Letter from 15-Year-Old John Billy Breckenridge of Plattsburg, Missouri, Passing Along Pro-President Hoover Speech Given at School

Plattsburg, Mo. - October 18,1932 President Hoover The White House If ashington D.C. Dear mr. President: and OCT THE 20 WHITE 1932 HOUSE I am only 2 boy 15 years old, and no doubt you may think I have a pood bit of nerve to write to you, but I have Q reason which willtellyon. munity, but I had the nerve to give a I live in Q strietly dem ocral com. talk in your behalf, and although you may not be interested I am in closing my simple speech, hoping that in your busy life you may have a few minutes in which to read it. Of Course mr President you realize that it is not original; I read many and icles, from which Ideveloped the speech. Ifyon like it I have one little favor to ask of you. If ould you have time to send to me your sig nature, so that I Can boast ingly show it to my demo- eratic friends. In november I I shall be anxiously waiting to hear the glad news that again Our own mw. Herbert Hoover has been placed in the White House, to quide the nation in the nextfour years. I ondo not send the sig not une I shall be hoping for you just the same. (a Hooverite) your Republican Frien mr. Plattsburg, John B. Brechenridge John Bills Brechenridge Missouri John B. Breckenridge, Plattsburgh, Mo., a 15 year old boy, encloses a speech he gave in the President's behalf. If the President likes it, he would appreciate having the Presiden's autograph. The first speech is a biography, it is commendatory and ends urging the Presi- dent's reelection. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX PRESIDENT HERBERT CLARK HOOVER PRESIDENT HERBERT CLARK HOOVER Undoubtedly one of the most important men in the world of today is our present, and at least part of us hope, our future President, Herbert Clark Hoover. Herbert Clark Hoover is the first Quaker and mining engineer to be chosen President of the United States. He did not reach this office through successive steps in political office, but won the confidence of the people not only at home, but throughout the entire world by unremitting service to humanity through nearly three years of the World War. Herbert Hoover was born August 10, 1874 in the small village of West Branch, Iowa, of Quaker parentage. When Herbert was six, his father died and four years later, his mother also passed away. Then Hoover lived alternately with two of his father's brothers. At thirteen, he went to Oregon to live with another uncle. He then invested what remained of his part of the Iowa property, which was just $60, in a business college course and obtained a position in a real estate office. When Leland Stanford Junior University was organized, he was one of the first to enroll. There he studied engineering and graduated in 1895. His record at the University was that of a modest effective leader. His keen financial sense was recognized and he was known to have un- usual fighting abilities for those things he considered right and desirable; the same spirit he has today. He left the University practically penniless and sought work along the line of his pro- fession to get some practical experience. In California, he learned that pushing a wheelbarrow was ardous work. He allied himself with a leading San Francisco engineer. He desired a position in which his technical knowledge could be used, but was obliged to start as a clerk. Later he received an offer to go to China as Chief Engineer of the Chinese Imperial Bureau of Mines. He accepted the post but did not wish to go alone. He had left a young woman in Cal- ifornia, whose interest in Geology was as intense as his own. He cabled her news of his offer and asked her if she would go with him. When her answer came, he sailed for hime and in Jan- uary 1899 married Miss Lois Henry, the daughter of a banker in Monterey, California. Soon afterwards she joined her husband's Quaker communion. The world was the field of Hoover and his wife. He was thrust in the dangers of the Boxer Rebellion. He returned to America, only to return again to China. He went to Australia, Nicaragua, Mexico, Alaska, South Africa, Belgium and Borneo. -2- Then in 1914, Hoover was back in San Francisco where he had established his own organization. Here he hoped to remain the rest of his life. But as suddenly as one career ended, another began. A call came not associated with his profession. Because of his European connections, he was chosen by the directors of the Panama Pacific Exposition to go to London and solicit the cooperation of the European government in the great fair planned to be held at San Francisco in 1915. Then came the World War. His mission ended abruptly for Europe was confronted with matters more vital than expositions. The Hoovers planned to leave for home in August, but like 200,000 other Americans they were stranded in Europe. But instead of losing his head like the others, he published small advertisements in the newspapers offering help to his stranded countrymen. Ad- vancing his own money