by Spencer Howard One of the annoyances of modern life is the variety and volume of shady emails that clog our computers. Phony pharmaceutical ads, Nigerian investment schemes, too-good-to-be-true offers for jobs or relationships, the list goes on. Modern technology makes it much easier for the perpetrators, but all of these scams were tried through … Continue reading Telegram Scam
Cartoon from 1921 by William Morris by Spencer Howard When President Harding was inaugurated in 1921, a sharp recession was underway that had begun the year before. By mid-1921, some five million people were out of work - perhaps 12% of the workforce. Concerns arose about the possibility of widespread hardship through the coming winter, … Continue reading The President’s Conference on Unemployment – 1921
by Spencer Howard Presidential Libraries are not libraries in the usual sense. They are archives and museums, bringing together in one place the documents and artifacts of a President and his administration and presenting them to the public for study and discussion. Like all Presidential Libraries, the Hoover Library has collected documents and artifacts from … Continue reading The Papers of Rose Wilder Lane
by Spencer Howard There is a widespread but unfounded myth that President Hoover ordered the deportation or "repatriation" of large numbers of Hispanics, primarily Mexicans, during his administration (1929-1933). "Deportation" is the legal process for formally expelling a non-citizen from the United States; "repatriation" is a term that refers to various methods for persuading or … Continue reading Hoover on Immigration
by Spencer Howard With the recent advances in astronomy, there are now over 300,000 known asteroids in our solar system, though only about 16,000 have been given names. Four of them have been named to honor the humanitarian work of Herbert Hoover. In 1920, Johann Palisa, an astronomer at the University of Vienna in Austria, … Continue reading Up in the Sky – it’s Hooveria
– the 1928 Republican National Convention Herbert and Lou Hoover in the doorway of their home the morning after he was nominated for president in 1928. by Spencer Howard In June 1928, Republican Party held its quadrennial convention to nominate candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. Before the primaries and caucuses … Continue reading Nominating a Candidate
– Mabel Walker Willebrandt by Spencer Howard For much of the Prohibition Era (1920-1933), the most prominent Prohibition enforcement official was also the highest ranking woman in three presidential administrations -- Assistant Attorney General Mabel Walker Willebrandt. Appointed by President Harding in 1921, Willebrandt prosecuted Prohibition cases and tax fraud, and oversaw Federal prisons. In … Continue reading “The First Lady of the Law”
by Spencer Howard When President Herbert Hoover entered the White House in 1929, Prohibition was the law of the land. For decades, social reformers – at first mostly women – had argued that alcohol was a scourge on society, linked to wife-beating and child abuse. Over time, business interests joined the cause, concerned about the … Continue reading Law of the Land
by Spencer Howard Yesterday, March 29 was Lou Henry Hoover's birthday. Lou spent many years of her life involved with the Girl Scout movement. Here is an excerpt from a tribute written in late 1945 by Dare Stark McMullin, a friend and former secretary of Mrs. Hoover: "Mrs. Hoover first became associated with the Girl Scout … Continue reading Lou Henry Hoover and the Girl Scouts
President Hoover at his desk. by Spencer Howard On January 12, 1932, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. submitted his resignation to President Herbert Hoover, citing ill health and age. At 91 years old, he noted, "the time has come, and I bow to the inevitable." In his 30 years on the Supreme Court, … Continue reading A Non-Political – and Entirely Political – Supreme Court Appointment
