HOOBERT HEAVER

President Joe Biden's State of the Union speech last night was, according to the popular media, powerful, aggressive, snarky, strong, pugnacious, fiery and so forth, where he often baited the Republican bloc, ad libbing liberally, mostly conning them.  

• The average SoU is around one hour seven minutes long.  His last night was maybe a minute longer.  And after this campaign speech, he went around and personally chatted with anyone, until the very end when the lights were turned off.
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  This venue is usually one where the president's supporters stand and clap a lot, while the opposition jeers and sits.  
• Biden spoke to the nation, but mostly wanted to influence Speaker Mike Johnson and members of the Supreme Court.  

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  He mentioned Donald Trump 13 times, but not by name, calling him my predecessor.  
• More than anything else, this was a campaign rally, and not at all unifying.
• With good strength, he accomplished one major goal:  while, okay, somewhat old, he had wisdom, experience and a true love for his country, unlike the other guy.  He is the firewall for democracy.

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  The Republican retort, provided by Alabama Senator Katie Britt was a disaster:  dramatic, creepy and insincere.  It's almost like she pre-recorded her response without watching the State of the Union.

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  Donald Trump's Truth Social Channel effort to disparage Biden largely failed, as the station sputtered.
• Oh, the designated survivor (remember the TV series with Jack Bauer played by Kiefer Sutherland?) was Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.

Before I go on to the topic of today, here is Stephen Colbert's live (in real time) monologue about what he termed Biden' Feisty, Fiery, Heated State of the Union Speech.  For those who want to go back in time and actually watch Biden's entire talk, click on THIS.  You need to skip along to around the 25 minute mark to see him being introduced.

So today, let me go on to another U.S. president, someone who many blamed for the Great Depression.  But maybe unfairly, for this would have happened to anyone on this watch.  Spent my undergraduate years on the Stanford campus.  The iconic feature was Hoover Tower.  Wasn't really sure why it was there until after I graduated.  Turned out that at the base of this tower was the Hoover Institution, a bastion of conservatism on campus.  I did not then appreciate what that was until much later in life, for the campus was, and still is, overwhelmingly liberal.

Which President is the most forgotten, but did good for the United States?

Imagine being an orphan passed from relative to relative. Then becoming the first student — literally the first ever — to enroll in Stanford University. You then con your way into a job managing a failing mine in Australia by lying about your age, your degree and your marital status and turn the mine into a profitable one. The mining company you work for then controls 50% of all gold in Australia.

From poor passed-around orphan you become a self made millionaire. Organize the first international humanitarian effort in human history for Belgium in 1914 and later do the same for Russia during the civil war, feeding millions. You then become president only to lose after one term to a rich guy from a legacy family whose administration then spends decades fudging and outright lying about the effectiveness of your domestic policy…

That man was Herbert Hoover, in office from 1929 until 1933. One of the greatest “forgotten” American presidents, a man whose legacy is completely overshadowed by Roosevelt, who came after him. Hoover was a tenacious man. He had grit. And he deserves to be remembered.

Anyway, the above was written by someone else.  I can add to the above:

• He became an internationally-known expert on mining and wrote the leading textbook on the subject.

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  At Stanford met Lou Henry, who was the first female from Stanford to gain a degree in geology, and married her.  They had two sons.
• When the U.S. entered World War I, President Woodrow Wilson asked Hoover to lead the government's Food Administration, then as Secretary of Commerce.

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  He was a Republican who was elected president in 1928, and when Black Thursday came on 29October1929, his problem was that he did not want to use the federal government to control the government, fearing this would lead to socialism.  This led to the Great Depression.
• He lost to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, leading to the New Deal, Social Security in 1935, and much of what the U.S. is today that Democrats support.

In 2011, the Hoover Institution published Freedom Betrayed:  Herbert Hoover's Secret History of the Second World War and Its Aftermath.  

• Hoover wrote most of this as his magnum opus during WWII, but it took more than half a century to complete it.
• He was of course opposed to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's foreign policies and asked:
• Did FDR deceitfully maneuver the U.S. into World War II?
• Did he unnecessarily appease Joseph Stalin at the Tehran conference in 1943?
• Did communist sympathizers in FDR's departments influence wartime decisions?

One of the most renowned radio bloopers of all time:

"One of the most famous spoonerisms of all time occurred at the inauguration of Herbert Hoover as President of The United States. Harry von Zell, radio announcer: 'The next voice you hear will be that of our new president, Hoobert Heever.'"

According to Snopes, yes, it happened.  Hear it on You Tube.

I'll add with the Best TV News Bloopers in History.  One more, the Top 20 Funniest MUST SEE TV Bloopers.  Oh well, those came from newscasters and television, what about one hour of the Classic Movie Bloopers Uncensored.

Ending with Netflix.  They will on July 20 show the live boxing match between 57 year old Mike Tyson against 27 year old You Tuber Jake Paul.

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