Transcripts For CSPAN First Ladies Influence Image 20131224

Encourage charity. Their one term ended with great public frustration. Tonight, the story of lou hoover. What an interesting life she had. Here to tell us about her years before the white house is annette dunlap. She is a scholar at the Hoover Institution and working on a biography of Lou Henry Hoover. What inspired you to spend several years of your life looking at this woman . I was at the National First Ladies Library in canton, ohio. I realized that this was a story that has not been told. There are so many layers to her. Some activities that she was involved in. The legacy that she left for women is something that i want people to know about. She was born in waterloo, iowa. The story i heard is that her father wanted a boy. So they say. The name lou is not short for anything. She was raised as a tomboy. One of the earliest pictures of her is her fishing in a stream. We have a picture of her carrying a rifle. A lot of her diary talks about her joy of being able to hunt, fish, and be outdoors. How did that translate into her grownup life . She was somebody who was totally fascinated with the outdoors. Obviously, she studied geology at Stanford University. Even as late as her 60s, we have material from her going on camping trips at the age of 63. At 67, she rode horseback into her campsites and slept on the ground while her other friends slept in tents on pallets. From a Public Policy perspective, she spent years encouraging other young women to incorporate the outdoors and physical activity into their lives. It was not just for her. She saw a benefit for women at a time when women were not doing this. It was a time when women were being more physically active, and she took the next step. There were areas where she got involved in that. The first was the girl scouts. That was an opportunity for her to promote more outdoor activity. Camping, hiking, learning how to build a campfire, enjoying the outdoors. The other part of what she was involved in was the National Amateur athletics foundation. She made sure that sports and physical activity for women were appropriate for women and not just something for men that women did. We hope you have been following along with a series and what really makes it interesting is your questions. You can get your questions in in many ways. You can tweet us. We will work as many tweets into the program as we can. We have a facebook conversation going on. You see the Lou Henry Hoover photograph and there is a conversation going on. Please join in the conversation tonight. Much to learn about this interesting woman. How did she get from iowa to california . Her father was in banking. He started out as a clerk at a bank. This is in the days before the Federal Reserve and banks did not always succeed. They went up and down with economies. Her father was looking for other opportunities and was given the opportunity to start a bank in whittier, california. This was in 1887. They were building a brandnew community. It had been founded by the quakers. They said they were open to any fairminded people of any religion. Here is the connection between whittier, california. Richard nixon was a quaker. We have videos to show you. Her father had always wanted a boy. That is why she is named lou. It is not short for anything. It is actually lou. She becomes a tomboy. She learns to shoot and fish. They go camping and are up in the mountains a lot. She is learning about the outdoors and loving it. This is a. 22 rifle. I love this photograph. It is an early photograph of her on top of this mule. She looks rough and tough. She has this gun right there. Very annie oakley to me. It is that era and she is that type of girl. One of her most famous essays was independent rural. Independent girl this was written on january 31 of 1890. Shes talking about being independent and doing her own thing. Sooner or later, she met a spirit as independent as her own and there was a clash of arms that was in mortal combat. She met that person with Herbert Hoover. She is at college and talking about the different classes she takes. One of the classes she talks about is botany classes. She likes going outdoors. She refers to ms. Palmer. She says they were a good match for climbing. We beat the others all to pieces. They found lots of flowers, lupins, primroses as a part of the class, they were also drawing flowers. This is lous sketchbook. There are flowers and butterflies. Different kinds of things. You have the latin name, as well. That is what she would have been learning. She does not write about herself, necessarily. She writes about her experiences in life and she is a highly educated woman. Her parents created both her mom and dad created an open environment and encouraged her to do things. She was able to do that and she explore that as well as she could. We were commenting, as we are watching the photographs, of how full of life she is an day comes through in these photographs years later. Her decision to study geology, she was one of the first women to earn a degree in geology. A rocky path. How unusual wasnt for a woman in the United States in the 1890s to study geography . We are not 100 sure, we think she may be the first woman to get a degree in geology. One thing i recently learned is that the male students went out on a field trip and she was not allowed to go because she was a woman. Knowing how much you love the outdoors on some of the field a teacherad taken at Training School that she went to before stanford, i can imagine how upset she was. She graduated with a degree. Since it was unusual unheard of for women to have a degree, were there any Jobs Available . No. There is a letter she sends after she has graduated and the a. B. , which means the latin form of the bachelor of arts, andrew what i would give if it meant and what i would give if it meant a boy. She met Herbert Hoover in the apartment. Older. Was 16 months six months older. Was what we called a lab in a lab. In it her an instant liking to her. He writes about her whimsical smile, her laughing through eyes. What an intelligent and delightful young woman she was. He himself was also when i 01 iowan . He was a quaker . Yes. Likes there was a communication a connection with the quaker community. But he got a job and left her. What happened . He was working in australia and they continue to communicate. He was offered a position in china and he sent her a telegram. It went to the post office and ,he post office on these names and it just said, heading to china, will you join me . So the postmaster posted on the Bulletin Board for everyone to see it. That is like going on the internet today. Hurtickname for her was that her nickname for him was bert. He was known as bird, yes. Bert, yes. Quest if you go online, you can fromou henrys ba degree danford university. You can see that document that did not serve her well in the job market in but let her to a lifechanging partner. So they went to china. When did they go and what was it like . They want to china and day after they got married. They got married on february 10, 1899. They were headed off to china on a steamer the next day. Is that a couple of days in japan and then they were there when