THE HOOVER INSTITUTION: The urgent need for action

May I thank all of you who have sent messages expressing your concern. May I also reassure you that the Hoover problem in no way affects WAIS, since the operation is set up in my campus house. "The Hesperides", where you are always welcome. As far as Hoover in concerned, there is an urgent need for action. Hoover staff members have expressed their support for me, and there is serious unrest among them. Charles Palm, the Deputy Director, is reported to have resigned. When the announcement of the "reorganization" was announced, I e-mailed a few of the members if the special committee which voted for the resolution. Only the history representative replied, and he said the decision has been made before he joined the committee. The general belief is that the decision had been reached and that it was essentially rubber-stamped.

The reasons given were incredible. There were complaints that Hoover Library hours were not as long as those of Green Library. The solution? Move the collection to a storage facility (yet to be found) controlled by Green Library, where it will take a day to get books for the reader!! The simple and obvious solution would have been to extend the hours of the Hoover Library.

Meanwhile, the Hoover Library is in a state of suspended animation. The East Asian Collection is being moved to Meyer Library, the undergraduate library attached to Green Library. Hoover Serials, to which I made frequent contributions, has been closed, and the collection is to be moved to Green Library. The Hoover book collection has stopped acquisitions, which presumably Green has taken over. The enormous existing collection, becoming steadily more dated, will remain in the Tower until Green can find an off-campus site to store it. The guess is that it will take two years.

That gives time for the moves to be reconsidered. This should be done urgently so as to reduce the length of the present discombobulation. If the decision taken were reversed now, it would be a relatively simple matter to straighten things out. The more time elapses, the more complicated it will be. The general impression is that the problem arose because Green Library wanted to take over the Hoover Library, and the Hoover economists did not care. The Law Library and the Graduate School of Business Library are independent, and I doubt that Green Library would think of taking them over.

Let me repeat that the statement that Hoover is returning to its original mission is false. Hoover, a pacifist but not a peacenik, wanted Hoover to study war, revolution and peace in order to prevent the first two and to ensure peace. Raisian rejects my assertion that Hoover has abandoned that aim. The excellent National Fellows Program, supported by the US government, covers many related fields, but the library will become increasingly useless to it Hoover itself has lost that aim. In the Hoover Institution's home page, Raisian describes the overarching aim of Hoover as "To convey to the public, the media, lawmakers, and others an understanding of important public policy issues and to promote vigorous dialogue". Not a word about war, revolution and peace. "To convey to the public, the medkia, etc" means essentially a propaganda mission. "Propaganda" is not negative term, but in fact it has meant promoting the aims of right-wing Republicans, not of Rockefeller Republicans to whom I am close. Hoover was the cradle of such ideas as a flat tax and tax returns which can be written on a postcard, ideas which no longer seem relevant. It has vigorously supported school vouchers, which may well be an answer to our school problems, and which President Bush has tried in vain to push. There has not been a "vigorous dialog" involving all views, from left to right.

Universities are supposed to promote informed, rational discourse, and no one laments more than I the wild and irresponsible conduct of those who are wrecking universities all around the world. In such an atmosphere it is almost impossible to promote such discourse. However, the mission of the university, as Ortega y Gasset put it, is precisely that. Disgraceful campus riots may return to Stanford, and I will again defend Hoover as I did when it was under physical attack before. However, Hoover's mission remains as I have stated it. These remarks should not be taken personally. I have sincere liking and respect for Hoover's individual members.

Ronald Hilton - 11/14/01