Ike Hoover: White House Chief Usher

Last week Jennie presented this picture with the title Who Is This? Congratulations goes to Geneva who guessed correctly that the gentleman in the picture is none other than longtime White House usher , Ike Hoover.

Back in January, 2007 I posted I Like Ike (No Not That One...The Other One) over at History is Elementary. Here is that post in its entirety:

For nearly a half century Irwin H. Hoover was an extremely important man. He had a large amount of power, and knew where the secrets were buried for eight different presidential administrations of the United States. Imagine the conversations he overhead not just from the President, but every Congressman and every diplomat that entered the White House.

Hoover went to the White House in 1891 at the request of the Edison Company. His task was to assist in the wiring of the White House for electric lights. This was a very new and untested invention at the time and President Harrison and his wife, like many Americans at the time, were extremely afraid of the effects of having electric lights in their home. It is said the Harrisons were so afraid they didn’t even want to turn the lights on and off. Hoover was asked to stick around to make the transition to electric lights easier. He stuck around for forty-two years.

President McKinley appointed Hoover as Chief Usher where he was in charge of making the White House a home for the First Family, oversaw the many items that make the White House a museum of American History, and oversaw all of the official and ceremonial events of the White House. Today, the Chief Usher keeps track of a large budget, chooses the Christmas tree for the Blue Room, and is usually the one seen holding an umbrella for the President as he leaves or arrives at the White House.

Ike Hoover was described as being tall, immaculate, and dignified. Time magazine for March 4, 1929 described Hoover as “crisply grey of hair, vigorous of demeanor, it is he who inspects all callers, who engineers all receptions, arranges the First Lady's teas, sends the White House motor hither and yon.”At some point one source states he was offered $50,000 to tell his stories. He turned the offer down stating, “When I pass out everything goes with me.” Apparently though at some point he changed his mind and did write his memoirs. He didn’t exactly do a “tell all” book, but did leave a wonderful primary source for studies of the administrations he served.
Through Hoover’s eyes we see many of the personalities of the Presidents he served and their families.

Hoover described William McKinley as “[someone who] had a passion for cigars and was perhaps the most intense smoker of all the presidents during my life. One never saw him without a cigar in his mouth except at meals or when asleep.

”There have been many things written about the rip-roaring White House when it was invaded by Theodore Roosevelt and his horde of children. Hoover advised, “Something indeed was wrong when there were not two or more guest for [lunch].” Hoover went on to explain it was impossible to get an accurate count. “The place was really a transient boardinghouse, and how everyone got enough to eat was the wonder of the household.”

In his daily diary of events written on White House paper seen here you can see that Wilson’s inauguration was just another day at the office for Hoover. In his memoir Hoover titles the chapter, “Taft out---Wilson in: a typical inauguration day.”

When a stroke paralyzed Wilson’s left side and left him incompetent. “The President lay stretched out in the large Lincoln bed. He looked as if dead. There was no sign of life. His face bore a long cut above the temple from which the signs of blood were still evident…He was just gone as far as anyone could judge from appearances.”

In an online article titled Fakery In American Journalism by Thomas Fleming we truly can understand how grave Wilson’s situation had become though while Americans were not told about the condition of the President. Fleming uses this quotation from Hoover’s memoir to describe Wilson, “that intellectually he had shrunk from a giant to a pygmy.”

Upon the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt Hoover observed, “Republicans dropped out of sight overnight.” Those who were left seemed to have changed into Democrats.”

It was FDR who had the sad duty in 1933 to send telegrams to the widows of Presidents Harrison, Cleveland, Roosevelt, Wilson, Taft, Coolidge, and Hoover to inform them of Ike Hoover’s passing. He simply left the White House one afternoon after a day of work and had a heart attack and died at the age of sixty-two. When FDR spoke of Ike Hoover he said, “It was Ike who met me at the door when I came to make the White House my home. It was good to receive his welcome and during those months to have his help and devotion in official and family life…The nation, too, has lost a true and faithful servant, who, during every administration since that of President Harrison, has given his best to his government.”

A fellow blogger at The Boiled Egg of Infinity, stated in his post titled Sudden Rush of Widening Horizons that Hoover had the fortune of developing a unique perspective over the many years he served in the White House. He compares Hoover’s memoir to a blog and contends “if Mr. Hoover were alive today, a blog would be the ideal format for him.”

I believe he might be right.

TR Exhibit at the Ford Musuem

Yes, I have that right. You can visit a nice online exhibit on Theodore Roosevelt at the Gerald Ford Musuem.

