Partly-printed DS, one page, 8.5 x 7, June 12, 1928. A "Consent for Use of Name as First Choice for the Presidency" form for the 1928 Republican National Convention, in full: "I, Herbert Hoover, residing at Stanford University Campus, City of Palo Alto, County of Santa Clara, State of California, hereby authorize and give my consent to Frank B. Grove of Cadiz in the County of Harrison, State of Ohio, to use my name in a Declaration of Candidacy as Alternate to the Republican National Convention as his First Choice for the nomination for the Presidency of the United States by said National Convention to be held in the City of Kansas City on the 12th day of June, 1928." Signed at the conclusion in fountain pen by Hoover as the potential Republican candidate and countersigned by Lawrence Richey and George Akerson as witnesses. Richey served as a special assistant and secretary to Hoover during his public life, and Akerson would go on to become the first official White House Press Secretary.
A second form is signed by James R. Garfield, consenting to the use of his name as Grove's "Second Choice for the nomination for the Presidency." Both are affixed to a larger 8.5 x 14 document, headed, "Declaration of Candidacy For Alternate to National Convention," in which Frank B. Grove declares himself as a "candidate for election to the position of Alternate from the Eighteenth Congressional District of Ohio." At the bottom of the document is a printed statement, dated February 20, 1928: "I, Frank B. Grove, candidate for election as Alternate to the Republican National Convention, at the Primary Election next hereafter to be held, do hereby state that Herbert Hoover is my First Choice for nomination as candidate of my party for the Presidency of the United States, and that James R. Garfield is my Second Choice therefor." Below, it specifies: "The name of no candidate for the Presidency shall be used without his written consent." On the reverse is a "Certificate of Five Electors," filled out and signed by five electors from the county to certify Grove's eligibility to be a candidate for alternate. In fine condition, with some light toning and soiling.
Notably, under Ohio law, a delegate to a party's presidential nominating convention must have the written consent of their first and second choices—this law remains in place to this day. With these consent forms, Herbert Hoover and James Rudolph Garfield—the son of former president James A. Garfield—authorized Frank B. Grove to nominate them for the presidency at the Republican National Convention, which took place in Kansas City from June 12 to June 15, 1928. Hoover came away with the nomination at the top of the ticket, with Charles Curtis as the nominee for vice president. The Republican ticket ran away with Ohio's vote in the presidential election on November 6, 1928—Hoover's decisive win, with nearly 65% of the popular vote, remains the highest percentage recorded by any presidential candidate in Ohio since its statehood in 1803.
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