Transcripts For CSPAN3 The Presidency The Life Times Of First Lady Lou Henry Hoover 20220831

It is good to see so many real people sitting in seats and not on a flat screen. My name is thomas f. Schwartz, director of the Herbert Hoover president ial library and museum. Before i introduce todays author, a few housekeeping matters. If you have not seen a new temporary exhibit, deliverance america and the famine in soviet russia from 19 21 to 23, please take time after the top to do so. It tells the story of how Herbert Hoover, and the American Relief administration, fed more than 10 Million People on a daily basis during russias worst famines. We also welcome cspan who are recording todays event for later broadcast. These programs would not be possible without the support of the hoover president ial foundation who are in the midst of raising 20 million for a complete renovation of our permanent galleries. To learn more about the project, and how to become a member, visit their membership table in the lobby. Who we are also grateful for the support of diamond v. In nearby cedar rapids and not dunlap has been a North Carolina based freelance writer for more than 30 years among her many books are the only full biographies of first lady francis fulsome cleveland, as well as a biography of calvin clue liege Vice President , charles gates dawes. Her most recent biographies why shes here today. A woman of adventure, the life and times of first lady Liu Henry Hoover. Released earlier this month by the university of Nebraska Press one would have to go back 18 years to find another year like this biography of Lou Henry Hoover. Dunlap conducted much of her research before covid closed to the Research Room for nearly two years. Thankfully, she is here to give us some of her insights and findings following her remarks will be a brief question and answer period. Book sales and signings will conclude the event in the lobby area. At this time please put all of yourself phones on vibrate and join me in welcoming a net dunlap. Come out on well, good afternoon it is just so great to see you. Especially your willingness to come out on what is and absolutely beautiful, beautiful, day. I what i want to do is make sure is and sure it is worth your time to be here this afternoon. We and share with you some of the most interesting things i have learned about Lou Henry Hoover, the woman who inspired me to do the research the woman at the Research Facility told me liu isnt underrepresented first lady. My friend michelle did know the half of. It before it started, a few thankyous are in order. First to the hoover president ial foundation through several Research Grants enabled to help fund a portion of my research for this location and to work on the biography. I have a special thanks to tom, as well as his staff, three archivist who were absolutely tremendous. Craig right, matt schieffer, in spencer howard. They always went above and beyond. Without their efforts, their work, and their dedication to lieu and to their own commitment to archival work, this biography would not have impossible i also want to thank the university of Nebraska Press it is the first time i have published with them they have done a superior job and i am very very pleased with the book they have put out its formatting and i hope that he will enjoy as well. With that behind us lets go ahead and get started. Lets Start Talking about Lou Henry Hoover. Lou was born in waterloo iowa, march 29th 1874. Her parents, charles and florence, were both originally from west, or ohio. Their families had migrated to iowa individually. Then the two met up and were married in june of 1873. Lou, as you can see from this photograph. Is the older of two children the other pictures from her sister jean whose birthday was right around the corner at the end of june. Gene was born in 1882. Excuse me, the henry family did not stay in iowa. Florence henry had asthma and other health problems. Charles was also looking for new opportunities and banking, which was his opportunity. The family had traveled to texas they had spent some time in court to canada. They return to waterloo, that is when gene was born. They went to kansas where charles thought he had a business opportunity. That also did not materialize finally in 1889 they move to win here california which was established as a quaker enclave. The henrys were not quakers they visited a variety of churches liu onetime wrote in a letter that they have been cord and ate into the Presbyterian Church after her marriage to her who were she pretty much identified with the Quaker Community if you know anything about the quaker faith you know that one of the tenants of that religion if they believe in complete equality of men and women that in and of itself is important when we see going throughout the entirety of lose life is a woman who was extremely committed to equal opportunities for women across the spectrum not only in terms of educational opportunities, physical activity, pursuit of careers she also believed in way more egalitarian marriages than what she experienced herself. In fact, if she was alive today she would very much approve of the fact the husbands and fathers are beginning to take on a larger and larger share of housekeeping and child rearing. These were things that she was responsible for, in their entirety. Bear in mind as a bear with you many of the things that she did she was also managing a household and had primary responsibility for the rearing of the hoovers two sons i mention that lou was all about egalitarianism i do not think that any photograph better describes this than this one right here this young lady who was 15 years old and holding this rifle happens to be our good friend liu henry the story goes that she was given the story liu because dad was hoping for a boy, that didnt happen but is also interesting about lous name is that she doesnt have not only a unisex name but she doesnt have a gender identifying middle name when i was doing the research on fulsome Cleveland Frank whether common teen for girls named francis. Frances cleveland being known as frank as a child oftentimes we get classified as a boy on the school roster. She began to identify herself by the nickname frank but her middle name, clara. This would designate her gender lou roughly the same ten years younger than Frances Cleveland was she did not have any gender identifying names. Think about the fact that her last names henry. Yet she very much knew that she was a woman. She embraced being a girl and a woman her father had also taught her how to hunt how to fish how to skin a rabbit, dress it and eat it she was a phenomenal horse woman and rode horses and sheen she was into her early 60s lou is the first female major in geology at Stanford University. Again, this is another example of a woman that is blazing trails, doing something that other women have not done there were a small handful of women that it begun to enter into the Earth Science is one of them had already obtained a doctorate she was teaching at a east coast. A few others were also doing work with the u. S. Geological service. Lou is the first woman to study geology. She ran into some hurdles with