I especially like the section that talks about his family, giving a synopsis of his wife and children:
Edith Roosevelt liked being First Lady. She had more time to spend with her husband, and his salary of $50,000 removed the usual money worries that had plagued the family. She was nervous, however, over a possible assassination attempt on her husband. Theodore began to carry a pistol, stating “If a man is willing to give his life for mine, there is no way that he can be prevented from making the attempt. But such a man must be quicker than I am in the use of his gun.” Maybe another concern should have been over her children, undoubtedly the rowdiest brood to ever occupy the White House.

The Roosevelts were a young family and brought to the White House a robust family of six children between the ages of four and 17. Sometimes counted as a seventh child was TR himself, who frolicked with the kids. “I play with the children almost every night and some child is invariably fearfully damaged in the play; but this does not seem to affect the ardor of their enjoyment.”

Alice, TR’s oldest child, and her father were frequently at odds. “Father doesn’t care for me, that is to say one eighth as much as he does for the other children,” a sentiment born when Teddy abandoned her for the Dakota Badlands. She was the most outgoing and contrary of all the kids, not unlike her father. When a friend asked TR if he could do something to control Alice he replied, “I can do one of two things. I can be President of the United States or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do both.” When a deranged man came to Sagamore Hill carrying a pistol, saying he was going to wed Alice, TR said, “Of course he’s insane. He wants to marry Alice.” In 1906, Alice was wed in the White House to Nick Longworth, in a ceremony absent of bridesmaids, because Alice did not want to share any attention that day. It was ironic that Alice later described her father as wanting to be the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral.

Namesake Theodore Jr. was a spitting image of his father in looks and manners. Much was expected of him but he could hardly live up to the standards of being TR’s oldest son. He shunned the attention Alice and his father craved and did not do as well at Harvard as the old man. Knowing how sensitive his son was to criticism, TR wrote, “Good luck, old boy! You’ll come out all right. I know you have the stuff in you, and I trust you entirely.” In later years, TR Jr. embarked on a military career that earned him the rank of General and a Congressional Medal of Honor for heroics at the Normandy invasion in World War II.

Second son Kermit was once described by his father as “a solemn, cunning mite, with queer little friends.” He followed his father and brother Ted to Harvard but he had a love of adventure, traveling to dangerous spots, and became an avid hunter. He would later travel with TR on African safari and expeditions to South America. At the outbreak of World War I, he joined the British army, later enlisting in the U.S. Army.

Daughter Ethel was less rambunctious than her siblings but a darling in TR’s eyes. He once said she was a “small, motherly home-body.” During World War I she enlisted as a nurse in a Paris hospital where her physician husband also served.

Son Archie was a “sweet-tempered little fellow, not at all combative” like his older brothers. Archie served as captain in the army in World War I and was severely wounded, later becoming a prosperous Wall Street banker.

Youngest son Quentin was probably the most disrespectful of authority, and his parents knew he was a handful. To Quentin’s teacher TR wrote, “Mrs. Roosevelt and I have no scruples whatever against corporal punishment …. If you find him defying your authority or committing any serious misdeed, then let me know and I will whip him.” Despite his rebellious nature, Quentin was loved as the baby of the family. Tragically, Quentin, a pilot in World War I, was shot down and killed, one of the lowest points in the lives of his parents.

Was Martha Washington Hot?

There are historians who are now making the argument that the mother of our country was very attractive in her youth. This contrasts to the portraits of her as a much older woman as First Lady. Details can be found in the article Fresh Look at Martha Washington: Less First Frump, More Foxy Lady from the Washington Post. The article is written by Brigid Schulte.

Was Martha Washington hot? It is hard to tell. Here is some text from the article:

Contrary to popular opinion, even among some historians who should know better, Martha was not fat when she married George. Yes, she liked to read the Bible, but she devoured gothic romance novels, too. She capably ran the five plantations left to her when her first husband died, bargaining with London merchants for the best tobacco prices. And unknown to most, while George was courting her she had another suitor, a Virginia planter with much greater wealth and stature. In a little-known letter, Charles Carter wrote to his brother about what a beauty she was and how he hoped to "arouse a flame in her breast."

"He was clearly sexually excited by her," said Patricia Brady, a historian who wrote the first revisionist biography of Martha a few years ago. "When Martha decided to marry George, she didn't marry him just to be a kind stepfather to her two children. He was a hunk, and I think she decided to make herself happy. People are just starting to see her as a real person."

If George Washington was smart enough to beat the British and become the first president, I think he was smart enough to find an attractive wife. However, I would like to see the computerized age-regression portrait of her in her mid-20s that are being planned before I make up my mind.