By Thomas F. Schwartz In nineteenth-century America, the ruling family of the stage was the Booth family. John Wilkes Booth forever ruined the family reputation by assassinating President Abraham Lincoln. In the twentieth-century, the Barrymore family were the stars of stage and screen. Beginning with Maurice Barrymore and his three children, John, Lionel, and Ethel, … Continue reading Oscar Winner Ethel Barrymore’s Birthday Greeting from a former President
February 10, 1899 - Herbert Hoover (center) and Lou Henry (seated left) on their wedding day, with Lou's sister and parents. by Spencer Howard Presidential campaigns have changed tremendously over the last 70 years, but one aspect that continues to this day is the ritual unveiling of skeletons from the candidates' metaphorical closets. One example … Continue reading The Hoover Wedding Scandal
A rapid acceleration of Adolf Hitler’s anti-Semitic violence began the evening of November 9 and continued into November 10. Kristallnacht, or “the night of the broken glass”, witnessed more than 8,000 Jewish shops destroyed with countless synagogues demolished or burned. Individual Jews were attacked, many severely beaten, and more than ninety killed while others committed … Continue reading An Actor’s Response
The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum recently acquired a decorative flour sack that came with a two-typed page explanation by Marthe Boel. The name is unfamiliar to most Americans but Boel was a leading feminist in Belgian before and after World War I. She and her husband were imprisoned by the Germans for their activities in … Continue reading Subversive Flour Sacks of Thanks
by Spencer Howard The 2016 Rose Bowl Game will be a contest between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Stanford Cardinal. The two football teams have never met on the gridiron, but the universities share a unique connection: the thirty-first President of the United States, Herbert Hoover. Herbert Hoover was born August 10, 1874 in West … Continue reading Divided Loyalties: Herbert Hoover and the Rose Bowl
