Herbert Hoover Quotes
I don’t have to live with the American People, but I do have to live with Lou (his wife).
Herbert Hoover, 1874-1964, 31st President of the United States (Republican, IA), Quoted by Richard Norton Smith, C-SPAN, September 13, 1999
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
A highly respected intellectual, Schlesinger, had joined the John Kennedy Presidential Campaign. The announcement produced a slew of news stories. A Boston Globe reporter called Schlesinger’s wife, a respected intellectual figure in her own right, and asked if she was also supporting Kennedy in the Democratic Primary. She told him that she was supporting Stevenson, not Kennedy and a story with that information appeared the next day. This was embarrassing for the JFK campaign and particularly for Robert F. Kennedy, JFK’s younger brother who was the campaign director. He read the Boston Globe article, made a copy and wrote this famous quotation in the margin and sent it to Schlesinger. Historically it was unusual for the wives of public figures to hold public views different from their husbands. This was the main reason the story was news for the Boston Globe. But there were always women who maintained an independence of thought and political views, though in 1960, they were far fewer than today when this has almost become typical. However, Robert Kennedy, like Schlesinger and JFK himself had married very strong, accomplished women and they were not threatened by their wife’s independence. Hence the humorous questions Kennedy wrote.
Herbert Clark Hoover was an American politician, businessman, and engineer, who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933. A member of the Republican Party, he held office during the onset of the Great Depression. Before serving as president, Hoover led the Commission for Relief in Belgium, served as the director of the U.S. Food Administration, and served as the third U.S. Secretary of Commerce.
