In the wake of the recent Presidential debate, Republican candidate Donald Trump pointed to a malfunctioning microphone and spotty sound system as one of the reasons his voice was not heard. This Hoover archivist was reminded of a previous episode of microphone malfeasance and its impact on a Presidential hopeful. The year was 1940. World … Continue reading Microphone Malfunctions and Campaigns
As the calendar turns from September to October, baseball fans’ thoughts turn to the World Series. Fans in Boston, Washington, Cleveland and on the north side of Chicago, cross their fingers and hope that this will be their year. Long-suffering fans of the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs, although their teams have clinched playoff berths, … Continue reading Boys of Summer and the Fall Classic
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
On viewing Shakespeare’s First Folio [currently on exhibit at the University of Iowa Library], a wandering Hoover archivist recalled correspondence exchanged between Emily Folger and Herbert Hoover. Emily Folger, widow of Henry Clay Folger, wrote Hoover on July 28th 1934, seeking advice on who to hire as Director of the recently opened Folger Shakespeare Library. … Continue reading On Viewing Shakespeare’s First Folio
By Thomas F. Schwartz Often projects that seem simple at first, become more complicated and involved once begun. Unanticipated problems emerge as greater comprehension of what is required only emerges by working through the project. And so it was when the Hoovers decided to undertake an English translation of Georgius Agricola’s De Re Metallica, a … Continue reading The Discovery of a Professional Tradition: Herbert and Lou Hoover’s Translation of De Re Metallica
By Thomas F. Schwartz If there is any public recognition of the word “Tommyknocker” it is probably a reference to the 1987 Stephen King novel The Tommyknockers or spin off ABC miniseries with Jimmy Smits and Marg Helgenberger. The Stephen King novel’s use of “Tommyknocker” has nothing to do with the ancient mythic gnome that … Continue reading Herbert Hoover and the Tommyknockers: Mythic Gnomes of the Mine Shafts
New York Times best-selling author Jonathan Eig will be discussing his book, Get Capone, at the Hoover Presidential Library-Museum on August 20, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. Get Capone draws on thousands of pages of recently discovered government documents, wiretap transcripts, and Al Capone’s handwritten personal letters. Jonathan Eig, New York Times bestselling author, tells the dramatic … Continue reading Jonathan Eig, author of Get Capone, Speaking at the Hoover Museum
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
From the left: Anton Fokker, Herbert Hoover, F. Trubee Davison and Edward Warner Those of a certain age have fond memories of Charles Schultz's Peanuts comic strip. Among the memorable characters that lived out his fantasies was Charlie Brown's dog Snoopy. A reoccurring fantasy was being a World War I fighter pilot in a Sopwith … Continue reading Hoover “Meets the Fokker”
When people think of the home front during a world war, the rationing of food and gasoline immediately come to mind. But rationing was a feature of World War II, not World War I. Herbert Hoover as head of the United States Food Administration was able to get Americans to voluntarily reduce their consumption … Continue reading Practical War-Pig Plan
