TLS, one page, 7.25 x 10.5, personal letterhead, August 4, 1928. Letter to Walter F. Brown at the Department of Commerce. In full: “I enclose herewith an advance copy of the Acceptance Speech. I found myself a good deal troubled about the paragraph on the colored people. I had written the speech with the very deliberate attempt to cover all groups equally in every particular. I felt that it was undesirable to pick out any particular racial group – that it was more in their own interest to treat them as Americans. Furthermore, if I made the statement you suggested, I would have to put in a statement on the whole question of sectionalism, north and south, which would be a strong antidote for the people of the south. I thought it better to deal with this whole subject later on, on a separate occasion when we could all give more thought to it and when we would have a better understanding of the situation generally.” In fine condition, with some scattered wrinkling and a paperclip impression to top edge. Accompanied by the aforementioned advance speech copy, labeled at the top, “Confidential,” of Hoover’s “Address of Acceptance of the Republican nomination for President,” given at Stanford University on August 11, 1928.
During the early goings of the 20th century, the Republican Party’s strategy of winning elections in Southern states involved exploiting anti-African American racism among Southern white voters and appealing to states' rights. Hoover’s platform contained no substantive concessions to African American interests, aside from a perfunctory sentence about the necessity for anti-lynching legislation. Hoover instead focused on the white delegations at the Republican National Convention, and courted a racially conservative white vote that supported segregation. In spite of Hoover’s confidential report here that he found himself “a good deal troubled about the paragraph on the colored people” and “had written the speech with the very deliberate attempt to cover all groups equally in every particular,” the 1928 presidential campaign marked a significant step toward the eventual black exodus from Republican ranks, even though a majority of African Americans would cast their vote for Hoover. A letter of unusually interesting content. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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