Description:

Hoover Herbert

Single page 8.5" x 11" of graphite doodles and autographed notes in the hand of President Herbert Hoover.  Overall smudging of the graphite, else in near fine condition. Accompanied by a separate card signed by President Hoover, 3.25" x 2.25" with small paper clip stain. Ex Forest Sweet and Robert Douglas Stewart, with attached biography.

 

An outstanding example of President Herbert Hoover's doodles who brought an engineer's mind to his reflective scribbles. He was known to draw pictures  that are consistently geometric, intricate, and clever in the way they link disparate pictures into a larger whole. A visual Technocrat-In-Chief, he clearly did not lack for imagination. Hoover loved the study of engineering. He was known to have said it "is a great profession, there is the fascination of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper. Then it moves to realization in stone or metal or energy. Then it brings jobs and home to men. Then it elevates the standards of living and adds to the comforts of life. That is the engineer's high privilege."

 

Known for his abstract doodles, Hoover would create dynamic shapes that suggest diamonds, bow ties or kites, this being one such classic example. In addition one can see the salient thoughts of his meandering reflection when one studies his seemingly randomly placed words. However instead they quite closely related to the period of 1929/1930 and the relevant issues at the time. On this eclectic sheet of doodles, Hoover included the last names of two important relevant people he appointed to his staff, Baker and Sackett. His  partial phrase "Sackett to Germany" was clearly a reference to Frederic Mosley Sacket, who served as a Senator from Kentucky, and then whom Herbert Hoover appointed as Ambassador to Germany. Sackett served as the Ambassador to Germany from 1930 to 1933 until he resigned. "Baker" was likely a reference to Newton D. Baker, who in 1929 was appointed by President Hoover to the Wickersham Commission on issues relating to law enforcement, criminal activity, police brutality, and Prohibition. Baker was previously Secretary of War under Woodrow Wilson, was well loved and was considered a civilian's civilian. It is also most likely that Hoover's initials of "WC" was a continuation of a meandering thought regarding the Wickersham Commission.

 

An excellent example of President Hoover's doodles accompanied by a signed card. He was the first president recognized in his own day as a skilled doodler. One such set of Hoover signed geometric doodles (without any autographed notes), have previously sold for a sizable sum considered at the time to represent "a fair portion of the President's annual salary".

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