Hoover, Herbert, as Thirty-first President

Typescript signed of his inaugural address of 4 March 1929, 7 pages (11 x 8  1/4  in.; 279 x 210 mm), [Washington,] 1929; horizontal fold, few small spots on first and last leaf, small nick in upper left corner of last leaf.

Typescript signed of his inaugural address of 4 March 1929, 7 pages (11 x 8 1/4 in.; 279 x 210 mm), [Washington,] 1929; horizontal fold, few small spots on first and last leaf, small nick in upper left corner of last leaf.
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A signed transcript of Hoover's inauguration address of 1929.  Although he covers a range of subjects here, Hoover, a Quaker, devotes an great deal of his talk to prohibition and its enforcement.  "Of the undoubted abuses which have grown up under the eighteenth amendment ... part are due to the failure of some States to accept their share of responsibility for concurrent enforcement and to the failure of many State and local officials to accept the obligation under their oath of office zealously to enforce the laws.  With the failures from these many causes has come a dangerous expansion in the criminal elements who have found enlarged opportunities in dealing in illegal liquor.

"But a large responsibility rests directly upon our citizens.  There would be little traffic in illegal liquor if only criminals patronized it.  We must awake to the fact that this patronage from large numbers of law-abiding citizens is supplying the rewards and stimulating crime."

The public's unhappiness with the eighteenth amendment and Hoover's inability to combat the Great Depression resulted in his defeat in the 1932 election.