that they would take field trips her mother was concerned about where the chaperones were surely it would not appropriate for liu to be the lone female student going out with her fellow male students to do field trips out into the woods and out through the surrounding countryside. It is really curious but looters not answer her mother directly to that question. Stansfield is where lou meets Herbert Hubert. Who have will refer to as burn through the rest of my top. That is what he was known as as friends and family. It also helps distinguish him from his older son, who was known as herbert. So liu meet burr at stanford. They are introduced by Professor John c. Granary. John grander is the catalyst for why lou has ended up at stanford they originally had a teaching certificate she started at Los Angeles Normal School which is now ucla her family moved to monterrey she transferred to his son jose normal that is where she got the certificate she was not able to find a teaching job that suited her she tried to get into banking because that is her fathers profession and lee was extremely good throughout her life with numbers and accounting. Again, being a woman they were not going to be many Career Opportunities for there. So, she happened to hear. Bran or do a series of lectures on geology. One of the things that is interesting when we go back to this photograph this is taken on mount wilson, on mount glisten another one of those Southern California mountains liu and her father worked a gold mine so lou had already had experience with mining and working with oars geology really interested her she heard brighteners lectures and stanford had opened up, very unique in that it was not a state university, it was privately owned it orientation was to public service. Its orientation was to make education equal for both men and women. Stanford was a great place for lewd and up. The ethos that it promoted, it also fit in with her own views of opportunities for women. Liu ember meet, they are, even though lou is by chronological age older than birth by several months, they were both born in 1874. Burke being born in august of 1874. Britt was in the pioneer, first class of stanford. Lou is coming in the fourth incoming class. Ferc goes ahead and graduates he begins to find employments employment takes him outside of california is in nevada he is in new mexico then he gets connected to a londonbased company any ends up in australia. Bear in mind this is preinternet age we are not talking about setting up this guy call every night to stay in touch. They had some kind of understanding. There were probably letters that were under stage in the process. Bird has an opportunity to go to china with that opportunity comes an increase in china. They were already helping to finance theater was education. Providing support to her sister. He has this very, very, romantic telegram. , . Going to china via san francisco, will you go with me . The curious thing about the telegram was the telegram went through the post office. They had a new postmaster. The postmaster did not know that lou was miss liu henry. He just assume that this telegram from bert to lou was one guy to another. So he posts it to the public Bulletin Board that is how lou managed to find her marriage proposal. She was equally romantic in the way in which she responded, one word. Yes. This is their wedding day picture, they haveis how much os defined by . Set sail for china on the very next morning. One thing i find remarkable as i worked on these life and was putting the book together, is how much of lose life was defined by international conflict. I will share her experiences in the box a rebellion in china in just a minute but let me just give you the boundaries of that when she got out of stanford in 1898, the United States and entered the spanish american war she helped her mother role bandages for the local red cross she was in china during the box of rebellion even though it gets kind of downplayed when you read the details of her correspondents and her journaling during that time her life, and the life of all americans and all foreigners was very much at risk we will spend a lot of time talking about her work in world war i and of course with a lot of birds very notable work is done during awe still alive at the outbreak of world war ii. She did have some involvement in charitable work at the start of that conflict as well her life and her involvement is framed by those for conflicts. That is also including the other events that occurred during her lifetime which would include the great depression. Unfortunately becomes a defining event of the lives of both hoovers it does them both a tremendous injustice it hides wet this couple really did for the United States, and for the world. Let me circle back now to the boxer rebellion. The box of rebellion was essentially an uprising of a group of native chinese who resented the influence of foreigners in the country. When you dig into some of the history of china we really do begin to see that there was a tremendous amount of floor and influence. Americans were actually latecomers to this influence the germans wanted a piece the russians wanted to piece the japanese wanted a piece. The french wanted a piece. You had these countries that were functioning as world powers regional powers really wanted to have influence on what was going on in china. You have this group, we translate their term as boxers. They are boxing in order to stay physically fit. Also because they believed it had religious connotations to them they are supported by the dowager empress of china there is a massive uprising, there is a huge massacre of missionaries and other foreigners there is this effort to rig china of these foreign presence you have troops coming from all this countries that i just named, including the United States, to protect the citizen of the countries that are living in china but also to stand against what the boxes are attempting to do the boxers burnt down compounds for foreigners reliving. They pulled up Railroad Tracks they burn bridges americans in all of the foreigners are finding themselves congregating in small enclaves one of the initial letters was given to me learning more about lou was a letter that she wrote to her friend. Lou appears to be downplaying whats she experiences because you shouldve come to china this summer, you missed the siege of the age and saying that the real ray bridge was burned overnight. It looks like theyre going and yet, at the same time the wife of the american consulate is sending lou a quick note saying the railroad bridge was burned overnight and it looks at they are going to have all of the americans including the doctors come into the compound in which the american consulate is living and they are foreigners. She wants to know how mary babe ridge goes, how do you feel about all this . I guess there is no sense in your getting upset. And, even if theyre worried you do not seem to be the type that would get upset anyway. There is no reason for fainting away it was this whole idea of what they were experiencing, and luke radicals in a lot of detail the military activities and the interactions of the military. They