SCREECCHHHH!!!!! BACKING UP TO HERBERT HOOVER!

Hoover’s Quaker Roots and Reflections on His Presidency

Ok -- Backing up to Monday, July 15, and Herbert Hoover's birthplace and presidential library and museum.  Sister Shirley was supposed to write this section of the blog but since she is doing ALL the driving and we are driving a lot these last three days I volunteered.  Actually my arm hurt from her twisting it and she wouldn't let go until I said I would do it!!!!

West Branch, Iowa was a little gem of a place and just about ten miles east of Iowa City.  Even though we had looked at the website, I wasn’t expecting to see so many restored buildings in the little village next to the Presidential Library and Museum.   Being there was also another touchstone for our Quaker heritage and gave us insight into Hoover’s character, behavior, and new respect for his presidency.

We started off with a walk to see President Hoover’s birthplace.  He was born in a very humble two-room house and often said it was proof that in America one could rise from humble beginnings to accomplish anything that could be dreamed!  The house reminded me so much of the place where our Grandmother Harrison was born in Mitchell County, Kansas in 1904, lived with her many siblings and regularly used a broom on the front yard to keep it orderly!  I don’t think Hoover’s house could have been more than 350 square feet.  

His father was a blacksmith and his shop is also there along with a schoolhouse and several other historical residences.  

Loved this poster advertising the goods that Hoover's father had for sale.  This is the great land acquisition movement that Walter and Melissa Caroline were involved in.  They moved in 1878 to Kansas from Indiana for land!

Unfortunately, Hoover’s father died at the age of 34 and four years later his mother died.  The children were all farmed out and Hoover was sent on a train (with two dimes sewn in his clothing) to Newberg, Oregon (another Quaker/Friends community) to live with an aunt and uncle. 

Hoover’s mother was a recorded Friends minister and often spoke in meeting.  I loved going to the traditional meetinghouse at West Branch with separate sides for men and women, partitions to be lowered for business meetings, and traditional facing benches for the elders.  As a former Quaker elder (before I became a United Methodist!) I enjoyed sitting on the facing bench in this meetinghouse reminiscing about the past 

The partitions raised for worship and lowered for separate business meetings.

and also thinking about my Quaker wedding at University Friends in Wichita, Kansas where representatives from our meetings sat on the facing bench with us and witnessed our vows. 

Facing Bench of a Quaker Meetinghouse
Elders from the Bride's Monthly Meeting
Elders from the Grooms's Monthly Meeting

Signing of the Marriage Certificate

It was good to think about Hoover’s heritage and the influence his Quaker teachings had on his performance in his international engineering career, his compassion for the starving in Europe  - particularly Belgium, and his hesitancy to show his emotion during the Great Depression to the American people.  I came away with the sense that if he had really been able to show that compassion and empathy (rather than stoicism), he might not have been so derided and blamed for economic realities which were shaped and in motion long before his presidency began.   To read more about Hoover go to:
http://www.hoover.archives.gov

Hoover as a recent Stanford grad --- job hunting!

Iowa in the Civil War - a special exhibit at the Hoover Presidential Library

This was one of the best interpretations we had seen of a state’s participation in the Civil War.  The signage was understandable, the battle maps were clear....

 and the quotations from famous people were meaningful and poignant

…..it could also have been the best display because we had already learned so much by the time we got there (from Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain, Stones River, the Battle of Franklin, Carnton Plantation, etc.) that we were suddenly beginning to understand the enormity of the Civil War and the huge impact it had on so many, many lives and for generations to come.  

We left knowing that our trip would not be complete unless we spent time at the Topeka Capitol during the week we are with our parents.  We have a need to see the paintings of John Brown and read more about him.  Every Civil War exhibit we have seen plus the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center have emphasized the important role that John Brown played in the Civil War and consideration that he was a martyr.  

We are so used to seeing these murals in our own statehouse that we need a fresh look to truly appreciate his story!

Next blogs????  The last three Little House on the Prairie sites that we visit: DeSmet, SD; Walnut Grove, MN and Burr Oak, IA.

Stay tuned!