the box and boxer rebellion occurred. Twitter, did the louvers stay in china influence their policies in the white house . I think a lot of countries influence them. They were looking for ways to keep freedom. They saw what it was like to be in countries with freedom taken. What influenced their joint philosophy as you described it . What was it about them and their development that led them to view the world in that way . I do not know if they had this view when i started out, over time, they were in china during the boxer rebellion and in europe during the outbreak of world war i. They lived in countries where people had their freedoms curtailed. As americans and being talking points of individual freedom, and then being in countries where they see people are not enjoying the same freedom and freedom of choice, that was very important. The hoovers acquired quite a bit of wealth and were very successful. Multimillionaires by the time that they got to the white house. The boxer rebellion, which you referred to, was a protest against foreign influence in china. Was their life threatened all they were there . Their lives were threatened. They were under siege. Lou went out and manned the barricades. She was out there where the weaponry was. She was involved with the red cross and got supplies to aid people. She was sitting in the house when a bullet came through the front door. She pulled out a deck of cards and did not miss a beat. To calm herself down . It did not phase her. Letter to the same person where she said, i wish said shea boy, and said that she has missed the most exciting summer. Their travels, we have a graphic on our screen. It shows the breadth of the positions taken around the world. They were posted in china and london. World war i. He took the job is part of the commission for the relief of belgium. Later on, the head of the u. S. Food administration. He served as the secretary of commerce under harding and coolidge. One question, i read that hoover was a globetrotter, how many countries did she visit . Beyond china and london, what other parts of the world they see before the white house . Several of the countries in southeast asia. Burma, cambodia. Traveled to the countries of north africa. Some of the countries in the middle east. They were also in russia. That is just the short list. During this time, they published together. What was that aspect of their career . She had published pieces on geology on her own. One of them was a biography on the creator of the seismograph. The work that they did together was a translation of a treatise on mining. It was written in latin and had a lot of technical latin terms. She had studied latin and they used a translator. That book won an award and it was the first award given by the association for mining and metallurgy. Herbert was a member of that association, but lou was not. Lou gave the remarks and accepted the metal. Lets get a call from david. David is from chicago. Hi. I just want to ask about the relationship with the white house staff. I read lillian parks book when it came out. It did not torture a it did mrs. Hoover as a very nice person. Apparently, she and the president wanted the white house staff to disappear. They were jumping into closets and hiding behind curtains. They did not speak to the staff. In addition, i read that mrs. Hoover would communicate using hand signals and that drove the white house staff crazy. They did not understand which was asking for. On one hand, a compassionate woman. On the other hand, not very nice to the white house staff. Thank you. Lets find out how she approached the white house staff and how that squared with her public image. The caller raises good questions and there is a lot of material out there that supports what he read. I think one of the things that we have to look at, as historians, is when did this material come out. One of the challenges about reading anything about the hoovers, especially anything that came out when the roosevelts were in office there was such an enormous anti hoover sentiment, that people capitalized on an antihoover message. Some of that information are things that we need to look at carefully. We do know that the hoovers paid several of the staff out of their own funds and make sure that all of the staff ate three meals a day and were able to keep their job. A pretty mixed message about what was going on with the white house and it needs to be looked at carefully. Catherine on facebook asks about what mrs. Hoovers opinions of the womens suffrage movement. We dont have any active information about her being actively involved. She wrote interesting thing when she was 15 in support of suffrage. She did not think it was right that women should classified in the same category as jailbirds and convicts. People who had been convicted could not vote. Convicted felons cannot vote. She was in favor of seeing women get the right to vote. She was not an active suffragette. Being somewhat a tomboy, did she believe in equality between men and women . Absolutely. Lets show you the video about some of the travels around the world and some of the artifacts they brought back with them to collect. Among the things that they collected throughout the life was the chinese porcelain, the blue and white. They tended to focus on meng and other periods, 300 or 400 years ago. They start they first started collecting them while in china and they collected this their entire lives. They developed the best collection in the United States of chinese porcelains. Having learned to speak chinese in china, she would research the artists. The places they were made. So, they were always trading these. They had as many as 400 at one time. They tried to get matched sets. While living in london, they started to collect future pe wter. Here are some pieces of pewter. Here are pieces that could have been used for teapots and various things of that sort. This collection does not go beyond 1920. We have a large number of these, probably 50 or 60 of these and our collection. Throughout all of her travels, she wanted to collect something that was representative of all the places they went. She start collecting weapons. Im not sure where that idea came from. Here is some boomerangs from time in australia. Were pretty sure this is an indonesian piece. It might have been some sort of decorative thing, but i think it had some sort of a weapon. It doesnt seem to be particularly sharp, but i think it would do some damage to somebody. There is various other here is a bayonet. Here is a dagger with a wooden handle. Throughout her travels, swords seem to be one of her favorite things to collect. There are a variety of nationalities and shapes. While that video was going on, we have another guest on our set. Welcome. We learned that Herbert Hoover ended up in the harding and coolidge cabinets as the secretary of commerce. He was the republican choice for president in 1928. Set the scene for us. The American Economy has been growing in leaps and bounds through the 1920s. Herbert hoover has been this prominent secretary of commerce. The word to hooverize has come into the language. There are hopes and expectations surrounding hoover. He is the great humanitarian and engineer. He is able