are trying to make sure she has enough food, and she and burn or enough to once it dies down to have the safe passage. In reality there is a little known that louis wrote, that stated august 4th. And she wrote it after herbert was born in 1903, and she slips it into the diary where she had chronicled what was going on during the fox rebellion she writes, august 4th, little herberts future birthday, why did we ever return to china . And so, the hoovers always make trips the United States but the firm is based in london so they rent homes in london. This is where both of the hoover childrens are born. Herbert is born in 1903, and allen who is born in 1907. One of the first things that lou does when she is up and around again is to go to the American Embassy and register them, so that they will have their american citizenship. The other thing happens during this time period is that bernie is making a lot of money as a mining engineer he goes off on his own as a consultant starting in 1908. It is roughly in this time period that they make very Close Friends with the couple abby and edgar were card. They were cards play very important roles in the lives of the hoovers through the rest of the diverse lives edgar becomes a very close confidant and adviser to burt. He becomes the family accountant and treasurer, if you will. But, he also begins to function for liu as somewhat of a gobetween between burr and. Because, when they are living and the couple is living on two different continents edgar is usually with burt. It is edgar who is sending glue telegrams and things about what burt is up to. So, what the couples did before the outbreak of world war i was they use to pull extra money together, which they would refer to as the seeing cairo phone. And they would take off, they would travel wherever they decided to go, it was very atypical above couples. Especially burt, who like to have everything planned, this just happens to be a photograph of the foursome when they are in venice. That photograph, by the way, was 1912. We get to august of 1914, or the end of july 1914, and world war one breaks out. If you will just give me one second. World war i, if you study the history of europe you know that europe intentions. And, what trips the trigger is the murder of the archduke fernand. You have war being declared in russia and germany, they are supporting serbia as well as austria and hungary. Then you have france and britain who are going to go in together. And, despite of efforts at diplomacy nothing happens and war breaks out. One of the first things germany does is it invades neutral belgium and france, and Great Britain are pledged to support belgium. And, the germans commit quite a number of atrocities. They burn villages, they shoot mayors, they burn libraries. A lot of what theyre going to end up doing is try to starve this country out. Belgium does not have much arable land to speak of, belgium is pretty much wholly dependent on imports and so, burt finds himself in a situation where he may be able to help their his own contacts and desire for philanthropic work. Rick card has introduced birth to a fellow engineer by the name of shale or and they begin to have conversations with the American Ambassador to belgium, and to the United States about ways to get food stuffs into belgium. Bearing in mind that the United States is still neutral at this point, in the meantime before this begins to transpire. This is a photograph of foodstuffs being sent to belgium courtesy of the commission for the relief of belgium. Before all of this begins to take place you have what is pretty much chaos on the continent of europe a lot of americans summit in europe, you had americans scattered throughout all of europe, some of them were in germany. In fact, one of the things i learned and my Frances Cleveland research is that she had remarried, and her husband was stuck behind enemy lines and had to figure how to get out. You have americans, teachers, students, all kinds of groups who are across the continent. And, the american embassies in all of these countries are telling all of their ex pats to get to london. London is the westernmost country in europe, they speak english, and that is going to be your best shot of getting back home to the United States while, you have to complicating factors going on. The first complicating factor is, one of the most popular shipping lines is the german lundberg america shipping line. Flagged in germany, now an enemy combatant. You have currencies the people have exchanged their United States paul for, or their british pounds is a currencies that are now currencies an enemy countries all of these people who are coming into london, their tickets are canceled and, by the way, the hoovers had tickets on a german flight line to return from london to the United States. They were ticketed for august 13th, 1914. Their plan was to get the boys back to california to get them enrolled in american schools we see how that rolled out so, lou heres there is all this chaos going down. Theres a group of american businessmen trying to help all of these stranded americans who have no money, i have no way to get back home, and have no place to stay. And so, what she writes in her report is, i heard that the was a fantasy and she goes and sees it, this is it not only is there chaos but a lot of women are being ignored. A few months before the outbreak of world war i lou has become president for the society of american women in london. It is an educational, Philanthropic Organization that is a womens club for american women who are living in Great Britain. And so, she goes and talk to her fellow members and says, do you think we might be able to help these stranded americans, especially stranded women . They agreed to this, so, in her typical modest way she says, i set up a table in the bomb room with a stack of stationary, a pan, and a lovely gold back chairs of the ballroom. And she begins to write down what the needs are, she helped people find a place to stay, she looks for ways for them to be ticketed so that they can get back home. And she is loaning them money to pay for places to stay, and food to eat, until they can get back home, from her own personal fund and she writes in her and report that she had it all paid back except one person it is a real testament, it was her tremendous skill. This was a woman who is not only able to see a need, but, she had the unique capability of not only identifying a need, but identifying a new solution for that need. And then, getting carried out that is a very rare combination to have in one individual. And yet, that was a skill set that we have know that lou hoover had. She was a member of the society of america woman in london and had become the president after the current president s husband had passed and that woman had returned to the United States. Lou does eventually take the boys back to california. Boutshe has not been in califora but a few weeks, when bird has not been involved, he is really stoked about it. He is super excited, and he starts hitting her up with a bunch of telegrams. I am engaged in the most exciting work we have ever been involved in, you need to get back here. You