and historian discusses his book an uncommon man, triumph of herbert hoover. richard norton smith, why did you call your book that you wrote 35 years ago uncommon man ? well, it s taken, actually, from the title of a relatively famous hoover speech about the uncommon man. remember, vice president henry wallace, who was the second of fdr s vice presidents, gave a famous speech in 1942, i believe, maybe 43, about the century of the common man. and wallace, from a left of center perspective, was projecting, in effect, the goals and ambitions of the generation that was fighting world war ii. and it wasn t enough simply to defeat the nazis,c# at home, a true democracy. a place where the common man would finally come into his own. and hoover approached this from a different place on the political spectrum. he was, in effect, making the case for what we might call a meritocracy. but something to say, that i shouldn t paraphrase it, but, you know, when you get sick, you want
richard norton smith, why did you call your book that you wrote 35 years ago uncommon man ? well, it s taken, actually, from the title of a relatively famous hoover speech about the uncommon man. remember, vice president henry wallace, who was the second of fdr s vice presidents, gave a famous speech in 1942, i believe, maybe 43, about the century of the common man. and wallace, from a left of center perspective, was projecting, in effect, the goals and ambitions of the generation that was fighting world war ii. and it wasn t enough simply to defeat the nazis, but to create at home a true democracy. a place where the common man would finally come into his own. and hoover approached this from a different place on the political spectrum. he was, in effect, making the case for what we might call a meritocracy. but something to say, that i shouldn t paraphrase it, but, you know, when you get sick, you want an uncommonly skillful doctor. when we go to war, we want an unco
richard norton smith, why did you call your book that you wrote 35 years ago uncommon man ? well, it s taken, actually, from the title of a relatively famous hoover speech about the uncommon man. remember, vice president henry wallace, who was the second of fdr s vice presidents, gave a famous speech in 1942, i believe, maybe 43, about the century of the common man. and wallace, from a left of center perspective, was projecting, in effect, the goals and ambitions of the generation that was fighting world war ii. and it wasn t enough simply to defeat the nazis, but to create at home a true democracy. a place where the common man would finally come into his own. and hoover approached this from a different place on the political spectrum. he was, in effect, making the case for what we might call a meritocracy. but something to say, that i shouldn t paraphrase it, but, you know, when you get sick, you want an uncommonly skillful doctor. when we go to war, we want an unco
richard norton smith, why did you call your book that you wrote 35 years ago uncommon man ? well, it s taken actually from the title of a relatively famous hoover speech about the uncommon man. if you remember, vice president henry wallace, who was the second of fdr s vice presidents, gave a famous speech in 1942, i believe, maybe 43, about the censure of the common man. and wallace from a left-of-center perspective was projecting, in effect, the goals and ambitions of the generation that was fighting world war ii. and it wasn t enough simply to defeat the nazis, but to create at home a true democracy, a place where the common man would finally come into his own. and hoover approached this from a different place in the political spectrum. he was in effect making the case for what we might call meritocracy. but some think i shouldn t paraphrase it. but you know, when you get sick, you want an uncommonly skillful doctor. when we go to war, we want an uncommonly able gener
richard norton smith, why did you call your book that you wrote 35 years ago uncommon man ? well, it s taken, actually, from the title of a relatively famous hoover speech about the uncommon man. remember, vice president henry wallace, who was the second of fdr s vice presidents, gave a famous speech in 1942, i believe, maybe 43, about the century of the common man. and wallace, from a left of center perspective, was projecting, in effect, the goals and ambitions of the generation that was fighting world war ii. and it wasn t enough simply to defeat the nazis, but to create at home a true democracy. a place where the common man would finally come into his own. and hoover approached this from a different place on the political spectrum. he was, in effect, making the case for what we might call a meritocracy. but something to say, that i shouldn t paraphrase it, but, you know, when you get sick, you want an uncommonly skillful doctor. when we go to war, we want an unco