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Hoover Highlights: ‘Sea’ theme for Christmas tree exhibit? Here’s why
by Tom Schwartz, Hoover Library-Museum Dire · Op-Ed · November 16, 2017


The cool weather and leaf-raking reminds us that winter will soon be upon us. It also signals the annual Christmas tree exhibit at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.
A number of people have asked me about the theme, “Tales of the Sea Christmas.” On the face of it, the theme does not evoke any of the traditional symbols such as Santa Claus, snowmen and reindeer, Nativity scenes, or snowflakes and presents.

Much of the Hoover story, however, was a man and his family in constant motion.

Home and hearth settings usually associated with the holidays, were rarities for Herbert and Lou Hoover. Their frequent mode of travel was ocean liners. At least three Christmas celebrations found them on a ship in transit through the Suez Canal. How many of us can claim that we traveled around the world five times by our 40th birthday, and by ship, not jet? So Hoover was bound to the seas out of necessity of travel.

But he also had a very close relationship with the sea because of his love of fishing. Some people use the holidays to travel to warmer climates for relaxing in the sun. Hoover liked to use them whenever he could for fishing. In later life, he preferred bone fishing in the gulf. Regardless, Hoover’s life was closely connected to the seas. His love of reading also lead him to the sea tales of Herman Melville, Homer, Daniel Defoe, Richard Henry Dana, Jules Verne, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jack London, and C.S. Forester.

The exhibit, opening Saturday, Nov. 18, will feature trees decorated with themes ranging from King Neptune and pirates to lighthouses and a tree dedicated to the Navy, Coast Guard and Marines. A children’s play area will offer games and activities including the ever popular “Go Fish.” Like past Christmas exhibits, it is meant to provide a family friendly experience. I hope you will join us. Thanks to support from the West Branch Community Development Group and the Hoover Presidential Foundation, we are once again able to offer free admission to the museum beginning at 5 pm Friday, Dec. 1, and continuing until 8 pm on Saturday, Dec. 2.

The Young Footliters will perform The Best Christmas Pageant Ever at 7 pm on Dec. 1 and 2 pm and 7 pm on Dec. 2. Tickets are free but must be reserved in advance by contacting the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts.

We were fortunate to have Kenneth Whyte talk about his new biography “Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times” on Oct. 15. The biography has received rave reviews in The New Yorker and Wall Street Journal and he graciously signed plenty of copies for sale in our gift store.

Next year promises a number of exciting exhibits focusing in agriculture and farm life in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Iowa Farm Bureau. Several of our artifacts will be part of a major exhibit Great and Good Friends: The Royal and Presidential Gifts between Thailand and the United States at the Queen Sirikit Museum in Bangkok, Thailand, from March 20 to June 30, 2018.

It is often overlooked how many international visitors come to the museum reminding us of the global impact of the Hoover story. This loan allows us to take part of our collections to the world, increasing our exposure overseas to new audiences.



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To contact Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum Director Thomas Schwartz, you may reach him at 319-643-5301 or Thomas.Schwartz@nara.gov.