HOOVER, HERBERT & HIS CABINET. Fifteen signatures. 16mo. N.p., Misc. dates. Cards and cut signatures of President Hoover, First Lady LOU HOOVER and all the members of the president’s cabinet.

HERBERT HOOVER (1874-1964; “Herbert Hoover” on a blank card) gained international attention during World War I with his organized distribution of food and supplies to Europe and was appointed Secretary of Commerce by Harding in 1921. When President Coolidge declined to run for an additional term, Hoover sought and gained his party’s nomination. Coolidge decided to withhold his endorsement, once observing, “for six years that man has given me unsolicited advice—all of it bad,” (quoted in The Presidency of Calvin Coolidge, Ferrell). Hoover defeated Democrat Al Smith in 1928, but his presidency witnessed the 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression, during which Hoover promoted an ill-conceived philosophy of “rugged individualism.” Soundly defeated by Roosevelt in 1932, Hoover published The Challenge to Liberty (1934), which cautioned against the threat of fascism inherent, he felt, within Roosevelt’s “New Deal” policies. Throughout the 1930s, “he opposed every substantive measure for depression relief, including attacking ‘radical influences’ in Washington,” (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

First Lady LOU HENRY HOOVER (1874-1944; “Lou Henry Hoover” on a blank card) met her husband at Stanford University, where she was the only female geology major and Hoover was an engineering student. She later accompanied her husband to China, where he worked as a mining engineer and became fluent in Chinese, remaining the only first lady proficient in an Asian language. During World War I, Mrs. Hoover assisted her husband in his distribution of food and supplies to Europe. Additionally, she was a supporter of the Girl Scouts and an advocate for women’s physical fitness.

Hoover’s Vice President CHARLES CURTIS (1860-1936;“Charles Curtis” on a U.S. Senate Chamber card) was a member of the Kaw nation with Osage, Potawatomi and European ancestry, born before Kansas joined the union. He practiced law in Topeka and was elected to Congress in 1893, serving six terms as a representative. In 1907, he was elected to the Senate, where he remained for several decades. During his tenure Curtis held many leadership positions including Senate Minority Whip and Senate Majority Leader and was revered for his consensus-building abilities. Despite his public disapproval of Herbert Hoover, Curtis eventually agreed to be Hoover’s running mate on the Republican ticket. The pair were elected by a landslide in 1928, and Curtis remains the only Native American to hold the office of vice president and the highest ranking Native American member of the executive branch.

Secretary of State HENRY L. STIMSON (1867-1950;“Henry L. Stimson” on a blank card pasted on a sheet) prosecuted anti-trust cases under Theodore Roosevelt before losing a race to become New York’s governor. A protégée of Elihu Root, his long and influential political career included positions of secretary of war under Presidents Taft, Roosevelt and Harry Truman, and secretary of state under Hoover in 1929. He famously shuttered the US cryptanalytic service after assuming his cabinet position, defending his opposition to the bureau’s activities by declaring that “Gentlemen do not read each other’s mail.” Stimson chaired the World Disarmament Conference from 1932-1934 and, in 1932, introduced the Stimson Doctrine, which stated the United States’ intention not to recognize any state created by aggression, a doctrine prompted by Japan’s seizure of Manchuria.

Secretary of State FRANK B. KELLOGG (1856-1937; “Frank B. Kellogg” on a blank “Autograph” card) was a Minnesota attorney, tapped by Theodore Roosevelt to prosecute antitrust cases who rose to prominence while trying cases against Union Pacific Railroad and Standard Oil. In 1916, he was elected to the Senate and, at the end of World War I, was one of the few members of the Republican Party who supported ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. After losing his re-election bid, Calvin Coolidge appointed him ambassador to Great Britain in 1924, and the following year he became Coolidge’s secretary of state. Kellogg is perhaps best known for the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact, which called for the peaceful settlement of future disputes between its original signatories, France, the United States and Germany, and later the United Kingdom, Soviet Union and other countries who agreed to adhere to its principles. For his role in arbitrating that agreement, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1929.