need to be with me, and one of the few telegrams or should choose him out she says, look, you may not think that what i am doing here being with the boys is important, but i am not only here with the boys. I am also mending fences for you. You might think it is foolish to stay here but i do not think it is. And yet, at the same time, even though she is upset with the way he is prevailing on her to just find somebody to take care of the boys so she can come back and be with him in london, she is doing what he has asked. She has been able to contact california contacts of the couple has and raise enough funds just from their california contacts to be able to pay for an entire shipment of weeks to get to europe and go to belgium. And then she contracts the governor of kansas and gets a second shipment of wheat funded and sent to london to be sent into belgium. Be with bert in lo it is a sack tremendous job in this relatively sixweek period of time before she relents and decides she will go back to be with burke in london. But, it comes with a huge emotional cost because, the germans are torpedoing passenger liners, because they believe that those passenger liners are also carrying war material from the United States across the waters to be used in the war. And so, lou is terrified that she may be on a line of that gets blown up. The night before she is to set sail she writes an absolutely heart wrenching letter to a man by the name of jackson reynolds, who is a mutual friend of the hoovers. She opens up and she says, dear mr. Reynolds, i am making you a presence of my boys. If anything should happen to my husband or i, i am doing so without asking your permission. If you ever get an opportunity, the over museum has a woman who portrays lou and reads that letter as a performance in its entirety i believe it is available on youtube and i would strongly encourage you, if you are interested, to watch it. It will give you a huge window into the heart and heartache that she experienced so many times in her life that she concealed from her family, and consult from her friends, and consulting the rest of the world. When lou gets back to london to work with burt on the crp she is also working with her other members. They form the american womens War Relief Fund. This is not just some random group of american women. Let me point out a field people she is working with. That is lou in the photograph right there. This is the former jenni to rome, wavy randolph churchill, mother of winston churchill. This is the widow of john jacob after the fourth, John Jacob Astor had drowned at the Maiden Voyage of the titanic. She was on that voyage, he made sure she was in a lifeboat and he went down with the ship. This is lady formerly minnie stevens, daughter of a hotel magnate. This is the former consuewella vanderbilt, otherwise known as the duchess of marlborough. This is lady rational owen, later known as ruth brian owen, the daughter of William Jennings bryan. A woman elected to congress and served between 1929 and 1933 when Franklin Delano roosevelt appointed her as the first woman ambassador ever. She became ambassador to denmark. What did this american womens War Relief Fund do . Liu became chair of the economic committee. Remember i said she was good with numbers . Have the ability to discern needs and make them happen. But im going to show you is the doing of lou henry hubert. She is actually crisscrossing the ocean in these torpedo infested waters to raise money. If you look at the crb paperwork you will never see her name in the Womens Division masthead, until you sit down and start to read the correspondence you have no clue how much of a powerhouse she was behind the scenes in making the crb b when it became but what was she doing with the War Relief Fund . She helped to get funding for free sewing factories. The women employed their where the wives of soldiers who had been deployed into combat. This is in and around london. They are paid the way by trade union, which is designed to have a good living for one adult and one child. The tractors also provided what we today would call daycare. They served a main meal of the day and t, t in london is more than just tea it has for the comes with it. These were well paying jobs in clean, while, it well ventilated factories. Got the photograph i have here is a divide from a reputable source as being a photograph of the sewing factory. As i got to studying this picture yesterday, and im not 100 sure it is a sewing factory, which is okay because it also shows Something Else that lou was involved in. It is probably kind of hard to see where you are but this is lace. Belgian lace makers were worldrenowned for the high quality of their lace. This is not the chatting that you can do with a crochet hook. This is multiple bobbins of threads coming in to weave incredibly intricate designs. And you have to train and be approved to be a belgian lace maker. And lou worked with women in belgium to employ other women to make less. And then lou set up a network of American Woman to arrange that lace to be sold, in order that the belgians could have money to buy the food that was being supplied to them. One of the things that lou genuinely believed in was maintaining the integrity and they self respect of a person by making them feel like they were worthwhile, and employment in her view, and earning a living were part of what helped you feel like you are a worthwhile, contributing member of society. There was not only this economic component to it, but a psychological component of being able to feel good about yourself in spite of the fact that you are living in this war torn, impoverished, occupied country. A lot of psychology there gets overlooked as what compels lou did many of the things she does. One of the other things the war really funded was fund a hospital for the care of wounded soldiers, and came up with money to pay for an ambulance to transport them from the front back to the hospital. So, again, i want to reiterate now. Lou is doing all of this work while she is managing the home, shes staying in touch with what is going on with the boys in california, she is doing work for the crb, she is traveling back and forth across the ocean for a variety of reasons. And these are stories about her until i dug into the research have not really been highlighted. She deserves way more credit and attention for her contributions to world war i than she has been given to this point. It is helpful to understand that it goes well beyond what she did for the crp. She left an imprint in many different places, and that is very much the as those of Lou Henry Hoover. She eventually retrieves the boys, they come and live with them in london, and, it reaches a point where it is time to take them home, by 1917 the United States has finally entered the war in april of that year. And, bert has lobbied with the Wilson Administration and gets appointed with what eventually gets titled as food administrator. The United States has been feeding itself and europe from the outbreak of the war, because most of the fertile farmland, particularly in western europe and germany has turned into battlegrounds. We have been raising weight