For Teacher Appreciation Week, here’s an article written by Herbert Hoover dedicated to a teacher in Salem, Oregon. Miss Gray helped him develop a love of reading.
Readers Digest asked Herbert Hoover to prepare an article on the best advice he had ever received. “Thank You Miss Gray” was published in July 1959.
(Images: “The best advice I ever had” article by Herbert Hoover, 7/1959. From Hoover’s Articles, Addresses and Public Statements in the Herbert Hoover Papers in the Hoover Presidential Library. More teacher-inspired records are being posted at the National Archives Education page.)
Inauguration Fact: As the first President, Washington set many inaugural precedents.
But his inaugurations were also very different in ways that would not be repeated. The oath of office is usually administered the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court during the ceremony. The first President had not yet appointed any Supreme Court Justices, and so he was sworn in by Robert R. Livingston, the Chancellor of New York.
For his second inauguration, Washington was sworn in by Supreme Court Justice William Cushing. Washington is the only President whose inauguration was held in two different cities: New York and Philadelphia.
Washington also set the precedent of swearing on a Bible, a tradition followed by succeeding Presidents.
Image: Poster celebrating George Washington’s Inaugural Sesquicentennial, 1939 (ARC 1656617).
Inauguration Fact: Presidents do not need to be inaugurated. In case of the death of a President, the oath of office can be administered by a nearby official.
Vice Presidents John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, and Chester A. Arthur were all sworn in after the death of a President (and none of them were reelected).
Theodore Roosevelt took the oath in Buffalo, NY, after the assassination of William McKinley. In 1923, Calvin Coolidge was at home in Vermont when Warren Harding died and had to be sworn in by his father, a notary public and justice of the peace. Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in on board Air Force One after President Kennedy’s death.
And Gerald Ford took the oath of office in the East Room of the White House after President Nixon resigned.
Image: Harry S. Truman taking the oath of office as President of the United States in the Cabinet Room of the White House, following the death of President Franklin Roosevelt, 04/12/1945 (ARC 199062), Truman Presidential Library.
Inauguration Fact: The Constitution does not dictate where the inauguration should happen.
Washington’s first inauguration took place in New York on a second-floor balcony of Federal Hall, with a crowd assembled in the streets below. Washington’s second inauguration and John Adams’s only inauguration were held in Philadelphia.
Even when the ceremony was held in the new capital city, the location still varied. Jefferson, the first President to be inaugurated in Washington, DC, took the oath twice in the Senate Chamber of the Capitol.
Starting with Andrew Jackson in 1829, inauguration ceremonies were held on the Capitol’s East Portico, but even that was not permanent. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fourth and final inauguration was a small, wartime ceremony held on the South Portico of the White House.
In 1981, Ronald Reagan became the first President to to take the oath of office on the West Portico of the Capitol, facing out onto the Mall.
Image Lyndon Johnson takes the Oath of Office as President of the United States on January 20, 1965, Johnson Presidential Library.
Inauguration Fact: The shortest Inaugural Address is Washington’s second address at just 133 words. The longest Inaugural Address was 8,495 words, delivered by President Harrison on an extremely cold day. (He died of pneumonia a month later.)
One of the most memorable lines in American history comes from an Inaugural Address. On March 4, 1933, President Roosevelt was sworn in, and told the crowd that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
In honor of the upcoming Inauguration Day, George Washington’s first Inaugural Address is on display at the National Archives until January 31.
Image: Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address, 03/04/1933, ARC 197333.
Happy Halloween! Who can guess the real identity of this Keystone Kop?
Why do we have the Electoral College? Our Founding Fathers worried that even qualified citizens (generally white, male landowners) wouldn’t have the information necessary to make a truly informed decision.
So they decided to give the States the authority to appoint educated, well-read Electors to vote on behalf of their citizens. As the Constitution makes clear, the States elect the President and Vice-President, individuals don’t.
The Electoral College is managed by the Federal Register, part of the National Archives. You can learn more by visiting our website and watching our new video that explains how the votes actually get counted.
You can also like the Federal Register on Facebook or follow us on Twitter (@ElectoralCollge) for the latest updates.
Image: Tally of the 1824 Electoral College Vote, 02/09/1825 (ARC 306207)
Source: blogs.archives.gov
The word “czar” may seem inappropriate in a republic, but it has been used to describe independent executive branch officials with significant authority over a policy area.
Wednesday at noon, Mark Rozell discusses the history of the Presidential czars since FDR’s administration. A book signing will follow the program. This program can also be watched live on our Ustream channel. Go to http://www.ustream.tv/NARA
Join us at noon in the McGowan Theater of the National Archives building in Washington, DC, for this free public lecture!
It’s time to play Hooverball! Hooverball was played each morning on the White House lawn during President Hoover’s administration.
The game was created by Hoover’s doctor to help the President slim down and keep fit.
“It is more strenuous than either boxing, wrestling or football,” wrote Will Irwin, a friend of Hoover’s, in a 1931 article “The President Watches His Waistline” in Physical Culture magazine. “It has the virtue of getting at nearly every muscle in the body.”
Every year, eager Hooverball enthusiasts compete in a tournament during Hoover’s Hometown Days. This year is the 25th Annual National Hoover-Ball Championships.
Learn more about the history of Hooverball on the Hoover Presidential Library web page.
Source: go.usa.gov
A look back at the last US team to win gold in women’s gymnastics!
The National Archives holds Federal records, so we don’t have any pictures of this year’s gold-medal winning gymnasts (but if they visit the White House when they come home, we will eventually have those records). Instead, here’s a Presidential photograph from the William J. Clinton Presidential Library from 1996, the last time the American team won gold in women’s gymnastics: President Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Chelsea Clinton pose for a photo with the U.S. Olympic Women’s Gymnastics Team in the Blue Room, August 7, 1996. (Photographer: Bob McNeely)
Who is your favorite gymnast of the 2012 Fab Five?
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