The
presidential transition
of
Herbert Hoover
began when he won the United States
1928 United States presidential election
, becoming the
president-elect
, and ended when Hoover was
inaugurated
on March 4, 1929.
Hoover took a "goodwill trip" to
Latin America
during his transition, in hopes of improving relations between the United States and nations in the region.
Hoover, largely, did not begin focusing on shaping his administration until the final two weeks of his transition. At the time that Hoover's occurred, presidential transitions were much less complex than they are today. The term "
presidential transition
" had not even begun to be widely applied to the period between an individual's election as president of the United States and their assumption of the office.
[1]
"Friendly takeover"
[
edit
]
The transition was an example of a "friendly takeover", in which the outgoing president and the president-elect were of the same
political party
(
Republican
). It would be the last such transition until
the 1988?89 presidential transition of George H. W. Bush
.
[2]
[3]
Secret Service protection
[
edit
]
Beginning on November 7, the day after the election, the newly minted president-elect and his family were given protection by the
United States Secret Service
.
[4]
Economy
[
edit
]
While the
stock market
would crash
months into Hoover's presidency, starting the
Great Depression
, the performance of the economy during his transition appeared strong. Among
United States presidential transitions
, the stock market performed stronger than it had during a presidential transition for decades. The growth of the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
had experienced during Hoover's presidential transition (21.8%) would not be exceeded by any United States presidential transition until the
presidential transition of Donald Trump
.
[5]
[6]
Latin American tour
[
edit
]
President-elect Hoover and his wife aboard the
USS
Utah
in South America, December, 1928.
On November 19, 1928, President-elect Hoover embarked on a ten-nation
goodwill tour
of
Latin America
, first departing from
San Pedro
, in
Los Angeles
,
California
aboard the
USS
Maryland
.
[4]
[7]
[8]
[9]
He was accompanied on the trip by his wife
Lou Henry Hoover
.
[10]
He delivered twenty-five speeches, stressing his plans to reduce American political and military interference in Latin American affairs. In sum, he pledged that the United States would act as a "good neighbor."
[11]
[12]
[13]
Hoover's work as
United States secretary of commerce
had led him to view Latin America as important, and believe that there was need to improve relations.
[14]
Hoover began planning the trip soon after winning the election.
[14]
It was the first time that a president-elect had taken such a goodwill trip abroad.
[14]
Hoover also planned the trip as means of staying away from
Washington, D.C.
, avoiding men seeking to lobby for
patronage
posts.
[14]
The administration of outgoing president
Calvin Coolidge
lent their support to Hoover's plans to take this trip.
[9]
Henry P. Fletcher
accompanied Hoover on the trip, serving as official advisor to the president-elect as well as a representative of Coolidge and the
Department of State
.
[9]
Coolidge ordered that Hoover should be treated with presidential honors on his trip, despite Hoover having not yet entered the office.
[9]
While crossing the
Andes
from Chile, a plot by
Argentine
anarchists to bomb Hoover's train as it crossed the vast Argentinian
central plain
was foiled. The group of plotters were led by
Severino Di Giovanni
. The bomber was arrested before he could place the explosives on the rails. Hoover professed unconcern, tearing off the front page of a newspaper that revealed the plot and explaining, "It's just as well that Lou shouldn't see it," referring to his wife.
[15]
During his travels, he delivered roughly 25 speeches.
[9]
Public reception in the United States of Hoover's trip was largely positive.
[9]
Dates
|
Country
|
Locations
|
Details
|
November 26, 1928
|
Honduras
|
Amapala
|
Met with President-elect
Vicente Mejia Colindres
and Foreign Minister
Augusto Coello
.
[16]
Departed the U.S. November 19, 1928.
|
November 26, 1928
|
El Salvador
|
Cutuco
|
Met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Martinez Suarez.
[16]
|
November 27, 1928
|
Nicaragua
|
Corinto
|
Met with President
Adolfo Diaz
and President-elect
Jose Maria Moncada
.
|
November 28, 1928
|
Costa Rica
|
San Jose
|
Met with President
Cleto Gonzalez Viquez
.
[16]
[18]
|
December 1, 1928
|
Ecuador
|
Guayaquil
|
Met with President
Isidro Ayora
.
[16]
|
December 5, 1928
|
Peru
|
Lima
|
Met with President
Augusto B. Leguia
.
[16]
|
December 8?11, 1928
|
Chile
|
Antofagasta
,
Santiago
|
Met with President
Carlos Ibanez del Campo
. Met with Bolivian diplomats to discuss the ongoing
Tacna?Arica
dispute.
[16]
[19]
|
December 13?15, 1928
|
Argentina
|
Buenos Aires
|
Met with President
Hipolito Yrigoyen
.
[20]
Also reported to President Coolidge on the success of his tour via
telegraph
.
[21]
|
December 16?18, 1928
|
Uruguay
|
Montevideo
|
Met with President
Juan Campisteguy
, and addressed the
National Council of Administration
.
[16]
|
December 21?23, 1928
|
Brazil
|
Rio de Janeiro
|
Met with President
Washington Luis
; addressed the
National Congress
and the
Supreme Federal Court
.
Returned to U.S. January 6, 1929.
