By Thomas Schwartz John Wade Gordon stood along a hot, dusty California highway not far from Petaluma hoping to hitch a ride to Sausalito ferry about forty miles south. Gordon had relocated to California from Memphis, Tennessee is search of better prospects. It was August 24, 1933. Hungry and in need of employment, Gordon hoped … Continue reading Hitching a Ride with a President
By Matthew Schaefer While driving back from a Des Moines meeting of the Iowa World War I Centennial Committee, it occurred to this Hoover Archivist that a series of monthly posts might be in order to describe the activities of Herbert Hoover as America edged closer to war. Consider this episode one. Hoover had spent … Continue reading On Centennial Celebrations
By Thomas F. Schwartz Unlike Hoover’s birthday that remained a contested issue until 1924, Herbert “Bert” Hoover’s marriage to Lou Henry on February 10, 1899 has never been questioned. Most of the accounts of the event were recalled years later resulting in conflicting information. An earlier blog post on February 10, 2016, “The Hoover Wedding … Continue reading Documenting the Hoover Marriage of February 10, 1899
by Spencer Howard In January 1929, President-Elect Herbert Hoover returned from his seven-week trip to Latin America and began preparing for the Inauguration. (At that time Inauguration Day was March 4, so he had an extra six weeks to work with.) After a couple of weeks in Washington DC during which he chose most of … Continue reading Herbert Hoover, President-Elect – a Florida vacation
“May you have the happiest new year imaginable.” By Thomas F. Schwartz The recent film Jackie (2016) by Pablo Larrain offers an artistic interpretation of a life based on a 1963 Life magazine interview by Theodore H. White with the recently widowed Jacqueline Kennedy. One typically would not connect Herbert Hoover with this fashionable First … Continue reading The Hoover/Kennedy Letters.
by Matthew Schaefer For some the end of the year is a time of reflection—a time to assess what has happened, what may yet come, and where they fit in the grand scheme of things. Herbert Hoover gave voice to such reflections in the late Decembers between 1913 and 1918. Hoover later titled these notes … Continue reading It’s the End of the Year as we Know it…
By Matthew Schaefer Christmas is a holiday laden with memories--family, fun, food, and faith form the warp and woof of these memories. This held true for Herbert Hoover. Late in his life, Hoover began to collect his Christmas reminiscences to share with family and friends. One set of such memories is found in Hoover’s Post-Presidential … Continue reading Herbert Hoover’s Many Facets of Christmas
Thanksgiving as a national holiday dates back to George Washington’s proclamation in 1789, which named the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving. The tradition wavered in the 19th century until Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation in 1863 declaring the last Thursday in November be regularly commemorated as Thanksgiving. It has been … Continue reading Thanksgiving in the White House
by Thomas Schwartz In a recent CBS 60 Minutes interview, president-elect Donald Trump told Lesley Stahl, “I’m not going to take the salary. I’m not taking it.” The annual salary of the President of the United States is currently $400,000 plus other provisions for expenses such as entertaining and travel. President-elect Trump will not be … Continue reading “I’ve never accepted compensation…for federal service…”
Once upon a time in America, elections, even the most bitterly contested elections, included high flying rhetoric and deeply held principles to counter balance the general mud-slinging. One such election was held in the fall of 1932. Incumbent President Herbert Hoover engaged in a heated campaign against challenger Franklin Roosevelt, Governor of New York. There … Continue reading Once upon a time in America
