The story is possible, but more likely seems to be an embellishment of an otherwise true story.
From the Stanford University website...
The story goes that in 1892, Herbert Hoover, a member of Stanford's Pioneer Class, invited Polish composer
The story is possible, but more likely seems to be an embellishment of an otherwise true story.
From the Stanford University website...
The story goes that in 1892, Herbert Hoover, a member of Stanford's Pioneer Class, invited Polish composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski, one of the leading pianists in the world, to give a benefit concert. Due to problems with scheduling and publicity, only a few people attended. Hoover asked the pianist not to play, but he performed anyway, waiving his concert fee. And when Paderewski discovered that Hoover owed thousands of dollars for rental of the concert hall, the musician covered the bill. That incident marked the beginning of a friendship between the two men that would last 50 years.
During and after World War I, when Poles faced massive starvation, Hoover repaid his debt to Paderewski, who became Poland's prime minister, by organizing the largest relief operation ever mounted in Europe, said Zbigniew Stanczyk, East European specialist at the Hoover Institution.
The following are confirmed true aspects of the story.
Mr. Hoover and Mr. Paderewski met at Stanford in 1892 under the pretext of a concert.
Mr. Hoover had difficulty in coming up with all of the funds in order to pay for the concert after scheduling conflicts.
Mr. Paderewski covered the bill upon discovering this
The friendship that resulted from this meeting was a factor in delivering foreign Aid to Poland after World War 1
What is unclear.
- What the "benefit concert" was benefiting. It is conceivable that the benefit concert was for the purposes of raising tuition funds.
The earliest reference to the concert being for the purposes of tuition I could find online was from this bible.org page, which in turn references the book "Perhaps I am" by Edward Bok.
There were once two young men working their way through Leland Stanford University. Their funds got desperately low, and the idea came to one of them to engage Paderewski for a piano recital and devote the profits to their board and tuition. The great pianist’s manager asked for a guarantee of two thousand dollars. The students, undaunted, 