Kites to Kick Off Hoover Library’s 50th Anniversary

WEST BRANCH - Expect to see some highflying Saturday morning as the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum kicks off its 50th anniversary. That's when folks are invited to bring their kites and launch them into the breeze over Hoover Park.

"We're trying to recreate what Hoover saw as a child in West Branch with the kite flying," says Tom Schwartz, director of the library since last July.

Obviously, kites invoke childhood nostalgia as well for Tom, who grew up in Downers Grove, Ill.

"There was this nice hill," he says, a fifth-grade twinkle in his eye. "I could go up there and catch the wind."

Hoover was born in West Branch on Aug. 10, 1874, and returned 88 years to the day to dedicate his library (above). Between times, of course, he left town, graduated from Stanford University, forged a magnificent career as a mining engineer and became President from 1929 to 1933.

"We're taking the 50th year and trying to reconnect with all of the things Hoover valued - the community of West Branch, the carefree childhood, the importance of presidential service," Tom says. "Not because of what it would say about his life, but about his presidency."

Because The Great Depression began during his administration, Hoover has often been misaligned. But Tom, raised in a Republican family, grew up with a completely different attitude.

"Anytime they got together, they'd talk," he says. "You always got these history lessons. You'd hear how things were so much better when Hoover was president than (Franklin Delano) Roosevelt."

His grandmother, in fact, would not allow Roosevelt stamps in the house. Yet, as Illinois state historian and chief historian at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Ill, Tom wondered if he should accept the appointment in West Branch.

"Do I really want to tell the Hoover story?" Tom says. "Then, I realized, ‘You don't really know much.' Then I started reading. My God, this guy was really something."

The more he learns, the more he appreciates Hoover's legacy and the similarities of our 16th and 31st presidents.

"They both held things close to the vest," Tom says. "They were not emotive about what they were thinking unless it served a purpose."

Obviously, Lincoln's speeches are much better known, in part because he had the ability to talk in "sound bites" and served during the Civil War. Hoover was more low key, idolized Lincoln and felt doing the right thing was enough.

"This is a good opportunity for people to see Lincoln documents, but to also see that Hoover had many of the same traits," Tom says.

The exhibit, which runs through Oct. 28, features three elements - "Ideas of Lincoln and Hoover," "Creating the Legacy," and "Dining with the President."

As you walk around you can see Hoover's portable leather-cased martini bar with bottles for gin and vermouth. Always one to like a couple of martinis a day, he came up with a perfect solution when his doctor told him to cut back to one.

"He told his staff to use a bigger glass," Tom laughs. "He still got his two martinis a day."

The exhibit - in fact, the entire library - are filled with great stories about Iowa's only native-son President. One has to do with the dedication of this very library which Hoover did with President Harry S. Truman.

As Tom relates the story, the presidents spent the night before in Cedar Rapids - Hoover at Brucemore and Truman at the Roosevelt Hotel. They ate breakfast together and, as they traveled to West Branch, realized they should visit a bathroom before arriving for what would be a long day. In 1962, of course, "convenience stores" were a thing of the future, so they stopped at the groundskeeper's house and, when nobody was home, had a State Trooper break a window so they could get in.

So, who paid to repair the window? Tom laughs. "That's still one of those mysteries."

FYI: Hoover Library Turns 50:

Celebrating 50 Years at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, West Branch

What: The new exhibit features three parts: "Creating the Legacy," "Dining with the President" and "Ideas of Lincoln and Hoover."

When: Saturday through Oct. 28. Regular Museum hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

Kickoff: People are invited to bring their kites Saturday to fly them over Hoover Park west of the library from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. "Benjamin Franklin" will be present from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and admission is free to the museum that day.