Herbert Hoover

Being an academic institution, WAIS has a proper interest in academic institutions, especially those at Stanford, with which WAIS is closely affiliated. The statement that the Hoover Institution was returning to its origins and being reorganized accordingly aroused international puzzlement and speculation. It therefore seemed appropriate to study those origins. My testament has some value, since I am probably the only survivor of those involved.

This makes me realize how time passes. Herbert Hoover Jr. invited Mary and me to tea at their Palo Alto home, and I remember a child crawling around on the lawn. Would that be the present member of the Board of Overseers? I wish Elena Danielson would clarify this for me. It was a happy event. Herbert Hoover himself was a different story. I remember vividly a visit to him in the Tower with Harold Fisher, the director of the Hoover Institute, as it was then called, and Easton Rothwell, his successor. Rothwell soon resigned and went to Mills College as President. Hoover sat behind his desk, looking wrathful. I was amazed at the way Fisher and Rothwell addressed him repeatedly as "Chief" and showed by their humble behavior that they meant it. Hoover was not appeased.

Behind this lies one of the saddest stories in US political history. When Hoover was elected President he was a national and a Stanford hero, and the Stanford community held a celebration which pleased him enormously. He was a happy man. Then came the Depression, and he was reviled nationally. He returned to Stanford thinking that at least here people still loved him. Instead, he was the target of insults, some crude, which showed a total lack of sensitivity or compassion for a crushed individual. Hoover decided to switch his affection to his home town of West Branch, Iowa.

When did this happen? In my files I ran across a yellowed Stanford Daily of August 10, 1954. A front page feature article was entitled "Former President Hoover Celebrates 80th Birthday". Five years earlier he had celebrated his 75th birthday at Stanford. In 1954 the celebration was at West Branch, Iowa. It was a grand affair, with Vice President Nixon representing President Eisenhower. The University of Iowa gave him an honorary doctorate, his 51st from US universities. There was no mention of anyone from Stanford among the dignitaries. The article was illustrated with a photo of Hoover giving pieces of his birthday cake to the children of the new Herbert Hoover Elementary School in Stockton, California. The children were charming, and Hoover obviously loved them.

The article made no mention of any celebration at Stanford. The break therefore came between 1949 and 1954. All this reminds me of something lamented by John Leo of US News and World Report. Elite universities are notorious for their lack of respect for public figures and conventional values, whereas blue-collar universities show unabashed, indeed uncritical patriotism. What does "elite" mean? Apparently it can mean a lack of the civic and civil values which hold a society together. Fighting words, I admit.

Ronald Hilton - 11/15/01