Stories of my travels to each of the US Presidential Museums, Centers, Homes, Monuments and Archives. Tour of the United States through the Presidential National Archives Presidential Libraries and Museums.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Herbert Clark Hoover 31st President of the United States of America 1929-1933
Our history is filled with conspiracy theories. The media propagate and support them. Perhaps it is in our nature to be suspicious. I am one who does not believe in a second gunman, the Main was destroyed by her own government to start a war, or that there is an alien cover up in the desert of New Mexico. I don’t want to believe. Our government has a hard enough time keeping it moving to be distracted.
This Fourth of July weekend I drove to Iowa to learn about President Hebert Hoover, our 31st President of the United States of America. His boyhood home is in a small town off of Eisenhower’s great Highway 80.
Iowa is lush and green this time of year. The vast emerald farmland rolls for miles in each direction. You would never know that just over the ridge off the freeway are these fun little towns. “The Midwest Farmers Daughters” really are something to be admired. These towns are where they reside.
My hotel is called the “Presidential Inn” and is reviewed on Yahoo as having “friendly owners” and “a great place to stay for the price.” While these descriptions are accurate I may have also included that it is not really a hotel, but a motel. I would have also recommended watching the 1980’s horror movie classic “Motel Hell” which I believe was based on this location. While no one came at me with an axe or wanted me to meet their mother in the main house, it was in a state of “new ownership repair.” On a plus, they have free wireless Internet that worked some of the time. Rather than replace the old television that did not work with the new digital format, they left that big old thing in the room and mounted a new smaller television on the wall. It only got four channels, three of which were HBO - Family, West Coast, and Latin.
In town is a restaurant called “Come Backs”. There is a double meaning with the sports teams that they root for and that they would like you to return as a patron. The owner, his wife, daughter, and another “Midwest Farmers Daughter” really made me feel all right. I also had what may have been the best steak and beans in the last three years. Local beef with just a little something extra “Come Back” is a must stop when driving through Iowa on 80.
Saturday I awoke early still on Eastern Time. I am told that there is a free breakfast in the lobby - which turns out to be bad coffee and do it yourself toast. Across the street is the truck stop and McDonalds. The walls of the McDonald’s are covered in Hoover. I get excited for the day even though it has been raining hard since midnight.
Two minutes later I am over the bridge and in the parking lot of the Museum and Library. The rain is hard. There is a reason that Iowa is so green and lush.
While the puddles grow and I listen to “Car Talk” federal park rangers for the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site turn lights on, unlock doors, and prepare for the holiday rush.
There is a short film in the federal center. It is an overview of his life. In twelve minutes I learn that he was orphaned at a young age, was a Quaker, lived in Oregon with his Aunt and Uncle, was in the first class at Stanford, became an engineer, and traveled the globe before becoming President.
I cross the grounds, umbrella in hand, to a small white wooden house. There are two rooms - a bedroom and a general room. “Bert”, as they called him, was the middle of three children. The three plus mom and dad lived there for much of Bert’s childhood. On the grounds you will also find the shop where his father was the blacksmith, the Quaker meeting house where they would pray, the school house his mother taught in, and other houses from the time.
In the midst of the deluge I head back to my car and drive a block or so to the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum. Once again I am met by another wonderfully nice Iowan. She talks me through the exhibit. She also reminds me that for the holiday they have special band and “Lincoln” presenter that afternoon.
After Stanford Hoover was broke. He took a job as a miner in an awful place in Australia. After a year he went from one bad mine to another. But this time, with experience, he became the chief of operations. The British owners were very happy with his ability to turn a huge profit and asked him to fix one of their mines in China. He married the love of his life and college sweetheart Lou Henry. On arrival they found themselves in the midst of the Boxer Rebellion. Lou and Bert fought off advances and survived several near misses until the U.S. navy could escort them out of the country.
I imagine that this would be equal to me getting married and moving to the green zone in Iraq in early 2002.
Hoover went on a world tour of mines that needed to be turned around. It made him very rich. It also put him in proximity to some key historical moments in the early 20th Century.
At a moment played down in the exhibit, his with Lou and their two boys were scheduled to be on the Lusitanian on her final voyage.
The start of “The Great War” stranded the family and many Americans in the United Kingdom. Hoover was able to coordinate safe passage for thousands of them with connections and management skills.
In Belgium and much of Europe famine was killing large segments of the population. Hoover again stepped up and organized a relief effort to feed those in need. They call a bowl of hot soup and a side of white bread a “Hoover Lunch.” His efforts even reached as far a Russia despite his dislike of the politics of the time.
