Last year at about this time Thomas Schwartz wrote a blog here about Hoover’s ‘Invisible Guest’ dinners, innovative efforts to raise private funds to pay for the feeding of Europeans after World War I. Congress had originally appropriated $100 million to this humanitarian effort, but was reluctant to expend funds beyond this commitment. Hoover recognized … Continue reading The Invisible Guest-Part II
By Thomas F. Schwartz Bruce Barton is not a familiar name to most people but they certainly know some of his iconic brands such as Betty Crocker. Barton was a principal in the advertising agency Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn. The writer/director Matthew Weiner used the advertising industry as a model for his 2007 show … Continue reading Mad Men and Miss Manners: A Hoover Christmas Carol
by Spencer Howard Rodney Dutcher was one of 27 journalists who accompanied President-Elect Herbert Hoover on his "Good Will Tour" of Latin America in November and December 1928. Dutcher was a bureau manager and political columnist for the Newspaper Enterprise Association, one of the big news syndicates that served 850 U.S. newspapers. As published for … Continue reading The Good Will Tour – a Journalist’s Adventure
Shortly before his departure on the Latin American goodwill trip, Herbert Hoover wrote to Elihu Root: ‘As usual, it is very difficult to deal with the press in these matters. The youngsters who are detailed to inform the American public seem to think they have a divine right to invent something sensational each day and … Continue reading Hoover’s Latin American Trip and the Press
by Spencer Howard A number of visitors to the temporary exhibit "Viva Hoover! The 1928 Goodwill Tour" have asked about one of the large photographs of the battleship USS Maryland -- what is that clock-like thing on the mast? It's a device called a "range clock," and you will see it in pictures of battleships … Continue reading “Viva Hoover” exhibit – but what’s that thing that looks like a clock?
by Spencer Howard When Herbert Hoover was elected President in 1928, long-distance air travel was still in the future; Franklin Roosevelt would become the first President to travel internationally by air. Hoover left the continental U.S. twice: first, as President-Elect in 1928, he traveled to Latin America on a "Good Will Tour," then in 1931 … Continue reading Herbert Hoover’s Good Will Tour – by Battleship
By Thomas F. Schwartz A number of remembrances took place on November 9, 2019, marking the 30th anniversary of the opening of travel between East and West Berlin and an end to the border wall of separation. The end of a divided Berlin was the culmination of public protests in East Germany and a wave … Continue reading Words and a Wall: Remembering the fall of the Berlin Wall
Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover were experienced travelers when they embarked on their trip to Latin America in late November 1928. This was not the case for many of their fellow travelers. Lou Hoover felt that it was incumbent on her to bring everyone up to speed by distributing a three-page typed memorandum on the … Continue reading The Second Purpose of Hoover’s 1928 Goodwill Tour
Shortly after Herbert Hoover won the Presidency in November 1928, he began planning a trip to Latin America. This would make him the first President-elect to make such a journey. His experience as Secretary of Commerce convinced him of the economic importance of Latin America and of the need to walk back some North American … Continue reading The Purpose of Hoover’s 1928 Goodwill Tour
by Spencer Howard Some recent news articles have noted previous Presidents who have faced impeachment, including Herbert Hoover. In a narrow sense this is true – on Dec. 13, 1932 and Jan. 17, 1933, Rep. Louis Thomas McFadden, a Republican from Pennsylvania, offered resolutions on the floor of the House calling for the impeachment of … Continue reading The Impeachment of Herbert Hoover
