Herbert Hoover to his Friend and Supporter: “I cannot but think that you have had a very large part in bring [sic] about this result and you will have to bear with me part of the responsibilities that arise from it.”

Herbert Hoover

George Lorimer

As secretary of commerce during the 1920s, Hoover “expanded the activities of his department in every direction. He encouraged the trade association movement…sought new markets abroad…fought foreign ‘monopolies’ of raw materials…[and] worked on commissions to settle foreign debts” (DAB). In 1927 his campaign for the presidential nomination began, indirectly, through his supervision of the Mississippi flood relief efforts. Hoover’s particular attention to the care of displaced families received nationwide attention in the press: “Nothing could have better reminded the country of the skills of the Great Engineer and Humanitarian” (ibid). He won the Republican Party’s nomination in June 1928, referred to in our letter. Lorimer’s influence in American politics was considerable. After his assumption of the editorship in 1899, the Saturday Evening Post grew from an outdated, under-subscribed magazine to an immensely successful and influential publication, known for featuring the work of leading contemporary writers and thinkers. Initially progressive, with Lorimer’s drift to the right, the Post later “became an active — if unofficial — organ of the Republican party. Lorimer knew many presidents personally, and nearly every president during his editorship contributed to the Post, but he was most active in promoting the fortunes of Herbert Hoover” (ibid.). Boldly signed in black ink, and fine.