Hoover's Speech

Excerpts and summary:

"You bring, Mr. Chairman, formal notice of my nomination by the Republican Party to the Presidency of the United States. I accept. . . ."

Radio, Thesis: "Those invisible millions have already heard from Kansas City the reading of our party principles. They would wish to hear from me not a discourse upon the platform--in which I fully concur--but something of the spirit and ideals with which it is proposed to carry it into administration.

"Our problems of the past seven years have been problems of reconstruction; our problems of the future are problems of construction. They are problems of progress. . . ."

Women (after a sentence for men): "Every woman has a right to ask whether her life, her home, her man's job, her hopes, her happiness, will be better assured by the continuance of the Republican Party in power. I propose to discuss the questions before me in that light. . . ."

Statistics: Population and income, production, home ownership, schools--the percentages and relative percentages of increases were aptly recited, climaxing in "6,000,000 more telephones, 7,000,000 radio sets, and the service of an additional 14,000,000 automobiles."

Poverty: (The speech's most eloquent passage): "We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poorhouse is vanishing from among us. We have not yet reached the goal, but, given a chance to go forward with the policies of the last eight years, and we shall soon, with the help of God, be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished from this nation. . . ."

Farm Relief was given more time than any other subject. The orator began with analysis and expression of deep solicitude. He totally avoided "equalization fee." His promises: 1) "to search out the common ground"; 2) benefit of tariff; 3) waterways, principally Great Lakes to Atlantic; 4) Federal Farm Board with money to spend. ... "A nation which is spending ninety billions a year can well afford an expenditure of a few hundred millions for a workable program that will give to one-third of its population their fair share of the nation's prosperity. . . . The working out of agricultural relief constitutes the most important obligation of the next Administration. . . ."

Tariff: 100% high tariff doctrine with this original addition: "Other countries gain nothing if the high standards of America are sunk and if we are prevented from building a civilization which sets the level of hope for the entire world."

Labor: "Having earned my living with my own hands I cannot have other than the greatest sympathy with the aspirations of those who toil. . .

"At one time we demanded for our workers a 'full dinner pail.' We have now gone far beyond that conception. Today we demand larger comfort and greater participation in life and leisure."

Waterways (Herein the only reference to his fame as an engineer) : "All these projects will probably require an expenditure of upwards of one billion dollars within the next four years. It comprises the largest engineering construction ever undertaken by any government. It involves three times the expenditure laid out upon the Panama Canal. It is justified by the growth, need and wealth of our country. The organization and administration of this construction is a responsibility of the first order. For it we must secure the utmost economy, honesty and skill. These works which will provide jobs for an army of men should so far as practicable be adjusted to take up the slack of unemployment elsewhere."

Prohibition: Bone dry, with this advance upon his platform and Mr. Coolidge: "Common sense compels us to realize that grave abuses have occurred--abuses which must be remedied." Later, he named the abolition of the saloon as a cause of U. S. prosperity.

Bureaus. He favored fewer.

Business Man. Praised the independent, approved the big, the little, if honest.

Women, Again: "Their higher sense of service and responsibility, their freshness of enthusiasm, their capacity for organization."

Religion. His ancestors were persecuted.

Corruption, in both parties, in local as well as national government, "too often . . . viewed with indifference. . . . Dishonesty . . . is treason. There must be no place for cynicism. . . ."

Children: "Racial progress marches upon the feet of healthy and instructed children."

Youth: ". . . A Government that does not constantly seek to live up to the ideals of its young men and women falls short of what the American people have a right to expect and demand from it. . . ."

Peace: "I think I may say that I have witnessed as much of the horror and suffering of war as any other American. From it I have derived a deep passion for peace. . . ." Will cooperate with the League in science, etc. ". . . But we must and shall maintain our naval defense. . . ."

"Equality of opportunity is the right of every American--rich or poor, foreign or native-born, irrespective of faith or color."

President Coolidge: "Great . . . rectitude . . . statesmanship. . . ."

"Moral and Spiritual." In between various economic matters, these words were reiterated, but no special point made except that the orator regarded them as of utmost importance.

The Presidency: (this was the conclusion) "is more than an administrative office. It must be the symbol of American ideals. The high and the lowly must be seen with the same eyes, met in the same spirit. It must be the instrument by which national conscience is livened and it must under the guidance of the Almighty interpret and follow that conscience."