and foodstuffs, where feeding the allied armies, the european citizens and the allied countries. And, we were feeding people in the United States. Now were entering into the war, we had to feed and clothe soldiers. You have to prevent inflation from happening, and malnourishment. Rt burnt moves into this role of food administrator for the Wilson Administration. And lou true to form, jumps in to find ways to support him. She allowed resolve to be interviewed about calm, the guidelines that birds Food Administration was split in half. Today we hear meatless mondays, meatless mondays started out from world war i as a way to conserve me consumption. Also, taking sugar out of the diet. Some of these things that we are now being told were bad for us where the things that were actually being either discouraged from consumption, or limited in order to make sure there was enough food to go around. In the meantime lou is seeing the aid more women have come to washington d. C. To take over the jobs of the women who have gone to war. She looks for a house that was available. She establishes a clubhouse for women who are living in washington for not only women who are working in berks Food Administration about women working another cabinet level agencies. She gets a group of friends to staff it and provide for food and activities and hospitality. She is paying all of this out of her own money. That house expands, eventually, to include two other houses joined to the first house that she identified as. They eventually moved to a house on Jackson Place in womens clubs in washington. Okay, 1917, Julian Gordon well has already contacted one time in girl scouting. To come back to her again and say would you reconsider . This time lou does. She becomes a District Of Columbia commissioner for the girl scouts of america, then she is asked to become one of the national Vice President s. She eventually takes leadership of hell spread grip a here in washington they say. You probably time the rest of the time talking about the girl spouts but that would treat us all out of the book. She doesnt a magnificent job of explaining lose introduction into scowling, and also lose contributions to professionalize in the organization. In my book i take more of a tackle how she is shored up the finances of the organization, as well as talking somewhat about professionalizing it. If you take what ive got and put them together you will get a pretty good picture of how much she was influential in scouts. I maintain when they celebrated the anniversary in 2020 she deserves a great deal of attention. I do not know if they wouldve survive to the 30s if it were not for the work that she did in all aspects of getting the organization more professionalize, and trying to shore up its finances. She found a home and scouting, first of all i gave her an opportunity to work with girls. She referred them as a daughter she never had. Scouting believed in addressing the needs of the whole girl, and so, this fulfilled all of her things because it is about educating yourself. It is about having subtle statements of respect, being physically active, being comfortable pursuing a career and understanding that you can have a career and a family. One of the things that lou had to straddle when she became president in 1922 and chairman of the board in 25. She then service honorary president as the first lady and then once she left the white house soon the presidency for two more years. Theyre in the twenties when the boy scouts were suing the girl scouts about the name and saying that it is feminist the boy scouts to have a girl scouts. Lou straddled this line of the girls looking to be feminine, while, at the same time providing programming that was making them as self sufficient as they could possibly be. The only person that i could know could possibly carry that off with grace is Lou Henry Hoover and she did it admirably. Part of what she also did issue a use the scouts to support brits programs this is part of a pictograph that was in the washington evening star when he was still food administrator. I know the pictures are not clear to you but this is scouts working in the garden in world war ii called the Victory Gardens these are the gardens for raising your own food to help with preventing Food Shortages and fulfill the slogan of the time. Food will win the war. I want to point out one thing to you. Notice the toppling, mr. Hoover gets the toppling but if you read the captains it is mrs. Hoover, mrs. Hoover. And she was fine with that, she hated the limelight, and hating the limelight and not wanting publicity as part of the reason we do not know these many things about her. Like i said, her name was not in the masthead of the Womens Division of crb but she was a big fundraiser for them. So, in 1922 at a conversation around dinner table, discussion ensues about how physically unfit america authorities get. Does this sound familiar . She worked with officials and other cabinet offices and they form a National Amateur athletic federation. She worked with the women, she was the only female on the board. She was the Vice President and she worked with the Womens Division to help to find funding for the Womens Division. She wrote this book about the spirit of sport. She was about everybody being engaged in sporting events. She saw in the 1920s how College Sports were being professionalize, imagine that she was 100 years ahead of her time. She wrote that, she thought it was a sad thing because everybody should be encouraged to be involved in sports. I will say, on a personal note this resonates with me. I was sharing this was students last night, my dad was originally certified as a physical education teacher. Im not the most athletic person in the world. My preference is a travel to sit in a chair and read a book. He would grab the book at my hand and say go outside and play. He was sometimes not my favorite person. That was one of the reasons. I would go outside and play. But, two things that came from his emphasis on physical activity it was making sure i knew how to ride a bicycle, and making sure i knew how to swim. And, you know what, those are two things you can do well into your 50s and 60s, and beyond. And i credit thats my dad. I did not have to play professional sports, he did not care. He knew i did not have the talent for it, but he still want to be to understand the value of physical activity. I guess i zero in on what she is trying to say because that was my experience. And i can see, in hindsight, how very much on target she was. And, she struggled with it then just as not professional, recreational organizations struggle now to keep their organizations going, find volunteers, and find funding. Lou its the second woman to appear on the cover of time magazine. She is here in her capacity as chair of the Womens Committee a law enforcement. It was a group of political wives, essentially, and former first ladies who are concerned about the fact that prohibition was not working. There was a lot of lawbreaking going on and so they had come together as a convention. She is the one who gets top billing. By the way, if you want to know who the first woman was, it was an italian