His good will efforts got him appointed as Secretary of Commerce by Warren G. Harding. In this position he often assumed powers not previously controlled by the government. These included standardizing and stabilizing manufacturing practices, radio signals, and flight regulations.
In 1927 the Mississippi River broke its banks and caused a devastating flood. The museum claims that it was the largest natural disaster in American history… If you agree with that or not, it was a really bad situation. Hoover was able to organize volunteers with food, boats, and medical expertise.
This series of successful actions in federal organization, feeding Europe, and domestically saving large populations built his reputation to be one of the most popular people in America. He won election overwhelmingly.
Seven months later the bottom fell out of the market. A few months’ later farmers were struggling with the dust bowl. While he put several programs in place his successor would take credit for, he became a scapegoat for the problems of Americans.
Much of the exhibit after the Market crash deals with presidents after FDR who called on him for advice, guidance and leadership. After World War II he returned to Europe to organize rebuilding efforts and programs to feed people. In fact each US President after Truman until his death called on Hoover in one way or another.
The reputation Hoover held in my mind was the start of the Great Depression. I don’t recall hearing much in history class about the other great things he had accomplished before that. The other part of Hoover I always think of is the title song to “All in the Family” a show about a protagonist who is backwards and misguided about how things are in modern times… Not a positive placement for Hoover.
I hope that history is better to Hoover. He deserves a higher rank in our minds for what he was able to do in and out of office for the United States of America.
The Hoover Center takes about two to three hours to cover in depth. It is a very good place to go with the family and learn about our history. I strongly recommend you stop by if you are driving down I-80.
Since the visit took much less time than I had planned for, and because it was raining and I did not want to wait for the band and President Lincoln presentation that afternoon, I jumped in the car and drove to Dixon Illinois.
Dixon is two hours East of the Hoover Center in West Branch and 111 miles east of Chicago. It is the boyhood home of Ronald Reagan 40th President of the United States of America.
Right now there are 13 Presidential Libraries run by the National Archives and Records Administration or NARA. Hoover is one of these places. However there are many locations and sites that are run by local organizations not associated or funded by the federal government at all. The Ronald Reagan boy hood home is such a place. Reagan requested at the opening ceremony that it would always be privately funded.
Reagan and his older brother Neil - known by their nicknames Dutch and Moon lived in this two story, two-bedroom home for only a few formable years. The family paid $15 a month rent when they were here. But that rent was too expensive and they had to move to a less expensive location.
This is what struck me most about President Ronal Reagan. He came from a very meager background (they were poor.)
The Presidential Centers I have been to up until now were often a heartwarming and humanizing way to learn history. With Reagan I found myself getting a little something in my eye every now and then. This may be because I was aware of him in my life more than these other figures in history, or maybe it was because I forgot to bring my medication with me on this trip.
They have retuned this house to a state of what it may have been like while he lived there. This is a common practice as the federal centers usually get all of the real artifacts. A huge difference with this site is that President Reagan had spent a day here in 1984 with Moon. The people who run the house were present to hear stories and memories from Dutch and Moon as they walked the halls and ate lunch in the old dining room.
If you are fascinated by the actual trinkets and artifacts that people used… visiting these homes are not for you. It is mostly looking a stuff that they didn’t own. But if you enjoy the stories that people tell, the insights you will not often get from the first three books you read on a person, hometowns are a must.
Dixon Illinois is also a really nice community. The carnival and art fair over the 4th with fireworks were delayed due to the rain, but the people in town are super nice.
Saturday night I stepped up to the Comfort Inn and watched the National Fireworks and Concert on PBS with a good night sleep that followed.
Sunday was all the great weather one could ask for. Sadly I had to drive home.
Little Known Facts About Hoover:
- Secretary of Commerce under Harding, Secretary of Commerce under Coolidge
- The School of Engineering and Applied Science of Columbia University in 1964, Herbert Hoover and Thomas Edison were named the two greatest engineers in U. S. History
- He was the youngest member of Stanford University's first graduating class.
- During their first three years in the White House, the Hoovers dined alone only three times, each time on their wedding anniversary
Hoover was the first president to donate his salary to charity
- One of the most honored presidents, Hoover received 84 honourary degrees, 78 medals and awards, and the keys to dozens of cities
- 1874 - 1st US President born west of the Mississippi
- President Hoover had the longest retirement of any U.S. President ever, having lived for 31 years and seven months after leaving office
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