In the spring of 1946 famine brought on by World War II and disastrous droughts threatened more than 800 million people (about one-third of the world's population). President Harry Truman called Herbert Hoover out of retirement to lead the US President's Famine Emergency Committee, often called the Food Mission. Hugh Gibson accompanied Hoover on this worldwide mission. Together they visited more than forty countries and territories to evaluate needs, identify surpluses, and quickly move food from one region to another. In approximately three months they traveled more than 50,000 miles. Gibson’s daily record of events provides a dizzying cross-section of the world just one year after the war ended.