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At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Hoover, Herbert (1874-1964) to Bruce Barton

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00691 Author/Creator: Hoover, Herbert (1874-1964) Place Written: Palo Alto, California Type: Typed letter signed Date: 3 October 1933 Pagination: 1 p. ; 26 x 19 cm. Order a Copy

Comments on retirement: "A smoking President receives enough pipes to last a life time. Likewise fishing tackle. It is the only endowment he gets, except a troubled soul." Also mentions that "The country is going sour on the New Deal." Expresses his fear that the country will veer further left politically, and after the "middle class (80% of America) realizes it ruin" will veer back to the far right, "into some American interpretation of Hitler or Mussolini." Marked "personal" with one manuscript addition at the end.

October 3, 1933
Personal

My dear Barton:
I have compiled with your momentous wish. Your friend does not need to send an exchange. A smoking President receives enough pipes to last a life time. Likewise fishing tackle. It is the only endowment he gets, except a troubled soul.
It seems useless to discuss the situation. The country is going sour on the New Deal, despite the heroic efforts of the Press. Unless there is a halt, the real question will be that, having cast off all moorings, will we swing to the "right" or to the "left". I fear first the "left" and then when the great middle class (80% of America) realizes its ruin, it will drive into some American interpretation of Hitler or Mussolini.
There is no trouble finding a large occupation in California doing nothing and conducting a detached observatory of national trends.
You better come out here!
Yours sincerely,
Herbert Hoover
Mr. Bruce Barton
383 Madison Avenue
New York City, New York

Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964
Barton, Bruce, 1886-1967

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