HOOVER, Herbert. A group of five letters concerning Hoover's rage against The New York Times for its coverage of him. Comprising: five typed letters signed ("Herbert Hoover"), as former President, one to Adolph S. Ochs (unsent) and four to Lewis L. Strauss, 27 November - 18 December 1934. Together 6 pages, 4to, on personal stationery, with original envelope addressed to Ochs .
HOOVER, Herbert. A group of five letters concerning Hoover's rage against The New York Times for its coverage of him. Comprising: five typed letters signed ("Herbert Hoover"), as former President, one to Adolph S. Ochs (unsent) and four to Lewis L. Strauss, 27 November - 18 December 1934. Together 6 pages, 4to, on personal stationery, with original envelope addressed to Ochs . HOOVER TANGLES WITH THE "TIMES": "SOME TIME I WILL TAKE A TOOTH OUT OF THE NEW YORK TIMES...OR REST ON THE HOPE THAT HELL IS STILL BURNING" An unusual outburst from the normally staid Hoover. New York Times publisher Adolph S. Ochs, friend of both Hoover and Lewis Strauss, asked Strauss if he could obtain a signed copy of Hoover's book The Challenge to Liberty . The request was a spark that triggered this explosion of pent-up rage. "I am getting a good deal annoyed about the attitude of the New York Times," Hoover tells Strauss. "My special indignation is over a review of Ted Joselin's book." He asks Strauss to read a blistering letter he has written to Ochs and unless Strauss had any "outstanding objections," to drop it in the nearest mailbox. "I have made it a principle in life," Hoover's blast begins, "never to protest against personal injustice. I have never hitherto addressed any editor, despite many wicked personal misrepresentations." Yet the Times published not one but two reviews of The Challenge to Liberty , both filled with "personal attacks and misrepresentation on questions entirely outside the book." That insult was followed by a glowing review of Hoover, Off the Record , by the President's former secretary, Ted Joslin. "To start with," he says, "I of course freely acknowledge that you and Mr. Hearst more than any other two agencies turned over the 3,000,000 votes which resulted in my defeat. As to that I have no complaint, for I accredit you with the honest belief that the present regime is the best for the country. You probably did me a personal favor, for it has given me opportunity to regain my health." With his political career over, "it would not seem necessary to keep up the smearing campaign..." Why then "does the New York Times continue to engage itself in smearing and defamation?...You and I know that these are not the occasional slip...They happen repeatedly in such organizations as the Times only because these are the instructed policies of the paper to its regular employees. Is not the Times above malice?...Does it comport with honest journalism? Is it sportsmanship? Does it comport with that mutual personal esteem which I had thought existed between us?" Strauss makes a note in pen: "Wrote H. H. to reason for not presenting enclosed." Strauss's cooler head prevails. Hoover relents, but grumbles to Strauss on 22 December: "Some time I will take a tooth out of the New York Times, or translate the biblical eye for an eye into a black eye...or rest on the satisfaction that hell is still burning." Together 5 items . (5)
HOOVER, Herbert. A group of five letters concerning Hoover's rage against The New York Times for its coverage of him. Comprising: five typed letters signed ("Herbert Hoover"), as former President, one to Adolph S. Ochs (unsent) and four to Lewis L. Strauss, 27 November - 18 December 1934. Together 6 pages, 4to, on personal stationery, with original envelope addressed to Ochs .
HOOVER, Herbert. A group of five letters concerning Hoover's rage against The New York Times for its coverage of him. Comprising: five typed letters signed ("Herbert Hoover"), as former President, one to Adolph S. Ochs (unsent) and four to Lewis L. Strauss, 27 November - 18 December 1934. Together 6 pages, 4to, on personal stationery, with original envelope addressed to Ochs . HOOVER TANGLES WITH THE "TIMES": "SOME TIME I WILL TAKE A TOOTH OUT OF THE NEW YORK TIMES...OR REST ON THE HOPE THAT HELL IS STILL BURNING" An unusual outburst from the normally staid Hoover. New York Times publisher Adolph S. Ochs, friend of both Hoover and Lewis Strauss, asked Strauss if he could obtain a signed copy of Hoover's book The Challenge to Liberty . The request was a spark that triggered this explosion of pent-up rage. "I am getting a good deal annoyed about the attitude of the New York Times," Hoover tells Strauss. "My special indignation is over a review of Ted Joselin's book." He asks Strauss to read a blistering letter he has written to Ochs and unless Strauss had any "outstanding objections," to drop it in the nearest mailbox. "I have made it a principle in life," Hoover's blast begins, "never to protest against personal injustice. I have never hitherto addressed any editor, despite many wicked personal misrepresentations." Yet the Times published not one but two reviews of The Challenge to Liberty , both filled with "personal attacks and misrepresentation on questions entirely outside the book." That insult was followed by a glowing review of Hoover, Off the Record , by the President's former secretary, Ted Joslin. "To start with," he says, "I of course freely acknowledge that you and Mr. Hearst more than any other two agencies turned over the 3,000,000 votes which resulted in my defeat. As to that I have no complaint, for I accredit you with the honest belief that the present regime is the best for the country. You probably did me a personal favor, for it has given me opportunity to regain my health." With his political career over, "it would not seem necessary to keep up the smearing campaign..." Why then "does the New York Times continue to engage itself in smearing and defamation?...You and I know that these are not the occasional slip...They happen repeatedly in such organizations as the Times only because these are the instructed policies of the paper to its regular employees. Is not the Times above malice?...Does it comport with honest journalism? Is it sportsmanship? Does it comport with that mutual personal esteem which I had thought existed between us?" Strauss makes a note in pen: "Wrote H. H. to reason for not presenting enclosed." Strauss's cooler head prevails. Hoover relents, but grumbles to Strauss on 22 December: "Some time I will take a tooth out of the New York Times, or translate the biblical eye for an eye into a black eye...or rest on the satisfaction that hell is still burning." Together 5 items . (5)
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