Details
HOOVER, HERBERT, President. Typed letter signed ("Herbert Hoover") as Secretary of Commerce, to Senator Hiram Bingham, Washington, 23 September 1927. 1 page, 4to, on Department of Commerce letterhead. Boldly signed.
The idea of a beacon at Kitty Hawk as a memorial to the Wright's flights there apparently originated with Hoover, as revealed here. "Many thanks for your letter...There has been no meeting of the Cabinet Committee on the Kitty Hawk Memorial. On the other hand I have visited the locality and made a tentative suggestion as to the form of memorial which might be worth your thought. It [Kitty Hawk] is a bleak place with but few land visitors. If the usual fountain or statue were built for visitors who might wish to see it, it would make but very little impression and would not properly dignify the event. On the other hand, if we could erect some kind of distinguished memorial tower and equip it with a powerful light, it would be a monument which would guide every ship passing within 40 miles...." In the end, Hoover's suggestion of a beacon atop the monument was adopted. Nine months after this letter, Hoover won the Republican Presidential nomination.
The idea of a beacon at Kitty Hawk as a memorial to the Wright's flights there apparently originated with Hoover, as revealed here. "Many thanks for your letter...There has been no meeting of the Cabinet Committee on the Kitty Hawk Memorial. On the other hand I have visited the locality and made a tentative suggestion as to the form of memorial which might be worth your thought. It [Kitty Hawk] is a bleak place with but few land visitors. If the usual fountain or statue were built for visitors who might wish to see it, it would make but very little impression and would not properly dignify the event. On the other hand, if we could erect some kind of distinguished memorial tower and equip it with a powerful light, it would be a monument which would guide every ship passing within 40 miles...." In the end, Hoover's suggestion of a beacon atop the monument was adopted. Nine months after this letter, Hoover won the Republican Presidential nomination.