdoors. She accompanied the girls on hikes, visited camps, and took part in many Girl Scout ceremonies.
After the Armistice was signed and World War I was over, Lou turned her attention to the building project that had been put on hold at the beginning of the war, their dream house in California. She made preliminary architectural drawings for the house. She liked fireplaces, and each main room had one. Of course there was a fireplace outside for toasting marshmallows and wieners!
During the Presidency of Warren G. Harding, Herbert Hoover was appointed Secretary of Commerce. It was back to Washington, D.C. for the Hoovers. As the wife of a cabinet officer, Lou spent a substantial amount of time entertaining. She was a warm, gracious hostess. These duties did not interfere with her work for the Girl Scouts. She served every branch of Girl Scouting from troop leader, to president of the national organization, to national board member.
"To me the outing part of scouting has always been the most important. The happiest part of my own very happy childhood and girlhood was without doubt the hours and days, the sometimes entire months, which I spent in pseudo-pioneering or scouting in our wonderful western mountains with my father in our vacation times. So I cannot but want every girl to have the same widening, simplifying, joy-getting influences in her own life." (LHH Speech,Girl Scouts in Articles, Addresses, and Statements, LHH Subject File).
Lou Hoover also was a strong advocate of physical fitness for girls and women, and she had a great interest in their health and welfare. So it was natural for her to become involved in the women's division of the National Amateur Athletic Federation.
In the 1920's men's and women's amateur sports were expanding rapidly due to the press and radio coverage of sporting events. A trend was established toward spectator sports and professional athletes. One controversy which arose concerned participation and competition in women's sports. Many physical educators, physicians, and sports enthusiasts favored participation of women by the model of, "A sport for every girl, and every girl in a sport." A division arose between those who advocated mass participation in sports and those who preferred elite varsity sports. There was also opposition to the participation of girls and women in the International Olympic Games. The concerns led to the establishment of the National Amateur Athletic Federation. The federation became the forum for discussions about sports on a national level.
Lou Hoover was named a vice president of the NAAF with a challenge to organize a women's division. She was aware of the issues facing women in 
athletics. There were philosophical differences over competition vs. participation, issues of facilities and space for women, and a lack of qualified women's coaches. Lou used her organizational skills to arrange a conference in Washington, D.C. in April of 1923. The conference developed a model of athletics for girls and women based on, "egalitarian principles, and healthful sports activity." (Joan Hult, LHH, Champion for Girls and Women's Recreational Sports, March 11, 1989).
The Women's Division managed some growth and it established a policy for girls and women that stated a belief in the: "promotion of competition that stresses enjoyment of sport and the development of good sportsmanship and character rather than those types that emphasize the making and breaking of records, and the winning of championships for the enjoyment of spectators and for the athletic reputation or commercial advantages of institutions and organizations." (NAAF Policy Statement in LHH Subject Files, NAAF). This policy remained unchanged until 1940 when the women's division merged with the American Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation.
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Last updated: August 15, 2007