Hoover Institution

The Hoover Institution is a public policy research center located on the campus of Stanford University, with a second office in Washington, DC. Unlike the freestanding Washington think tanks, it is part of Stanford: its site is published “by the Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University,” and it files no separate Form 990.

Founding

On 22 April 1919 Herbert Hoover sent his wife, Lou Henry, a telegram pledging $50,000 to collect historical material on the First World War. The collection expanded to document the war’s aftermath and, in the Institution’s own account, “the broader forces of war, revolution, and peace in the modern era,” growing into both a research center and a library and archive.

Mission and leadership

Hoover describes itself as a research center “dedicated to generating policy ideas that promote economic prosperity, national security, and democratic governance,” and states its mission as seeking “to improve the human condition by advancing ideas that promote economic opportunity and prosperity, while securing and safeguarding peace.” Condoleezza Rice serves as the Tad and Dianne Taube Director; Eric Wakin is deputy director and director of Library & Archives.

Relevance to digital political discourse

Hoover runs PolicyEd, a public-facing site that publishes short explanatory video and written material on policy questions; its own statement of purpose frames it as a response to the “digital media revolution” and to partisan outlets presenting assertions as fact. PolicyEd’s contents are being consolidated into a platform called Hoover+ after 31 August 2026. The Institution also distributes work through podcasts, video and social accounts.