The front of the Inaugural Medal given to Herbert Hoover, dated March 4, 1929. The back of Herbert Hoover's Inauguration Medal. In March 1921, after having served for four years as United States Food Administrator and Commissioner for Belgian Relief, Mr. Hoover was appointed as Secretary of Commerce by President Warren G. Harding. Beloved for … Continue reading Much Ado About Medals Act III: The Secretary, The Flood, and The Chief
Cadillac radiator badge, ca. 1922 National Museum of American History #TR.325528.261. Three months after the publication of Herbert Hoover's American Individualism, Herbert Howard Rice, president and general manager of the Cadillac Motor Car Company, dedicated a plaque in honor of the Le Sieur Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. Born March 5, 1658, and founder of … Continue reading The Use of “American Individualism” in Popular Culture
First edition of Herbert Hoover's American Individualism No author is without critics and Herbert Hoover’s American Individualism had many, some thoughtful and others simply dismissive. As both critics and supporters alike point out, Hoover’s musings are not a systematic treatment of the topic. Some find Hoover’s statements impressionistic while others see them as a portal … Continue reading Critics of American Individualism
Herbert Hoover's American Individualismrepublished by the Hoover Institution Press December 2022 will mark the one-hundredth anniversary of Herbert Hoover’s publication, American Individualism. A mere seventy-two pages, the book was Hoover’s meditation on the recent upheavals brought about by World War I and Hoover’s thoughts on the best path forward for America. Much of it is … Continue reading American Individualism: A Centennial Anniversary
By Thomas F. Schwartz Herbert Hoover relied on accurate reporting from a variety of sources on the impact famine and food shortages were affecting area in Russia from 1921-23. As Secretary of Commerce for President Harding, Hoover could not travel abroad to see for himself the tragedy already gripping many parts of the Russian empire. … Continue reading James Putnam Goodrich: Witness to the Famine
This image is from the Commerce Years gallery at the Hoover Presidential Museum. by Spencer Howard Of the many charitable organizations that Herbert Hoover led, one of the most important was the American Child Health Association. In its almost 13 years of existence, from its founding by Herbert Hoover in 1923 to its liquidation in … Continue reading Herbert Hoover’s vision for healthy children – Part 1: The Child’s Bill of Rights
by Spencer Howard On September 17, 1930, Secretary of the Interior Ray Lyman Wilbur journeyed to the Nevada desert to drive a silver railroad spike, marking an end and a beginning. The spike commemorated the completion of a railroad from Las Vegas to Black Canyon, which was to be the site of an enormous new … Continue reading What’s in a Name? The Saga of the Hoover Dam
by Spencer Howard The following story is filed with Bureau of Standards reports to Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover: On Sunday morning, March 20, 1921, the arrest of a young man and the recovery of a truck full of Government radio equipment was reported to the Superintendent of the Bureau of Standards. The robbery was … Continue reading Make Sure Your Getaway Vehicle Doesn’t Break Down
While drawing analogies too closely from history is perilous, I am sometimes struck by parallels between events of today and events of the past. Our world today is not the only world facing disruptive technologies which test the minds of men and the flexibility of institutions. Men and institutions today are wrestling with challenges presented … Continue reading When New Communications Media Reach Maturity
June is National Homeownership Month. It was initially National Homeownership week, established by President Bill Clinton in 1995. President George W. Bush first proclaimed National Homeownership month in 2002. While a whole month to recognize owning a home is less than twenty years old, the roots of celebrating home ownership with a day, a week, … Continue reading Better Living through Home Ownership
