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The Hoover Dam may have controlled flooding, but conflict around its name was difficult to contain.
In 1931, Congress passed legislation declaring it the “Hoover Dam” after President Herbert Hoover, who commissioned its construction. However, once Hoover left office, subsequent administrations reverted to its original name, the “Boulder Canyon Dam” or “Boulder Dam” – allegedly because the new Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes was not a fan of Hoover’s role in the Great Depression.
But in 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed a resolution that touted Hoover’s leadership in the project and officially established its name as the “Hoover Dam” thereafter.