Secretary of the Interior RAY LYMAN WILBUR (1875-1949; “Ray Lyman Wilbur / Mch ’29 Washington” on a card pasted onto a sheet) was a medical doctor and president of Stanford University from 1916 to 1943. Wilbur and Hoover became close personal friends while students at Stanford, where Hoover later lectured and sat on the board of trustees. Wilbur was also president of the American Medical Association and attended to President Warren G. Harding during his final days in California. Wilbur sought to correct the abuses of the Teapot Dome Scandal that had occurred during the Harding administration and, like Hoover, was a harsh critic of FDR.

Attorney General WILLIAM DEWITT MITCHELL (1874-1955;“William D. Mitchell” on a blank card pasted onto a sheet) was a successful attorney who fought in the Spanish-American War and World War I before serving as solicitor general of the United States. He served on Hoover’s cabinet for his entire term and was later chief counsel of the congressional committee that investigated the Pearl Harbor attack.

WALTER F. BROWN (1869-1961; “Walter F. Brown” on a blank card pasted onto a sheet) held the position of Postmaster General for the entirety of Hoover’s term. However, Brown’s tenure was marred by the Air Mail scandal, which related to how contracts were awarded to airlines after the Air Mail Act of 1930, legislation designed to support the financially ailing air travel industry. Nonetheless, Brown remained prominent in Republican politics.

A member of a wealthy Pittsburgh family, Secretary of the Treasury ANDREW W. MELLON (1855-1937; “Aw. Mellon” on a “Secretary of the Treasury” card pasted onto a sheet ) joined his family’s banking firm the same year that the Panic of 1873 devastated the company. He proved his value by helping lead the bank through its crisis, taking full ownership in 1882. Thereafter, often in conjunction with Henry Clay Frick, he branched out into other industries including gas and petroleum, aluminum and steel, mining, insurance, and whiskey. To protect his vast business holdings, Mellon supported President McKinley’s tariffs and opposed the antitrust legislation championed by Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson. Mellon aided Warren G. Harding’s presidential race, which led to his cabinet appointment. Ironically, as owner of the Old Overholt whiskey company, he faced the Treasury Department’s enforcement of prohibition. Mellon overhauled the federal tax code and despite the economic depression of 1920-1921, focused on reducing the debt from World War I. He was lauded for the nation’s recovery and credited with ushering in the era of prosperity dubbed the “Roaring Twenties.” Mellon continued as secretary during the Coolidge and Hoover administrations, but was blamed for the Great Depression, during which he urged Hoover not to intervene; Hoover appointed him ambassador to the United Kingdom in 1932. A vocal critic of the New Deal, FDR accepted Mellon’s offer to fund what became Washington’s National Gallery of Art, to which he also bequeathed his vast art collection.

JAMES J. DAVIS (1873-1947; “James J. Davis” on a card pasted onto a sheet) worked in a Pittsburgh steel mill before entering politics and serving as Secretary of Labor under presidents Harding, Coolidge and Hoover. He went on to represent Pennsylvania in the Senate.

Hoover made American Steel Vice President ROBERT P. LAMONT (1867-1948; “R.P. Lamont” on a blank card pasted onto a sheet) his Secretary of Commerce in 1929, a post he resigned in 1932 to become president of the American Iron and Steel Institute.

ARTHUR M. HYDE (1877-1947; “Arthur M. Hyde” on a card pasted onto a sheet). An attorney and one-term Republican governor from Missouri, Hyde served as Hoover’s Secretary of Agriculture during the dire days of the Great Depression and the onset of the Dust Bowl.

A descendent of John Adams and John Quincy Adams and Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Williams Crowninshield, CHARLES F. ADAMS III (1866-1954; “C.F. Adams” on a blank card pasted onto a sheet) was a businessman and politician. As Hoover’s Secretary of the Navy, he helped ratify the London Naval Treaty and maintained naval power during the Great Depression. He was also a notable yachtsman.

Iowa Congressman JAMES W. GOOD (1866-1929; “James W. Good” on a card pasted onto a sheet) helped elect Hoover who made him Secretary of War, a post he held for a mere eight months before his sudden death from peritonitis.

Former vice president to Calvin Coolidge, Hoover appointed CHARLES GATES DAWES (1865-1951; “Charles G. Dawes” on a blank card pasted onto a sheet with a printed photograph) Ambassador to the United Kingdom. He is best known for devising the Dawes Plan for World War I reparations for which he was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.

In very good condition with little wear.