New Hoover Library exhibit explores world of the gangster

WEST BRANCH - When you think of President Herbert Hoover and his wife, Lou, you probably don't think of jazz, gangsters and Prohibition.

But the new exhibit, 'Ain't Misbehavin'? The World of the Gangster”, which opened Saturday at the Hoover Library & Museum in West Branch, actually fits right in with Hoovers' story, according to Marcus Eckhardt, the museum's curator.

'Our mission is the life and times of Herbert Hoover,” Eckhardt said. 'He was secretary of commerce during the 1920s, and Prohibition ends when he's out of office.”

Although Hoover is not 'superpresent” in the exhibit, there are ties to his life, Eckhardt said. A double barreled 'burglar gun” which belonged to his wife, Lou, is featured, as are dresses on loan from the Putnam Museum that are similar to those she would have worn in the 1920s.

'Lou was very fashionable in D.C. in her day,” Eckhard said. 'She was known to be one of the most fashionable woman at the time.”

Hoover also adhered to the Republican Party's stance as 'dry,” or supportive of Prohibition. Later in life, however, he was known to be an avid martini drinker.

Prohibition, enshrined in the 18th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution lasted from 1920 to 1933, but Iowa actually prohibited alcohol even earlier, during World War I, Eckhardt said. Still, the state did ratify the 18th amendment, and that document is on display.

As you enter the exhibit, 'nothing is as it's normally seems,” Eckhardt said. What seems to be a 'hat shop” actually is a speakeasy. Perk your ears and listen to some of the jazz standards of the day over the loudspeaker. Eckhardt said KCCK DJ Murray Kent put together about an hour of music for the museum.

A Gary Kelly artpiece on loan from the African American Museum of Iowa is of note in this part of the exhibit, as is a trumpet that belonged to Louis Armstrong. There also is information about some of the drinks that were popular during the era, such as the sidecar and the mint julep.

'In a lot of ways it was easier to get a drink during Prohibition than before or after,” Eckhardt said.

Leave the speakeasy and you enter a back alley, where you learn about the Hollywood definition of a gangster, and how it differed from reality. You then enter 'Main Street,” where four store fronts mask displays on how gangsters made money: illegal gambling, graft, bootlegging and vice.

An old still from Templeton Rye is on display, as is a letter from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover thanking a man for helping to kill John Dillinger. You can pretend to take a booking photograph and take your fingerprints, then compare them to those of famous gangsters.

Eckhardt said the staff has worked on the exhibit for about two years, and it is open through Oct. 23.

'There's lots of little subtle things if you look around,” Eckhardt said. 'The idea is to explore it.”