by Spencer Howard In August, 1928, Lou Henry Hoover visited her hometown of Waterloo as part of a trip through Iowa to kick off Herbert Hoover's Presidential campaign. While Lou expected to be the center of attention, she did not anticipate the persistence of a local photographer who saw a business opportunity. As the appointed … Continue reading Waterloo Movie Makers, or, The Gift that Would Not Stop Giving
Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover with President Warren Harding on the 1923 Alaskan trip. Herbert Hoover was head of the United States Food Administration when he first met Warren Harding. As Hoover tells the tale, Senator Harding came into his office late one evening and said: “I am here to serve and to help.’ This … Continue reading Hoover and 20th Century Presidents: Warren Harding
3/25/24 First Lady Grace Coolidge, honorary president of the Girl Scouts with Lou Henry Hoover, President of the Girl Scouts, at a re-dedication ceremony of the"Girl Scout Little House" in Washington DC. Lou Henry Hoover’s involvement with the Girl Scouts spanned decades. Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of Girl Scouts, recruited Lou Hoover in 1917 … Continue reading Lou Henry Hoover and Girl Scouts
By Thomas F. Schwartz, PhD Herbert Hoover during his years at Stanford. A story often cited claims that when Hoover was a student at Stanford, he invited the famed Polish pianist, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, to perform at Stanford for a promised fee of $2,000. Much to Hoover’s chagrin, the ticket sales fell short of the … Continue reading Hoover and Paderewski
Herbert Hoover mining in possibly Australia or South Africa, ca. 1900. America celebrates National Engineering Week each February in the week containing February 22nd, George Washington’s birthday. Washington, who used engineering skills while surveying land on the frontier, is an apt President on which to hang this celebration of engineering. Other Presidents who’d merit consideration … Continue reading Presidents and Engineers
A valentine from the Hoover collections. Last year, I wrote on the Valentine’s Day Cards received by President Hoover (https://hoover.blogs.archives.gov/2018/02/14/valentines-day-cards/). I was surprised not only by the variety of cards in circulation in the early 1930s, but also by the large number of card manufacturers. Growing up when and where I did, I assumed that … Continue reading Valentine’s Day Cards – The Rest of the Story
Herbert Hoover, 1931. A while back, I wrote on Hoover’s smoking as President. Given the times, this was not a surprise. No further surprise to learn that Hoover smoked all of his adult life. Thus there are six folders in box 286 of his Post-Presidential Subject Files related to smoking. These document various aspects of … Continue reading I Might as well Finish my Smoke…
Barack Obama was the most recent President to smoke cigarettes. He did his best to keep his habit out of the public eye knowing that it was frowned upon. Before the habit was socially stigmatized, many Presidents smoked. Herbert Hoover was one of them. A recent reference question concerning Hoover’s choice in pipe tobacco led … Continue reading Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
By Thomas F. Schwartz A previous blog described Christmas gifts Lou Henry Hoover gave to people in 1930. Made from century-old pine beams original to the White House and removed in the 1927 renovation by Calvin Coolidge, some of the oral histories conducted with associates of Herbert Hoover conflate these gifts with the 1929 fire … Continue reading The Oval Office Roasting on a 1929 Christmas Fire
by Spencer Howard Continuing Coningsby Dawson's tour of post-World War I Vienna, his writings sought to convey the absolute desperation of the people – primarily children – who were dependent on the American Relief Administration. In this dispatch, he describes his visit to one of the child-feeding stations: Today I visited one of the strategic points … Continue reading Christmas in Vienna, 1920 – Part 3: Caring for the children