[22]
|
Vacation in Florida
[
edit
]
After Hoover returned from his Latin American trip, he avoided the press and patronage seekers by vacationing in
Florida
until February 19.
[3]
[14]
Hoover was in little hurry to begin preparing to take office. Presidential transitions were much less complex when Hoover took office than they have been in more recent decades.
[3]
Shaping of Hoover's administration
[
edit
]
After his Florida vacation, Hoover began the business of shaping his administration in the final two weeks of his transition period.
[3]
Hoover retained two members of Coolidge's
Cabinet
. One was
Secretary of the Treasury
Andrew W. Mellon
, whom, per the later recounting of historian David Bruner, Hoover retained in order to avoid a reaction on
Wall Street
, as the financial sector held Mellon in strong esteem.
[3]
The other was
Secretary of Labor
James J. Davis
, who was retained, per Bruner's accounting, in order for Hoover to avoid the pressure to appoint
John L. Lewis
to the position.
[3]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Riley, Russell L. (January 5, 2021).
"Presidential transitions didn't use to matter. Here's what changed"
.
The Washington Post
. Retrieved
May 21,
2021
.
- ^
"Bush transition team already setting course for the first 100 days"
.
Newspapers.com
. The Pittsburgh Press. Associated Press. 13 Nov 1988
. Retrieved
19 May
2021
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Weaver, Warren Jr. (1988-11-13).
"THE NATION: History's Precedent; How Hoover Handled The '29 Transition"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
10 June
2021
.
- ^
a
b
"National Affairs: President-Elect"
.
Time
. 1928-11-19
. Retrieved
10 June
2021
.
- ^
Light, Larry (19 January 2017).
"Will Donald Trump suffer the GOP stock curse: a bearish 2017?"
.
www.cbsnews.com
. CBS News
. Retrieved
10 June
2021
.
- ^
Cox, Jeff (2017-01-23).
"By this market measure, Trump's transition 'was the smoothest ever'
"
.
CNBC
. Retrieved
10 June
2021
.
- ^
"Travels of President Herbert C. Hoover"
. U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from
the original
on March 8, 2016
. Retrieved
February 5,
2016
.
- ^
Jeansonne, Glen (2012).
The Life of Herbert Hoover: Fighting Quaker, 1928-1933
. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 44?45.
ISBN
978-1-137-34673-5
. Retrieved
May 20,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
DeConde, Alexander (1950).
"Herbert Hoover's Good Will Tour"
.
The Historian
.
12
(2): 167?181.
doi
:
10.1111/j.1540-6563.1950.tb00106.x
.
ISSN
0018-2370
.
JSTOR
24436083
. Retrieved
10 June
2021
.
- ^
"Viva Hoover! The 1928 Good Will Tour"
.
National Archives
. 2019-02-21
. Retrieved
10 June
2021
.
- ^
"Herbert Hoover: Foreign Affairs"
.
millercenter.org
. Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia
. Retrieved
February 24,
2016
.
- ^
"Travels of President Herbert C. Hoover"
. U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from
the original
on 2016-03-08
. Retrieved
2017-02-08
.
- ^
Deconde, Alexander (March 1950). "Herbert Hoover's Good Will Tour".
Historian
.
12
(2): 167?181.
doi
:
10.1111/j.1540-6563.1950.tb00106.x
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Schwartz, Thomas (6 November 2019).
"The Purpose of Hoover's 1928 Goodwill Tour ? Hoover Heads"
.
hoover.blogs.archives.gov
. Herbert Hoover Library and Museum
. Retrieved
10 June
2021
.
- ^
"The Museum Exhibit Galleries, Gallery 5: The Logical Candidate, The President-Elect"
. West Branch, Iowa: Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum. Archived from
the original
on March 6, 2016
. Retrieved
February 24,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Hoover, Herbert (1974).
"Supplement IV - Addresses During a Trip to Central and South America"
.
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Herbert Hoover
. Vol. 1. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. pp. 615?642. Archived from
the original
on August 3, 2016
. Retrieved
May 31,
2016
.
- ^
Cohen, Alex (November 29, 1928).
"Don Cleto Gonzales Viquez, President of Costa Rica, in welcoming President Elect Herbert C. Hoover today, made the following address: Our Love OF U. S. Great, Message from Costa Rica"
.
Chicago Daily Tribune
. p. 2
. Retrieved
May 20,
2016
.
- ^
DeConde, Alexander (1951).
Herbert Hoover's Latin-American Policy
. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. p. 36.
ISBN
9780804713436
. Retrieved
May 20,
2016
.
- ^
Kinsley, Philip (December 15, 1928).
"Silent Hoover Wins Argentine Man of Silence: President Irigoyen Made Friend of U. S."
Chicago Daily Tribune
. p. 1
. Retrieved
May 20,
2016
.
- ^
"Good Will Tour Success, Hoover Wires Coolidge: Uses Direct Cable Line from Buenos Aires"
.
Chicago Daily Tribune
. December 16, 1928. p. 3
. Retrieved
May 20,
2016
.
- ^
"Hoover Enters Home Waters; Begins Packing: Expected in U. S. at 8 A. M. Sunday"
.
Chicago Daily Tribune
. January 4, 1929. p. 21
. Retrieved
May 20,
2016
.
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Transitions
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Planned transitions
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Related
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