to get the nomination in 1928 from the reputation he has built up in world war i and as secretary of commerce. There is also an incredible relief effort in 1927. This is a time when mass media is coming into play. How did that affect his popularity . He got a lot coverage. There were news reels. When they got ready to push for the president ial nomination, he had a film made of himself. It was a biographical film called master of emergencies. It showed how capable he was. The media was important. What was the election like . It was a landslide. He wins 60 of the vote and an enormous portion of the electoral college. It is an election where the democrats have nominated al smith. He is the first catholic to be nominated for a National Major party. Herbert hoover is a beneficiary of a divide that happens on the democratic side. Al smith is opposed from within because of his catholicism and concerns about prohibition. Hoover escapes an internal battle. It shows in the polls. It is important to note that he came in with a republican congress. He did. One would think there was lots of support for his programs. One would think. [laughter] how involved was lou hoover in the campaign . She worked on all the Campaign Appearances and was very visible. Part of the press that was out at the time was in conduction with al smith being the nominee. His wife was from the Lower East Side of new york. There was this comparison of this woman who is not knowledgeable and sophisticated against lou hoover. She was a very sophisticated woman. She had gained National Prominence from her other activities. Michael is watching us in san antonio. Hello. Yes. I want to comment on mrs. Hoover. She seemed very unorthodox for the late 1920s and early 1930s. She seemed way ahead of her time. I think she was eclipsed by Elenor Roosevelt and the glamour of jacqueline kennedy. She has been forgotten. I was curious if any of you know how was she perceived at the time by the press and the public. The depression was coloring peoples view of her tenure. How was she perceived when she came into office . There was expectations and greetedsm that had berts coming into office. A lot was expected. She was involved with girl scouts and was involved in the National Athletic amateur federation, the womens division. She had hosted and chaired a conference on women in Law Enforcement to try to get equal enforcement of prohibition laws. She was very well known. One of the things that she did was as the caller points out, she was unorthodox. She inherited Grace Coolidges social secretary but they did not get along because mary randolph, who was the secretary, wanted lou to do things the Washington Society way of things. They parted ways after a year. Lou did not hire another social secretary. She introduced a lot of changes. She was very unorthodox. You know how they celebrated the inauguration . Some have opted not to have an inaugural ball. It was pouring rain that day. They got soaked in the ceremony. They did not attend the ball. The Vice President and his sisterinlaw attended the ball. It was considered a charity ball and not an inaugural ball. What was the charity . Thats a good question. I dont have the answer. [laughter] i will tweet it. Jordan in pennsylvania. Im big fan of this series and i know all about the president s. What was lou hoovers favorite activity in the white house . Im not sure there was one. I will pick two. As far as in the white house, one would be taking care of the gardens and loving outdoors. The other was chronicling the history of the furniture and decorations of the white house. How long were they in office before the stock market crashed . Eight months. Were there any warnings . There were some in hindsight. There had been a stock market bubble coming into office. There had been a little bit of financial volatility. It had been sorted out by major bankers in new york who got together to make sure the stock market was back on track. There was an economic depression in agriculture that had been ongoing since world war i. There were certainly some bad economic signals in the air. Nobody expected what happened on october 21. The stock market tumbles. It seems to regroup. Herbert hoover makes a statement. He says that the basis of the American Economy is sound. He is trying to build confidence. The following tuesday, the stock market crashes. Before we get into the white house during the depression and lou hoovers role in helping to address it, we missed a story that i do not want to leave on the table, she had a controversial appointment to the white house of an African American member of congresss wife. It was common for the first lady to have teas for the wives of the members of congress. In previous administrations, there was one event and it was over. In 19 in the same year that hoover was elected, 1928, chicago elected the first africanamerican congressman in 28 years. They started having discussions about inviting his wife. They had conversations about how this could be handled. Where the decisions made was, instead of having a massive tea, they broke into six. Each group of congressional wives are selected as a group. Some of what was going on was that particular wives who might not be offended were vetted during one of these. In the meantime, as they prepare, herbert invites the president of Tuskegee Institute to join him for a meeting at the white house. That raises no questions. Even though an African American had not met with the president since Booker T Washington met with theodore roosevelt. On june 6, the day after the fifth tea. Lou sent an invitation. The congressman publicizes this and it gets a lot of attention. Everything seems ok. A week later, the representative hosts a musical and tea. All of a sudden, the southern delegations and the Southern State legislatures realize that this is getting out of hand. And, it is all because mrs. Hoover had an africanamerican at the white house. The entire summer, you have sent censure and threats from the Southern States and members of congress to censure mrs. Hoover. It becomes quite a brouhaha. It is a precarious time for africanamericans in the United States. How did it affect their future over the next few years over that brouhaha . In that time, the Republican Party was the party of civil rights and the party of African Americans. Herbert hoover, in 1928, had broken into harding made a slight inroad to it but hoover had won five state in what normally been democratic states in 1928. On one hand, he is trying to balance expectations of the party of lincoln and a heritage of civil rights and seeing that there are inroads to the south, which is democratic territory. Hoover and lou have to negotiate the after effects of this brouhaha. It has a substantial effect. Southern democrats are outraged at him. There are what as known as lilywhite republican organizations that are trying to become viable by respecting traditional racial mores. They are not very happy at what happened. On the one hand, it is a positive gesture that lou and Herbert Hoover do. On the other hand, they do not build or maintain momentum beyond that. When he needed them, after the depression, it had political ramifications. It was part of a larger picture of difficulties