and working with the American Ambassador, he became the center of relief activities. So effective was his work that Americans came home singing his praises. Almost overnight he was an international figure. It was obvious to everybody that he was the man to head up the Beligan relief. To the average American man, and more so to the American woman, he seemed to embody all that was finest in our idealism about the war. He had organized food resources to keep men and women from starvation; he had saved the lives of millions of children. He was the symbol of our united sacrifice. Although he lived mostly outside the states, many people wanted him for President in 1920. Their enthusiasm and confidence were almost pathetic to any one who knew the very practical pro- cesses of our American political life. Bruce Barton says, "I was in the convention. The galleries went wild for Hoover but the delegates sat like stone. They nominated Harding. He did not sulk and as head of the Dept. of Commerce, he was a loyal subor- dinate to Harding and Coolidge. Small wonder that in 1928 people said, "This man is trained for the presidency as no other candidate ever was. He knows the world of foreign relations. He has learned the workings of government from service under three presidents. He is a great economist, a great humanitarian, a great businessman." They did not remember that the Dept. of Commerce is the only department which institutes no policies. However, with a great majority, he was elected. In the early part of his administra- tion, he made many failures, but the people blamed Hoover too much. Even if he had always succeeded before, he was only human and bound to make some mistakes. However, in most things, he did -3- succeed. And he did stand the gaff. An eminent banker said re- cently, "I was in the President's office when a telephone call came through from an important city saying that every bank would close it's doors in twenty-four hours unless immediate help was given. Right under my eyes he tackled that problem and licked it. I have never been classed as a Hoover enthusiast, but I take off my hat to him. He has stood there and taken it at times when even the biggest and richest men in the country have run out on him. = Of Hoover it might well be said as Cecil said of Sir Walter Raleigh, "I know that he can toil terribly." Hoover has aged but he has not cracked. He is in good physical health despite the immensity of his burdens. It is an asset of national impor- tance to know that we have in the White House a man who can come through a time like this and still be strong. Not only strong, but stronger. He is a much better President today in my humble judgment than he wasin 1928. He is less swayed by criticism, less sensitive. He has learned the instinctive public response to boldness. He is more sure of himself, less afraid of the mysterious threat of "politics" far more nearly the Herbert Hoover we believed him to be when we voted for him. His mistakes were principally in the beginning, his strength has been chiefly in the past eighteen months. Hoover has started and carried forward the beginning of economic reconstruction. All this progress will be halted if he is thrown out of office and things will be at a stand still until Roosevelt finds himself and the country learns whether he can or can not be trusted. We shall have to go through two years again with Roosevelt as we went through them with Hoover, during which questions will be decided by Roosevelt and his subordinates with an eye to renomination. Hoover is out of that period. If he wins, he knows it is for the last time. He should and many of us believe he will be stronger than before. The only workable plan offered by any man in or out of public life was made by President Hoover. This plan is designed to stop the onrush of financial and business failures. Bruce Barton in "Shall I Vote for Hoover, says today the situation sums itself up about like this, the argument "Don't swap horses while crossing a stream" was a good argument in 1864 because Abe Lincoln was the best horse. It appeals to me in 1932 because I see nothing in Franklin Roosevelt to indicate that he is a better man than Herbert Hoover either mentally or spirit- ually. I do not like his appeal to discontent and class pre- judice. I do not like his effort to be both for Tammany and against Tammany. I do not fancy the idea of having the next four critical years used by the occupant of the White House as a -4- springboard from which to leap at renomination in 1936. I pre- fer to take a chance on a man who has stood the battle for four years and who can say to himself, "I have only four years more and nothing to think of except to try to do what I believe to be right. # October 25, 1932. 50 My dear John: Thank you for your kind letter of October 18th. I am very glad indeed to know of your friendship and of your interest in public affairs and your confidence in the Administra- tion. With best wishes, Yours faithfully, John B. Breckenridge, Plattsburgh, Missouri. bsp