actress by the name of eleanor dues. Quite a shift from an actress to the chair of the national Womens Committee for law enforcement. And then she makes the cover of time when Herbert Hubert lives as a landslide against lyle owl smith in the 1928 election. The hoovers go into the white house with a lot of excitement, a lot of support. Bird has managed to win over Southern States that had traditionally voted democratic. But, if you know anything about al smith you will know that he was a catholic, and he was in favor of ending prohibition. Both of those things did not sit well in the hyper conservative south. So, one of the things that lou confronts is that the south side of chicago has elected the lone black member of the house. His name is oscar do priest. And it is common for the first lady to hold a reception for the wives of all of the elected members of congress. And so, the question then becomes what are we going to do about mrs. Do priest . The first lady is considered the social orbiter of washington. If she invites mrs. Do priest into the washington she give jesse do priest social legitimacy and shams all the other social leaders in the city, because she has recognized her. The decision is made is that Relevant Holding one event that would make it obvious that misses de priest was not invited she holds a series of cheese and invites the congressional wives an alphabetical order thats based on letters of their last name. And so, for the set that last name ends in de priest they go through the list and i see no de priest. All, mrs. Hoover is going to shun misses de priest, excellent. She is doing exactly what she is supposed to do. We certainly do not want to black women coming and having tea with us and share socializing with us. Except, when lou was done she and ranged a private tea for mrs. De priest held on june 12th. She invites some sympathetic congressional wives who she knows would have no trouble having tea with de priest, she invites the cabinet wives, same orientation. Her sister is there. And so they have teed, and, of course, it is not kept a secret and all breaks loose. The south is an upper, they feel like they have been betrayed by burnt because hes allowed his wife to invite a black woman. The white house tries to do damage control and says, look, it is not a social event it is a political event. They try to tie it to in the haitian ambassador had visited the white house, even when booker t. Washington had a meal with theodore roosevelt. Although that had caused a lot of protest and ugly language to go on at the same time. Oscar de priest does not let the flames die down because he uses it to raise money for the naacp. Puts the Hoover Administration on iraqi territory throughout the summer and when it dies out through at the end of august and things will get back, we get, at the end of october, the collapse of the economy and the collapse of the stock market what you end up having is a situation, and the causes of the depression are very lengthy and varied and not for this afternoons discussion. We except to say that Herbert Hoover, being a businessman, had a keen sense of what would make the economy work. They are also balancing, and depending on your political views. But, to put your head into the hoovers heads, bear in mind that this is a couple who physically experienced, not just read it in the newspaper. They were on site and present during world war i they have seen what fascism does. Communism has begun to encroach on europe, there are things being seen where the government is taking more and more control of individual lives. And, the perception is that if the government becomes too involved in our lives, the government gains control of our lives and we lose our independence and so, you have to balance the philosophy of the dignity of the individual with the government roll and how far government goes. That is really where both hovers are straddling that line, lou in private letters to her son allen, burton when he is trying to do with Public Policy it is just a very, very difficult time. There is a lot of intransigence interest of congress. Burnt, unfortunately, was never much of a good and strong negotiator. He had always been a leader who got people to follow but the negotiations are really delicate it ends up being a very difficult, stressful, and tough time. Not only for birth as president but for lou to be in the white house with him to be support to him. To try to encourage them, but also what she is witnessing is going on with the government and the economy. Whats she is trying to do is be herself, take leadership in the things that she can. One of the things that she does identifies a piece of property in virginia to build what becomes the president ial retreat as a result of building the camp she learns that the community has no school for the children. They employ local people to teach and and construction skills, she personally retreats the teacher who is a graduate of briana college. Someone who had experience working in rural and heavily impoverished areas. Lou there is christine out of her own money, 1500 dollars a year. 1500 dollars a year to teach in 1930 is an excellent salary. She provides her with a horse, to make sure that christine has a place to live she recommends a solid bank for her to feel comfortable to positing her money and she stays in touch with this children. They visit every year and she is very much engaged and involved in the education of these children. In an interview christine gives years later after the National Park Service Takes over the community and incorporates it into the National Park, christine says without this education these children would never have been able to be successful when they were leak relocated they were able to slide right into classrooms at their normal age, and that the skills that had been taught to the men enabled them to find employment. Again, it is more than lou handling the immediate need, it is her being able to provide things that carry people forward with the potential for success. She also was extremely interested in the furnishings of the white house. She had a family retainer photograph and research the providence of all of the items in the white house. She used personal funds to have the furnishings of the family corners photographed and researched. It is the first time the family quarters and the furnishing of the family quarters have been photographed this is a photograph of lou sitting at a reproduction of the desk that james monroe signed the Monroe Doctrine on. As well as the companion chair that went with it she paid for that to be this replica. She bore the original from descendants of monroe. She is also the first first lady to use radio to address the nation. He addressed girl scouts across the nation via radio, but, this is a broadcast in which she broadcasts from the white house. She is the first first lady to broadcast for the white house with radio she enlisted the scouts would help to try and promote volunteerism, to encourage small communities to help one another. And tried to pick up the idea of what was called the Better Homes Movement which is something burned down when he was secretary of commerce. The idea