Details
HOOVER, Herbert (1875-1964), President. Typed letter signed ("Herbert Hoover") with 2 autograph changes or additions, to George Olmsted, n.p., 3 September 1934. 1 1/8 pages, 4to, staple mark in corner, otherwise in fine condition.
"THE ARK OF THE COVENANT OF AMERICAN LIBERTY IS NOW LODGED IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY"
A fine, impassioned letter in which Hoover champions the Republican Party as the true guardians of American freedom and denigrates the newly formed Liberty League. Shortly after leaving the White House, Hoover became a prominent critic of the New Deal policies of Roosevelt and "continually attacked the 'totalitarian liberals' of the 1930s and 1940s...On numerous occasions he equated New Deal liberalism with a 'coercive economy" (Wilson, Herbert Hoover, p. 211). But the former President refused to join the Liberty League, an organization created by wealthy businessmen to oppose many aspects of the New Deal.
Hoover expresses strong reservations about the members of the League, who are, he asserts, "the group that financed the Democratic smearing campaign...through the Democratic National Committee and...various other leagues which they established...Also, this is the group who, despite their private statements to the contrary, supported the election of the New Deal. If this group had told the truth, either during the Republican Administration or during the campaign, as they knew it and acknowledged it to be, the country would not be in this situation."
In a fine peroration on Republican principles, Hoover challenges the League's claim to be the guardians of liberty: "They are, therefore, hardly the type of men to lead the cause...Furthermore, the Ark of the Covenant of American Liberty is now lodged in the Republican Party. That Party is the sole hope for the redemption of the American people. That redemption can come about only through the organized efforts of the Republican Party. We should not allow the men whom I have mentioned...a minority of disgruntled Democrats, to dictate to the one hope of national salvation." Hoover concludes with a final bitter criticism of the League: "Beyond this I could go into the question as to what is fundamentally in the minds of this group of men...I may state emphatically that I have no more confidence in the Wall Street model of human liberty, which this group so well represents, than I have in the Pennsylvania Avenue model upon which this country now rides."
"THE ARK OF THE COVENANT OF AMERICAN LIBERTY IS NOW LODGED IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY"
A fine, impassioned letter in which Hoover champions the Republican Party as the true guardians of American freedom and denigrates the newly formed Liberty League. Shortly after leaving the White House, Hoover became a prominent critic of the New Deal policies of Roosevelt and "continually attacked the 'totalitarian liberals' of the 1930s and 1940s...On numerous occasions he equated New Deal liberalism with a 'coercive economy" (Wilson, Herbert Hoover, p. 211). But the former President refused to join the Liberty League, an organization created by wealthy businessmen to oppose many aspects of the New Deal.
Hoover expresses strong reservations about the members of the League, who are, he asserts, "the group that financed the Democratic smearing campaign...through the Democratic National Committee and...various other leagues which they established...Also, this is the group who, despite their private statements to the contrary, supported the election of the New Deal. If this group had told the truth, either during the Republican Administration or during the campaign, as they knew it and acknowledged it to be, the country would not be in this situation."
In a fine peroration on Republican principles, Hoover challenges the League's claim to be the guardians of liberty: "They are, therefore, hardly the type of men to lead the cause...Furthermore, the Ark of the Covenant of American Liberty is now lodged in the Republican Party. That Party is the sole hope for the redemption of the American people. That redemption can come about only through the organized efforts of the Republican Party. We should not allow the men whom I have mentioned...a minority of disgruntled Democrats, to dictate to the one hope of national salvation." Hoover concludes with a final bitter criticism of the League: "Beyond this I could go into the question as to what is fundamentally in the minds of this group of men...I may state emphatically that I have no more confidence in the Wall Street model of human liberty, which this group so well represents, than I have in the Pennsylvania Avenue model upon which this country now rides."