Author Charles Rappleye is an award-winning investigative journalist and editor. He has written extensively on media, law enforcement, and organized crime. The author of Sons of Providence: The Brown Brothers, the Slave Trade, and the American Revolution; Robert Morris: Financier of the American Revolution; and his new book - Herbert Hoover in the White House: The … Continue reading Herbert Hoover in the White House
– Mabel Walker Willebrandt by Spencer Howard For much of the Prohibition Era (1920-1933), the most prominent Prohibition enforcement official was also the highest ranking woman in three presidential administrations -- Assistant Attorney General Mabel Walker Willebrandt. Appointed by President Harding in 1921, Willebrandt prosecuted Prohibition cases and tax fraud, and oversaw Federal prisons. In … Continue reading “The First Lady of the Law”
Before entering public service, Herbert Hoover was a successful and wealthy mining engineer. In fact, he and his wife, Lou Henry Hoover, both majored in geology at Stanford University. In 1905, Lou attempted to find an adequate English translation of the medieval mining treatise De Re Metallica by Georgius Agricola. Because classical Latin is not … Continue reading De Re Metallica, Translated
by Spencer Howard When President Herbert Hoover entered the White House in 1929, Prohibition was the law of the land. For decades, social reformers – at first mostly women – had argued that alcohol was a scourge on society, linked to wife-beating and child abuse. Over time, business interests joined the cause, concerned about the … Continue reading Law of the Land
by Spencer Howard Yesterday, March 29 was Lou Henry Hoover's birthday. Lou spent many years of her life involved with the Girl Scout movement. Here is an excerpt from a tribute written in late 1945 by Dare Stark McMullin, a friend and former secretary of Mrs. Hoover: "Mrs. Hoover first became associated with the Girl Scout … Continue reading Lou Henry Hoover and the Girl Scouts
In March, 1931, Herbert Hoover decided to take a Caribbean cruise. He had taken only one brief vacation during the first two years of his Presidency, and badly needed some rest. The battleship Arizona had just finished a two year overhaul and was scheduled to make a "shakedown" cruise off the east coast, so the … Continue reading Caribbean Vacation
by Spencer Howard Herbert Hoover inauguration - Coolidge and Hoover drive from White House to Capitol 03/04/1929. HHPLM 31-1929-49 Seventy-three years ago this week Herbert Hoover was inaugurated as the 31st President of the United States on March 4, 1929. The basic facts are well known: it was a rainy day; the major topics of … Continue reading Inauguration Report
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
by Spencer Howard As President, Herbert Hoover had the opportunity to nominate three justices to the Supreme Court. In early 1930, Chief Justice William Howard Taft resigned due to ill health, and to replace him Hoover nominated Charles Evans Hughes. Hughes was clearly well qualified for the job, having had a distinguished legal career as … Continue reading Supreme Court Nominations
by Spencer Howard The bicentennial of Washington's birth in February, 1932, was an occasion celebrated throughout the United States, and around the world. The official George Washington Bicentennial Commission was established by President Coolidge in December 1924, and over the succeeding seven years it organized numerous projects, programs and celebrations to commemorate the historic date, … Continue reading Washington’s Birthday Bicentennial: Planting a Tree