that Herbert Hoover had with the congress. Both the republican congress, as you said. In 1928 he has a unified congress. In 1930, the democrats win back the house and that is more problematic. The problem that Herbert Hoover is not a politician. He has risen to the heights of secretary of commerce and then to president without ever holding elected office. The only other president s who have gone straight to the top have been generals. Herbert hoover does not have this background of dealmaking and dealing with politicians. He is quite superior towards politicians. He said that, of another senator, that he is the only known risen with a negative known personn with a negative i. Q. He does not get along with politicians to do what he needs to do to make deals. Some past couples have had a wife ending up being the better politician. Was this the case . It was not. They were two sides of the same coin stopped in the same way that Herbert Hoover was not a politician because he was an effective administrator, lou was the same way. She was always in a leadership role where negotiation was not a skill that she had to develop. She was, in some respects, a little bit better able to handle troubled waters than herbert was. She did try to invite people for dinner where they could have an exchange of ideas and get him to talk about some of the issues that are going on. A lot of the time, she was probably doing a lot of the same types of things that he was. As we mentioned, and she got rid of her social secretary and was no longer engaged in the social side of washington, that was an area that was shut down for them. Duncan. Good evening. I was just hearing about the experience that hoover may or may not have had with Charles Coughlin. The radio broadcaster who was using the airwaves do you know the story of father coughlin . He was a radio priest and with the start of radio, he had an amazing idea to take his sermons onto the air and does so quite successfully with a Strong Political message. What was that message . It is a message of sharing wealth, in some ways. Regulating banks and businesses. He is considered to be both leftwing and incredibly isolationist. But, actually, in terms of relationship with hoover, his Political Movement builds up steam in the mid30s. Are there any parallels with today and the tea party . Absolutely. This is a new era and radio is showing that it has incredibly wonderful potential and a potential to give a voice to people who become demagogues. Like Charles Coughlin and huey long. These are movements that get going in the 1930s after Franklin Roosevelts election. There is this huge ideological battle going on, essentially, throughout the 1930s. Whether he is completely behind it or not, hoover is on one side of it and Franklin Roosevelt gets to be on the other. There are people in between who have their own movements who use the radio to promote it. Just to give you a topline glimpse of how much the country changed during years of the Great Depression, in terms of unemployment, unemployment was 3. 2 in 1929. By 1933, it was 24. 9 . The Dow Jones Industrial average in 1929. Ng at 381 by july of 1932, it had hit bottom at 41. So, how did the hoovers, particularly lou hoover, use the white house when they realized the severity of the situation facing society . Her big cause was volunteerism and getting people to pitch in to help. Particularly people who were not impacted by the depression. She was involved in the girl scouts and 4h clubs. She was involved in agricultural communities where they were still having success with the economy. They had not really bottomed out and she got them to get in there and share. To provide for the neighbors and see where there were needs. We have a clip of lou hoover encouraging the 4h. We have all read and heard so much about these organizations. This year, there are more people in need. More than usual in need of your care. There is something each one of you can do. A special achievement awaits you. Joining a fourh club, you decide on a problem you will attack and you lay out a plan of action. You go to work to carry out that plan. You do it enthusiastically. How far could volunteerism go to address the scope of the problems of society . It is easy to ask that question now. We have to realize that nobody ever expected the Great Depression to be as deep, as severe, or as longlasting as it was. The hoovers had seen volunteers volunteerism be successful in the short term during world war i, during hoovers time with the u. S. Food administration and asking people to have meatless fridays and meatless mondays to conserve food. Volunteerism had its limitations. Those limitations were dictated more by what was going on with the economy and this was a more serious problem than anyone could understand at the time. Blake is watching us in arkansas. Thank you. I enjoy the show. I have a question about the relationship between Elenor Roosevelt and lou hoover. What did Amelia Ehrhardt earhart have to do with the hoovers . There was no connection with them at this point in time. When the roosevelt came into office, it was obviously not very cordial. There was some discussion about not having the traditional night before the inauguration dinner with the roosevelt because of how much hostility there was during the campaign. Mrs. Roosevelt became the first lady and she became the honorary president of the girl scouts. Lou resumed an administrative position of president of the girl scouts and described mrs. Roosevelt as very cordial. The hoovers were very interested in flying. They had been friends with the lou had spoken at an event where Amelia Ehrhardt was being honored. While lou hoover was promoting volunteerism, she try to put things in front of congress, like the hoover dam. They do not sound very republican from this perspective. Why were they not affected in effective in addressing what was happening . I think there was an issue of scale. People do not understand how huge or how long this would last for. Hoover tries to do several things, he tries to do it in a complementary way to what lou is doing through volunteerism. He creates the present emergency president s emergency employment and he tries to get together all of the agencies of the state and local governments. The red cross. He tries to coordinate places to coordinate information about unemployment and relief efforts. He tries to use the federal government in a noncoercive way to encourage people voluntary organizations to get more involved and know how they can get more involved. We are being watched in texas. This is a great series. I visited the hoover museum. I wondered what lou hoovers fascination was with embroidered flowers. Right. The embroidered flowers that you saw were embroidered the women of belgium and they were sold as a way to raise money after world war i so that they could purchase food. Next is a call from john in laguna woods, california. Hello, john. Thank you for cspan. My mothers family is from waterloo, iowa. My mother was nicknamed after lou. The family knew them in waterloo. My mothers family was involved in the creation of the republican iowa party. Anyways, im bragging. