A great friend of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum died on September 15. Professor Ellis Hawley mentored generations of undergraduate and graduate students from 1957 to his retirement in 1994. He began his career on faculty of North Texas State University, moving to Ohio State University, and ending his career at the University … Continue reading In remembrance of Professor Ellis Wayne Hawley
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
by Spencer Howard During his lifetime, Herbert Hoover earned a Bachelors degree in geology from Stanford University and was awarded more than 80 honorary degrees from Universities around the world for his many humanitarian efforts. One distinction he never earned, however, was a high school diploma. As a child, Hoover attended the local school in … Continue reading Graduations that Never Happened — Herbert Hoover
By Thomas F. Schwartz, Director, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum Paraskevidekatriaphobia is the fear of Friday the 13th. It was given new meaning when we received word to close the museum and library to the public until public health officials determined that the coronavirus spread through public transmission had abated. This decision was not … Continue reading Persistence Prevails When All Else Fails
Lou Hoover was in the midst of her second tenure as President of the Girl Scouts in October 1936 when she received a letter from Jean Magee. Magee was a high school junior tasked with writing a term paper on ‘The American Girl.’ She judged Lou Hoover to be the best authority on the subject. … Continue reading Lou Hoover and ‘The American Girl’
By Thomas F. Schwartz Having just watched the academy awards, it is appropriate to ask if Herbert Hoover was a film buff. The simple answer is “yes!” As Secretary of Commerce, Hoover helped promote the emerging U.S. film industry at home and abroad. He was good friends with studio mogul Louis B. Mayer of MGM … Continue reading Watching Movies on a Battleship
By Thomas F. Schwartz As a previous blog post indicated, Americans who signed the pledge to conserve food were encouraged to forgo meat at one meal each day and on Tuesday, the entire day. On Monday, supper was the designated meal to be meatless. In Hoover’s day, breakfast was the first meal of the day … Continue reading A Recipe Idea for Meatless Monday
I cannot imagine Herbert Hoover, at any age or in any context, attending Mardi Gras or any such foofaraw. The man, the mien, and Mardi Gras beads just do not mix. My mind is not that plastic. Evidently Florida Senator Duncan Upshaw Fletcher had a broader perspective. He wrote to Hoover on December 15, 1928, … Continue reading Herbert Hoover and the Gasparilla Pirate Festival
My office mate and I had a conversation about Ozymandias, a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley more than two hundred years ago. Fragments of the poem rattled in my memory; my colleague knew it by heart. Lines that stuck with me: ‘And on the pedestal these words appear/ ‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings/ … Continue reading Hoover, and Other Heads of the American State
As the Hoovers toured Latin America, they were feted with lavish dinners and receptions by heads of state and other dignitaries. At these events the Hoovers were usually given a memento to mark the occasion. By the time the Hoovers reached Chile, these mementos had grown so numerous that it was decided to ship them … Continue reading Gifts to the Hoovers
