(In 1921 the American relief commission nonetheless began distribution of food that saved countless Russians from starvation.)

…for assistance provided by the American Relief Administration, headed by the future U.S. president Herbert Hoover, which, with moneys from the U.S. Congress and voluntary contributions, fed most of the starving. Even so, the human casualties of the 1921 famine are estimated at 5.1 million.

…natural choice to head the American Relief Administration. The ARA sent shiploads of food and other life-sustaining supplies to war-ravaged Europe—including Germany and Bolshevik Russia during the famine in that country in 1921–23. The outreach to Soviet Russia garnered Hoover much criticism, but he defended his actions on humanitarian grounds,…