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you very much. Lots of personal connection. The hoovers took a personal approach to the stories. How did they respond to the stories and pleas for help . They were always getting letters for help. Whether it was asking a first lady to send money or have influenced to employment of spouses to postmaster or put in a good word with the president. So, when she started getting letters and asking for requests for help, she had to determine how many of these were traditional letters and how many of these were legitimate. She had this network of women friends across the entire country and if she got a letter that she thought was legitimate, she would pass it onto a friend. She would ask a friend to find out whether or not this is actually legitimate and who this person is. Whether or not they would benefit from assistance. And if she got the word back from her friends that this was somebody who would benefit, she would anonymously, usually through a friend or through somebody else in the community, she would anonymously send money to help that person. She would also ask whoever was being the transmitter of the funds to keep an eye out on the recipient and keep her posted on what was going on. As the depression deepened, they saw the creation of communities called hoovervilles. There was also a march of the bonus marchers. How much was society affected . How did these hoovervilles affect the Public Perception of the economy . By 1932, you have almost 20 unemployment and Everybody Knows somebody who has lost their job and is facing economic hardships. They start to be increasing protests. The bonus march was the most prominent. This is veterans from world war i who, in 1924, had been promised a bonus. An additional payment. That was going to mature in 1945. Calvin coolidge had vetoed this legislation in 1924. It had passed over his veto. The bonus march was about the fact that they were suffering now and could not wait. What they wanted was a full payment of their bonus early. Congress passed that they could loan a certain amount of their bonus early. Hoover disapproved. They passed it over his veto. Hoover vetoed the bonus marchers and they come to washington and camp out there. There were over 10,000 of them. They were trying to Push Congress to pass the full bonus. The house does and the senate does not. There is a situation where 10,000 people camp out in washington. They have effectively failed it in their mission in congress. What do we do with them . Hoover makes a move where he asks the army to help move the bonus marchers. This turns into an incredibly graphic and violent episode. General Douglas Macarthur uses pretty violent means to make them move on their way. Scenes like this. This is in the summer of 1932. You can see the capital right behind it. This does not look good at all. It does not look like he is concerned about the forgotten man. The stress on the hoovers had to be in enormous. One of the things they did was establish a retreat in the shenandoah mountains. We talk about what they do as a will talk about they will talk about how they endured as a people and a couple during the depression. The first time that the hoovers came to the camp was by horseback. There was no roads. They came up to the headwaters of the rapid river and there were 164 acres for sale that were sandwiched between two small streams. In those days, it was five dollars an acre. For less than a thousand dollars, they purchased 164 acres. She was instrumental in the design of this camp. It shows her love of nature and her simplicity. She enjoyed being outdoors. It is the opposite of other buildings that they had in their life. They tried to create a retreat where they could relax and get back to nature. She wanted the house to be outside as much as possible. She had a design where the windows would open and screens would let the air in. She could smell the outdoor smells coming through into her room. She could be inside, yet, at the same time, have the feeling of being outside. The sun porch was her office and it is a beautiful room with windows surrounding it. The light is natural all day long. There are no electric lights in there at all. No electric lights hanging from the ceiling. It is all sunlight coming in. She had a desk and chair where she would spend hours writing letters. Much of what we know about rapid end camp comes from the letters. The hoovers had this fireplace built. They would enjoy fires all evening long. Many guests would sit out here all stop many of them were sitting on this porch. Mrs. Hoover love to smell the smoke of a campfire. She wanted have that smell all day long. Mrs. Hoover wanted her gardens to be different then the white house. She wanted to be informal and she is quoted as saying that she wanted them to be a little bit wildish. That meant that she did not want formal beds and she wanted everything out there randomly. She wanted the paths to be lined with rocks so that you could find your way, but nothing outstanding. She wanted to blend in. This rock structure behind me is a very rustic fountain made from rocks from the local area. This is the rock garden which she referred to as her rockery. He enjoyed emphasizing rocks because that was her love of geology. How did the hoovers use this . Did this help with the strains of the depression . Yes. It helped with all the negativity around them and the problems with getting anything through congress. What they did was, this was something they look for early on as they realized they would need a way to get out of washington, they located a property in the shenandoah mountains. Lou designed the house and they went as frequently as they could. They did not go alone. They were frequently with friends. There is one report that 100,000 was spent on laying phone lines. That was a considerable amount of money. Were they conscious about going to a camp when people were in hoovervilles . I dont think they were concerned about that. One of the things that came out of this is that part of their spending time there, they discovered the children who had lived in the region had never been to school. Lets show that clip about the children at the hoover school. Getting that ready. While were getting that ready, lets have a call. Renee. I was wondering if hoover i have heard that he did not accept a salary. I have heard that president kennedy did not accept his salary. They were saying that they were the only president. I was wondering what is right hooveras wondering if donated some of the money to charity . I do not know about president kennedy. Hoover did not accept a salary in any of his Public Service positions. He kept a separate account. He worked for free for the relief of belgium. When he went into government, he was not allowed to say not to pay him. He would distribute the money to charity. Can you discuss how the hoovers paid for entertainment . There was a budget set for them. They did a bit of entertaining on their own and the entertainment would be beyond the official entertaining. It would come out of their funds. They sometimes paid for staff. They paid for their own secretaries. Is this known by the public . No. Why not . Pr was not their strong suit. That might be the best way to put it. Herbert was begged to let the people know