of finding small, odd jobs to give men a sense of earning. The nation was in such dire straits, some of the communities in particular the Rural Communities where so absolutely impoverished there was hardly any money in circulation. The other thing we do not know about lou unless you start today is her papers. She engaged in a tremendous amount of private philanthropy. Throughout the depression she had a network of people across the country who would make her aware of various needs. She would check them out, she funded tuition for an innumerable number of students, including some black students she spent small checks, as little as 10, two elderly windows who needed just enough money to get by. When she heard someone who had been an employee of her mother was having her home for closed on, alan had graduated from Harvard Business school, was back in california she asked allen to investigate it and allen said, it is too late to do anything. But, lou found a way for some anonymous funding to find a woman a place to live. Drawer and they found countless numbers of checks of people who knew they were things that would never see the light of day when we were not researching lou and her life. When she passed away her family found a lot of checks that she had never cash from people trying to pay her back. The amount of her philanthropy is unknown even to some of the people who so, im going to wrap this up and say, okay, you can say to me and that she has done all these tremendous things. Why do we not know more about her . What is going on here . Part of it is she hated publicity. She did not call to play the press. She wrote in a letter to allen how much she hated interviews and cautioned him about doing interviews. And because she did not call dwight a relationship with the press the way subsequent first ladies have done, including her immediate successor eleanor roosevelt. That is a lot of the reason why so much of what she did when unknown. In my previous position i worked with my Public Relations person in our agency, i used to have him come and talk to a group of people to help them understand about the press. One of the things he would always say to them is, you need to own your story. If you do not own the story and do not control the price will come up with the story, that is the one that we are going to put forth. And so lou did not understand her need to create her story and put it forward. That is the reason why i do not know much of what she has accomplished says. But i will say is, this is gonna be one example of why she hated the press this is a cotton gown that lou had made from a fabric of her mothers. She wore in support of cotton farmers who are not even getting cents on the dollar in 1931 for their cotton. She had this dress made and worn to a reception in 1932 and that is what happens. Because that is all the press really wanted to do, is talk about what she wore. This is just one article, i pick this one because you can see where it is from. But, there were articles making a big deal about mrs. Hoover wearing a cotton gown. Instead of using the opportunity of her trying to support american farmers, and particularly american cotton farmers. Lou was also the first first lady to actually campaign for her husband. We take that for granted a lot now, but, she was the ground breaker on this. And after she left the white house, just quick some male, her contributions to Stanford University, which she relocated to the home she had built and paulo alto. She began an Organization Called friends of music, which eventually became the Stanford University school of music. It began as a Concert Series to bringing music culture to the area. She also personally funded several musician artists, including a therapist who she liked. She had just gone to a performance of Mildred Dylan a couple of hours before she passed away in 1940. Before lou passed away in 1944. Lou was also instrumental in working with her colleagues in Stanford University Womens Health center for the establishment of a physical Therapy Program at stanford. If you look at that program on the internet you will see it is worldrenowned and very extensive. Gh thelou also under number of n students and stanford and had them to her house 40. Or for discussions through the years. And she stayed very physically active, as is evidenced by this Christmas Card which was sent to friends in 1939. I had originally thought to begin my talk with you about quoting a little story that went around during the height of the feminist movement about the dancers Ginger Rogers and fred astaire. The story goes like this, Ginger Rogers was a better dancer than fred astaire. How do you come to that conclusion . Ginger rogers did all the same steps as fred astaire but she was wearing high heels and she did come backwards. To me, Liu Henry Hoover is our Ginger Rogers. She did so many things in conjunction to help his career, help further many of the things that he did. But she was running a parallel life where she was working with her own organizations, her own group of women. Supporting the development of young women, helping to provide philanthropic needs for countless numbers. Promoting the government. She has not had the fullness of her story. I have only scratched the surface i hope that i have done is open the door for more research. Thank you very much. [applause] so, we have time for questions. Lynn has a portable mic and i will join her. Please wait until you got a microphone, make sure it is on, and ask your question. And, just to make sure i would ask and at that she repeat the question before she answered it. Just raise your hand if you want the microphone. Thank you so much for their lovely record on Liu Henry Hoover. You mentioned she is a lot of her personal funds to promote our values and what she wanted to see and promote. Although she had difficulty self promoting. Im excellent promoter of everyone else what was that source of funds . That did come from family, where they funds that she and hoover had over the years . What was her source of personal finance . Thank you, to summarize the question, first, the gentleman makes a very good point in which he says that she was outstanding at promoting the organizations that were important to her thank you for that, that is an excellent observation. The question is what is the source of her funding for the money that she gave out of her personal funds . That is an excellent question, and unless something has changed since i have done my research, the hoover financial records are sealed. My best guess is her father and mother left the girls jean and lewis certain some of funding lou probably was edgar records helped in some of her own investing. I was able to ferret out that she and jean own rental properties together. So, there would have been some revenue from that and she probably had some kind of arrangement with birch for how the funding that came into the home got dispersed into her accounts. She did maintain her own separate accounts that he did not have his hands on. That is an excellent question, i dont know if that will ever be fully and completely answered if the records remain sealed. Do you know if jackie kennedy, as a kid