Seth Kaller, Inc.

As honorary chairman of the National Committee on Food for the Small Democracies, the former president tries to rally support to aid the women, children, and destitute in those European nations affected by World War II and save them from the inevitable famine and pestilence that confronted them.

“I feel that we have a national duty and interest to befriend these people in this great crisis . . . There are now more than 800 members on the National Committee and over 2,000 local committees distributed among the 48 states. If you agree with us, we would greatly like to add you to this Committee, in order that a wider spread of understanding can be given to a difficult and complex subject. Your membership would add to our effectiveness in creation of American support for a solution.”

HERBERT HOOVER. Typed Letter Signed, as Honorary Chairman of the National Committee on Food for the Small Democracies, New York, April 12, 1941, to Mrs. William Appleton Lawrence, Jr. in Springfield, Massachusetts, 8½ x 11 in., 1 p.

Inventory #22384       Price: $750

Historical Background

As a neutral nation (at least for another seven months) Hoover’s equally neutral organization tried to guarantee that food supplies for the needy would not only be imported through the German and British blockades, but also protected from an occupying army. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, brought the United States into the war and forced Hoover’s relief organization to suspend its activities, not resuming until after the war was nearly over.

Herbert Hoover (1874-1964), 31st President, son of a Quaker blacksmith, was born in the small village of West Branch, Iowa. Hoover achieved success as a mining engineer and recognition for his humanitarian efforts during and after the First World War. During the 1920s he served as Secretary of Commerce in the cabinets of Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge. In 1928, he won the U.S. presidency in a landslide, but his administration was soon overshadowed by the Great Depression of the 1930s. After World War II, Hoover joined Harry Truman to help organize the relief effort to save Europe, and to reorganize the executive branch of the federal government.

Condition

Several somewhat heavy intersecting horizontal and vertical folds with a vertical fold crossing the end of Hoover’s name, and light wrinkling, otherwise fine.

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