about his acts of charity and his reaching out and caring for youth. We get back to the idea that lou was going to run her own shop. There was no one who is going to tell her what to do in order to improve how the public perceived her. A lot of what made them so wonderful was what set the stage for them to have so much difficulty in the Public Perception of who they were. Lets show you the clip of lou hoover with the children. Now, boys and girls, tell me the names of the mountains. Whats that on that side . Over there, behind there. And where is my camp . Over there, behind there. Oh yes, that is very nice. What is the story behind this . That is the hoover school. The Mountain School was established by the hoovers after theyve encountered some of the families in the area where they built camp. They realize that these children had never attended Public School and they build a school with their own funds. They worked with the state of virginia to hire a teacher and they interviewed the teacher. They contacted a college in the appalachian portion of kentucky. It does a good job of preparing people for working with communities like this one. The hoovers funded and work with the state of virginia to make sure that a teacher was funded. President ial ponderings on on twitter, what was the most challenging thing about the flotus lou sion for hoover to deal with . Wow, that is a tough question. Probably the most difficult saw it do to she burt. How was she with the media. Talked about him not having a good sense of pr. Formal interviews or press conferences . No, she did not. Piece an interesting written by the Society Writer in latenew york times in the 1930s that talks about the fact that mrs. Hoover did not meet reporters one time. The first time we see a formal meeting with reporters was in 1932. Of were in Campaign Season now. And if she had a tea excuse women uncheon for reporters. Its important to note that women reporters were not writing front page. She was writing for the society page. This is still a womens issue. Talking about radio, lou hoover used the radio as well addresses. Eries of were going to listen to one of those right now and talked about radio helped the hoovers in the approach to depression. In some ways, restaging the address to the nation. Absolutely. Shes the first first lady to make a Public National radio address. Shes using it to try to push this volunteerist message which in keeping with what Herbert Hoover is doing at that time. Interesting shes doing these talks to the girl scouts in 1932 comesally up with a plan called the after the after the they had where they formulated it. But its basically this effort resources muster the of the girl scouts into a more organized effort to help coordinate with local and relief agencies. And at the very same time and individual has an who helps with it who at the the time is working with president himself on his by that time, his president s unemployment for relief. Volunteerist work and that shes forecasting to he nation to try to urge them to work with others as the girl scouts are doing is actually coordinating at the same time of things that Herbert Hoover is doing within the administration. Complimenting his policy. On this question of how she press, robin e said i heard ook lou hoover kept her papers so private that they werent open 40 years after her death because in doing so would violate the privacy of the financially lped you spent time in her papers . It is true. Bert made the decision that her papers would not be open until away. Ars until she passed concerns about things that may have been written about people her r letters and in correspondence. But she was very much press averse. Interesting that she really made a lot of use of the her to try to promote causes which were used and which were the girl scouts, but also volunteerism. The denise in west covina, california. Hi, good evening. Much for taking my call. And your outstanding program. There has not been any mention of whether or not they had children. They have children . Did they die in infancy . Adulthood . Live to and did they have successes . Thank you very much. Thank you. The hoovers had two boys, 1903. Rt jr. Born in 1907. In they were born in london, this is where bert was working at the time. There. Vers lived both were extremely successful. One of the interesting stories rapidan that camp was lder son, herbert jr. Diagnosed with tuberculosis when physical. The tuberculosis at that time was a very serious disease. Curable. Ot always his is, of course, preantibiotics. Nd the hoovers had herbert jr. Living in camp rapidan for the eginning of the convalescence until the winter set in and they for him to nitarium be in to continue it in ashland, north carolina. Year that herbert jr. Was the lescing, lou invited daughterinlaw and his children to live in the white house. There were children running the white house at that time. That wasnt necessarily successful in softening the image. They didnt want the children photographed or things written about them. This is the period of time when the nation was transfixed kidnappingbergh baby and whether or not that affected the sense of security for the white house in the and whether or not there was increased worry about threats to the children. And i mean we talked about this before that security increased after the the lindbergh to protect n order the white house and whatever the children might feel about it at times. But theres an increased concern about assassination threats hoover himself especially as this sort of depression t the continues. So security is certainly a very factor in the white ouse at this time and the secret service is very much vigilant. On twitter, how was the the hoovers een affected by the Great Depression . Well, they had always been very, very close partners but they were not as close in their artnership during these four years in the white house. Bert kind of pulled into himself a little bit. Communicative as he had been. And it took a toll. Easons told overs him many years later that the parents staying in the white years was a r mistake because of the stress it put on their relationship. Sherman tweets, on realizing that the most part, flotus, which or stands for first lady of the nited states is essentially advisor in chief or gatekeeper. Steven watching us in new york city. Hi, steven, youre on. To know, were the hoovers the wealthiest of all of the first families . Couples . They were very wealthy. Were they the wealthiest . No, i dont. The interesting thing on comparison of that is we would in to be able to compare constant hours because what money would have been at that money, say, ot be for a bush fortune. Yet, theres a task for you. You go. I think that they believed hat George Washington was the wealthiest of all of the residents if you can calculate everything was based in the plantations and slavery. But Herbert Hoover, i think, had about 4 million that he had 1914 which in todays 75 ars is anywhere from million to 90 million. Than have been wealthier his successor, fdr, who inherited his wealth. Herbert hoover made it from scratch. He was one of the wealthiest but wealthiest. Next from your town, charlotte, west virginia. On the air. Caller thank you