i remember her doing a tour of the white house after it was refurbished. Do you know if she ever referenced any of the photographs that were done at blues instigation . My guess is, i do not know with absolute certainty. So the only partial information i have, and i do want to underscore partial, and, by the way. I am sorry, the question is do i know if Jacqueline Kennedy when she did a tour of the refurbishment of the white house referenced any of the photographs . I am not aware of a reference to that, and i do know that the White House Historical association, which was founded by mrs. Kennedy, spends a lot of time talking about mrs. Kennedys refurbishment. And i remember when they had one of the programs on that that i sent in, it was a zoom program and i had sent in a comment about what lou had done. It was briefly acknowledged, but, i am not sure that lou has gotten the attention of that. One of my to do list is to try and remedy thatlou paid a yes sir . Actually, i can answer that lou paid a professional photographer from the u. S. Signal corps for all of this one is out of her own pocket. There are three drafts of her work that she did with the help of dennis star mcmillan. The problem was that the commissioner of public buildings thought that because they signal corps photographer had taken them, use those photos with at mrs. Hoovers permission for an article in a popular magazine. And, that also put in question the contract lou had with a publisher. So, they book never saw the light of day. Mrs. Kennedy know about the existence of the research. But she did not know where to find a copy. Those pot papers were sealed until 1985. Researchers did not have access to her papers here until that day. Which also helps explain the absence of more biographies about lou. And, so, as air is all mrs. Kennedy did her own Research Without the benefit of lou. Since then we have made digital copies, presented one today white house curator and one to the White House Historical association and they have found information and the research that they have found in no other place. I would also add to that that in one of the issues of White House Historical quarterly, i believe, in the 2016 year there is an insert. I do not think it is all of it but there is a portion of it. Our former Education Specialist did extensive research. And she and some volunteers that she recorded a responsible for digitizing it. If you get a copy of that issue has about the first hundred and 35 pages reproduced of the original. So, you can get a flavor of her research and what it was like. Thank you. Do you know impact or involvement Lou Henry Hoover had in terms of the architectural work on the house . The question is whats impacted lou have on the architectural work of the house and paul allowed so . She pretty much designed the house she worked with the architects on the construction of the help. There is an excellent Youtube Video of one of the stanford professors who discusses her work in the construction, and how she would climb ladders to stand on the scaffolding, and get different views of the health, and talks about the different architectural styles that are in the house. You probably have to email me so you can find out, remember the name of her that professor is. But, he had material quotes from the architect, and also some quotes from lieu that i have not been able to find anywhere else to talk about her very extensive involvement in the design and construction of that home. Might be called these we have a copy of a video from stanford on the construction. I think it might be called these pueblo walls. Thats a guess. Vhs tape, we will probably someday digitize it, with stanfords permission maybe make it available. This top it is not the same, as pablo walsh it is a separate top. Because she was a geologist is there any influence of her promoting Stem Education on the women she worked with in scouting or so forth . Did she use that geology degree in ways that were evident . The question is, did lou do any promotion will of what we call today, stem, with the girl scouts were housed issues or geology degree . There is a multi part antler. Let me answer the first par. And one of the things i left out was that i probably got my day wrong, 1912, 1913, somewhere in that timeframe was the publication of a book called day ray metallica. It was the translation from the latin of a seminal work on mining that had been published by a man named angry cola back in the 15 hundreds, 16th century. The work was a very challenging work. Not only writing, he was german, he also wrote in latin, because there were not necessarily latin terms for some of the mining terminology he sometimes made them up. Lou was a linguist. She was fluent in multiple languages, she was good with latin. Bird had the mining knowledge. Between the two of them they were able to get into this day ray metallica and figure out whats agriculture was saying. They translated this book. Edgar ricardo range for its publication. The hoovers pain for all of this out of their own funding. The published book was dawn on very very high quality bell and taper, leather binding, the whole thing. The couple won a gold award for that book by the american mining and metallurgical society. That Organization Name might not be a hunter percent right but close enough, for that work. That book is still in use today. That was one use of her geology degree. She did promote the sciences in the girl scouts. I have accepted in the book a very interesting letter iran across where a woman who was an engineering student at Ohio State University sent liu this questionnaire. Among the lists of things on the questionnaire was, do you think being an engineer caused a woman to lose her femininity . Leaves response to that was what team mean by this question . How do you stay fit . How do you do a good job . Lou said, take care of yourself being physically fit, eating right. I would love to promote my book you can read the excerpt of the letter to the student. Liu continued she was also a member of the Womens Division of professional organizations. She continued to promote that. She also wrote a monograph on gray, it is getting late. My brain is starting to slow down. Seismologists that one recognition. John milton. She did continue to use it. She also edited all of birds stuff. His reports, the mining work that he did. Again, this is totally behind the scenes. No clue kind of person. Great question, thank you. So, we can continue this and the law be as you purchase a book to have a net sign. Just a reminder that our next program will be august 6th. It will be a conference dealing with hoovers food relief efforts during the russian famine. Please take some time, see the exhibit, just a reminder we are one of 13 president ial libraries and museums operated by the National Archives and record administration. We hope you come back for a visit here and that you visit some of the others. Please, let us show our appreciation for a net. [applause] thank you for coming, safe travels. She became first lady on august 9th, 1974 when her husband took the oath of Office Following president nixons resignation. This tribute focuses on the white house