for taking my call. I always wondered why the was in dan, im so sorry. I pushed the button at the wrong time. Thats my fault. Charles, santa fe, new mexico. In, well get back take your questions. My apologies. Harles, your question from santa fe. Thank you for taking my call. Im enjoying this series. Im a native of iowa. My only real experience with the a Television Series called back stairs to the white house. And in that series, they did not really portray the hoovers very well in terms of how they servants. He charles, im going to stop you. We had that question early in the program. Some examples which i think youre going to give our caller had seen y beginning the series as you and you agree, always the best to those who worked in the white house . Be think we have to careful. There was money to be made after the hoovers left because of the negativity. Be made in ney to telling bad stories about the hoovers. Careful e to be really in what we interpret in what we hear. The accounts exist but the have ty is something they to look at. We often visit the mithsonian which you know has the first ladys dress collection and were going look next. Hoover she was a fascinating and fashionable first lady. He floral, an informal, lighter, Something Like a garden party. The other dress, the long dress, is a relate exception dress. Actually worn for a reception for the girl scouts of very close to e lou hoovers heart. She was not only the honorary scouts as f the girl first lady but the active president of girl scouts. Well take you to the storage area. Pieces ee a few more owned by lou hoover. May have been worn with the vening dress on display downstairs. This eyeglass on a chain appears with a picture of her in evening gown and in her white house fortune. Si and elegant. Before best dress list she made first lady and was the vogue. Appear in this dress was donated to the by the o be worn mannequin in the first ladies exhibit. Andas worn with these shoes represented mrs. Hoover until 1987. Hes one of the only first ladies for whom we have day wear. Silk dress d white in clover pattern shows the more businessoriented side of lou the first ladies. Thats a view of some of the the ladies collection in smithsonian. So helpful to us throughout the series. We appreciate it. What did she do to change the her tenure during there . Thinking of the structure of the building. The actual building . Okay. Lets go to that. One of the things she did was to do some refurbishing on the second floor. Involve in the building of bookcases as we saw in one of he earlier clips where she had drawings of butterflies and flowers. He did drawings of what she wanted the bookcases to look like on the second floor. She was involved in redoing some downstairs public rooms, not the green room, which was a started hat had been under Grace Coolidge and finished by committee that had been appointed by congress. Always she did some refurbishing in the red and the blue room as well. Years of re still prohibition. What were the hoovers attitudes prohibition. Hardings had parties at the white house. They respected prohibition. Hoover campaigned in 1948 a law plank. Ment she was in favor of prohibition. In 1924 on Law Enforcement. I heard on his way home from secretary of as commerce, i like to stop by the elgian and maybe have a cocktail after the end of the day. Presently they werent tea total. Background quaker which in some ways would have more tself toward a protemperance stance but they occasionally. How popular is prohibition at this point . Its unclear where the sentiment lies. Its a time before public polling. Its difficult for people to get a read on the nation. As i mentioned before, the divisive because hes suggesting not a repeal of prohibition, maybe a revision of prohibition. Give the states some chance to go wet as it was known in those wanted to. Ey 1932, its less popular because of the negative impact in terms of organized crime. In 1932, hoover runs on a hes sort of similar in 28 like maybe hes oing to be okay with certain kinds of reform at the state level. But the democrats get the platform in 1932. Thats going to be repealing prohibition. Thats what wins out. Colorado g us in springs. Hi, sue . Good evening. Hank you so much for this progra program. Mentioned earlier that they were multimillionaires prior to presidency. How did they make their money. Herbert hoover was a mining engineer. Doing elled the gold consulting. He invested in quite a number he was paid very well for that. But he invested in mines that were mining materials that were demand. Very high as the depression worsened and the criticism of the man in the white house continued to mount, here are some quotes from first couples to give e some sense of what her reactions were. Reading about the president having thought for the saving the nd bloated plutocrat, the absolute downright lying of the statements infuriated me. From Herbert Hoover said she was oversensitive and the stabs of political life which no doubt by me, hurt her greatly. Any comment on those . The first one if i recall correctly i believe, was the a letter she wrote to her children justify and g to try to frame burts legacy. Talking about how hed always about the little man and how angry and upset she about the way he was being treated and the way he was being in the press. Who says s a husband what is going on with his wife and had a response to it. Is also in his memoirs and sometimes in his memoirs, things is a little different than what actually happened. Of his te the criticism policies, Herbert Hoover makes a decision to run for reelection. Tell us about the 1932 election and the outcome . Well, he at first, hes oing to to stand for reelection but hes not necessarily committed to running for reelection. That time, the incumbent resident of actively seeking the reelection was considered herbert eemly and immense respect for the office that he holds. So he decides hes going to make speeches but its going to be very dignified, very restrained. Becomes clear as the progresses that hes in serious, serious trouble. September, ve in maine, a traditionally territory, in state elections were democrats. Hes is a good indication in trouble. So he then embarks on what we tour, givingle stop a number of radio addresses and returns home to his home in palo alto. A landslide against him. Rapid turnaround from someone who had high hopes when he went in. Did lou hoover participate in that election . The same way she had in 28. In all of the m whistle stop tour. One of the reasons she invited he women reporters in the summer was to try to mend some of those fences that she hasnt attention a lot of to in the previous 3 1 2 years. Shes continuing to do the work with the girl scouts and the 4h and volunteerism and doing the best to support him and try to reelected. Ets what was the reaction . O we know the reaction to the outcome . There is disappointment. She basically says were still here and moving on. Think theres hurt that the way that some of the ombinations of hurt at the way theyve been treated when they tried so hard when their going to lity is not be there much longer. Deepening the connection in palo alto, california. Hoovers designed a house there. Going to learn about that next. Were at the Lou Henry Hoover the campus of Stanford University. Its significant because this thethe primary residence of hoovers. His was known as the family headquarters and itss significant as it relates to lou hoover because she was the one it. Designed she worked with several architects to come one the plans and they gave her advice, but the driving force behind the design of the house. And it was something that really that sed the architects helped her with the formal blueprints and plans is that she strong grasp of design and how she wanted the house to look, even though she architect that was not her professional training. She was a geologist. Good sense ofvery space and design, how she wanted the house to look. Omething she was intimately involved in. Lucky to have a lot of the original drawings, documents, relating to the design and construction of the house. T hoover in the Stanford University archives. Looking at the documentation building and design of the Lou Henry Hoover house. Shows portant because it how important lou henry was in designing the house. O heres some of the earliest drawings we have from the design of the house. We have some details about the they were going be installing. Little foot stool here. Design details sketched by lou henry herself. Lot of her influence comes from her travels from the southwest United States. Pueblo architecture. From the travels in north africa when she travels with Herbert Hoover. Theres definitely an cultures, f native nonamerican cultures, but native american cultures in influencing the house. Cture of you can see here was an initial esign for arches above the doorway and then that was changed. But there are definitely a lot house as well. E we have here floor plans of the house. To show details of the rooms. Living room there, the terrace. And you can see that the rooms in a way when they easily exit out to the to the outside, the outdoors. Its a great legacy of lou henrys because she designed the house. Created it. It was inspired by her ideas and very close involvement in all aspects of the houses creation. Hoovers east he connection deepened and broadened over the years. The institution is a major part campus there. Where did all of the money for that come from . The hoovers orby build up with private contributions over time. Im not sure about the Hoover Institute. Do know when loui was still alive, she did use her personal cultural uild a community and Musical Community there. But the Hoover Institute came possibly after lou passed away and was more involved in what herbert did. West branch, iowa and the the preservation of his roots there . Yes, west branch is where he was born. And lou actually attempted to the land and the home that he was born in and the amily who owned it that the time was not interested in selling. At some point, they were able to it is that property and now the hoover president ial library with the restoration of buildings from berts childhood. It was dedicated in 1962 by that time lou hoover had passed. But Herbert Hoover, who lived a life, was there for the dedication. Going show you a clip of that next. Supreme action by the american people. Sacrifice to their in these records there are, no doubt, unfavorable remarks made by well as opponents as the expression of appreciation affection my heart brings. We may hope that future students ill rely upon our friends for confirmation. [ applause ] lived until he was 90 years old. He set a record for the til last year, he was longest serving the longest erving president of all time, jimmy carter took that position last year. President s odern lived longer than he. Gerald ford and Ronald Reagan in the early 90s passing his record that the time. Lou hoovers death. Lou hoover had continued to e physically active as we talked about earlier in the show. She was riding a horse and camping and sleeping on the up to her late 60s. She had wanted to continue to palo alto but herbert found he enjoyed the new lectual stimulation of york city so they had an east coastwest coast kind of arriage until 1940 when he convinced her to make her base with him there in new york city an apartment in in the waldorf astoria. She had gone out to dinner with friend, january of 1944. Started to say lets walk effect. Ts a lovely she said never mind, lets take a cab. Went upstairs e, to her apartment. Was going with a dinner with his friend. He said let me say goodbye to lou. The as collapsed and on floor. She died of a heart attack. Timothy, youre on . Caller im timothy large, im the grandson of gene henry sister of lou hoover i wanted to express how to t lady she was and how appreciate her and her husband. I was born in palo alto. Express the to kids, did care for the grand kids, and relatives. Jobe hope weve done a fair tonight of telling the story of your relative. Thank you for your call. Before we go to her legacy is she bury . She was originally buried in alto. They exhumed her body and shes at west branch. When government opens again and all of the institutions are back, you can go to west branch visit the Herbert Hoover president ial library there. So the question for both of you, since they were a couple that together, public life what should their legacy be . I think it is as the first is the way in y herh she tried to ute lietz role as first lady to make a call to action to the public believed in but also that dove tailed with the kind of approach and philosophy of government that her husband had. So they had a legacy in terms of residential couples for how to the delicate balance of political rt side of what first ladies are supposed to do. Marlin . Hello . Snir . R question, i was doing the campaign of smith. And al the biggest thing was repealing the 18th amendment. Grew up in a community and all of them conservative, very religious. Everybody voted for hoover. The market crash in 29, the same busted at time. Years old then and i wanted to go down and collect my banks broke. E the hoover dam was named for him. He draw started when the dust storms started all the way from north dakota all the way from nebraska down to oklahoma. Got to jump in. Youve given us a good the last o ask what should her legacy be and hoover ld we view the administration in hindsight . Be . Ts your thesis going to my thesis is she has not been succeeded by a woman who served years. We would remember a lot more of lou hoover now. Her ctivism and a lot of nonpolitical agenda in working with the youth, with the girl stage for future irst ladies to have causes and things they supported that did political have repercussions or connections. As far as remembering them for depression, i think that anybody knew how to handle them, before. Epressions we managed to pull out of them within a couple of years. As we know first one now that lasted as long as it did. E did not pull out of the depression until we entered world war ii. So even with all of the egislation that Franklin Roosevelt was able to get congress to pass, that in and of improve id not help to the economy until things changed very radically. Our thanks to emily and to dunlap for being our guest on the story of Lou Henry Hoover. And our thanks to the White House Historical association for their help throughout the series