Iowa - Day 7 - Herbert Hoover, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids

Wapsipinicon State Park, Anamosa

Monday, 7 November 2022

Last night Bucky got trapped behind the kitchen drawers.  I have no idea how because I don't leave them hanging open far enough for him to get in, except when I'm getting something out of them.  I thought I'd always been able to fish him out quickly when he'd get in, but obviously I missed one time.  It was hard to find him because he wouldn't answer when I'd call his name (and I'm sure he knows his name).  Just occasionally I'd hear a faint meow.  It took ages for me to figure out where he was, and then almost as long to figure out how to get him out.  I really didn't want to empty out a drawer and pull it out of the framework, and after a lot of coaxing he figured out how to get his head, and then his body out from behind it.  What a pest.

Early this morning when we were walking, Dext and I saw trailers for 4 boats parked near the boat ramp.  They'd gone out in the pitch dark, which seems crazy to me, but I guess they know the territory.  When we took another walk just before leaving this morning, I saw one skiff come back with a black lab sitting in it, so I guess these guys are all out hunting, not fishing as I'd assumed.

Because I'd planned to stop at the Hoover museum, I figured we'd better leave early again, so we were on the road by 7:30 once more.

today's route

On the road

After leaving last night's campground, I found myself back on the Great River Road.  The towns along the way all seemed to be relatively small river towns.  Iowa's got towns named Montpelier and Buffalo.

I heard on the radio that 70% of Iowa's fire departments are volunteer.

At Davenport, I'd found a dog park online, and when I turned to go there I stumbled on a recycling drop-off that let me leave most of my stuff.  Always a good feeling.

I drove around town a bit after Dext had a good time sniffing new smells and running after new dogs, and I saw a very large Ferris wheel near the Mississippi River.  It's 105' high and is a permanent addition to the town, as of 2014.  

Davenport has a number of registered historic neighborhoods, and I drove around the Hamburg District because it was easiest for me to find.  It turned out to be on a very steep hill - Ripley Street, for instance, must have been at a 60° angle and I was pretty nervous we'd flip onto our back before we got up a block - but we made it.  The district looked like what it probably was - a working class neighborhood that had been around for maybe 100 years or so.

I'm pleased to report that the kitties are doing well while we're driving, even without being confined to the carrying case.

Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum

The Hoover museum turned out to consist of several buildings spread out over a lot of ground without signs to tell the visitor what was where.  Including parking.  I learned later the parking for RVs was quite a distance away from the museum, way down the street at the Visitor Center near a re-creation of the town Hoover grew up in.  There were signs everywhere at the museum saying no RV parking, though they didn't say where we were supposed to go.  But in a plus for having a small RV, I managed to fit in a regular parking space in front of the museum by backing in and hanging the rear of the RV over a grass median.

The fee for seniors was $5, which seemed reasonable to me, so I went.  I've been curious about Hoover for a long time, wondering how he'd let the Depression happen.  I know a presidential library wants to present its subject in a flattering light, but I think they've made a good case for the idea that Hoover not only tried to prevent it but also did everything he could think of to mitigate it once it had come.  Here's what I saw.

Introduction

(my photo of the world map was too fuzzy to put in here)

Childhood

This quilt was made in 1898, though
apparently not by Mrs. Hoover,
shown upper left.

College

Lou, who became
his wife

Early engineering career

23-year-old Hoover
trying to look 34

A career of public service

"The difference between dictatorship and democracy:
dictators organize from the top down, democracies
from the bottom up."  I think this belief is a key to
his policies during the Depression.

text with the photo below right

one of Mrs. Hoover's contributions - see Belgian Lace below

one of the flour sacks

Hoover's WWI efforts in the US

Hoover is modifying his philosophy, but
it's not clear if he's convincing others.

"Hooverizing"

cartoon inset in photo at right

see cartoon
enlarged at left

1920s

Transfer of power: Wilson to Harding

1920 Harding elected

US Secretary of Commerce

detail enlarged below right -
1927 cartoon titled "Traffic Problem in
Washington, D.C."
A former Secy. of Commerce told Hoover
that the job wouldn't require more than
2 hours of work a day.

Hoover was an engineer, so
standardizing things came naturally.

I never knew this about
Aimee Semple McPherson.

The 1927 flood of the Mississippi River at its peak
covered an area 150 miles wide, stretching 1,000 miles
from Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico.  Almost 12,500,000
acres including sugar cane and cotton were inundated.

1928 campaign

a break with tradition 

"Nothing short of Heaven"

Presidency as Hoover had originally planned

1929 cartoon

Then the Great Depression

This and the next 5 show how
hard Hoover tried, beginning
in 1925, to get bankers
to look at reality.

a breadline

1930

detail enlarged below

1930 cartoon

1931

1932

Not the kind of bonus you might think.

Note that this is the same MacArthur who was later
fired by Pres. Truman for exactly this same thing:
overriding direct orders from his Commander In Chief. 
In Hoover's case, MacArthur's actions likely
influenced some votes in the 1932 elections.

1932 campaign

FDR, politician

This episode, continued in next exhibit, doesn't show
FDR in the humanitarian light he preferred.

Created by Peter Arno for March 4, 1933, edition
but not used due to February assassination 
attempt in Florida of FDR.

The wilderness years

Back to public service

Philosophy

I know this is fuzzy but it's interesting,
if you can decipher it.

Death

Titled "Death and Burial" -
I couldn't lighten the title without
making the text unreadable.

And finally there's this:

I spent more than an hour in the museum, and then the critters and I had lunch and I walked Dext around the grounds.

I thought this was an interesting selection of allowed activities.

Back on the road

It took less than a half hour to get to Iowa City, home of the University of Iowa.  It has a very busy, vibrant campus with an air that I found attractive.  I remembered that in Field of Dreams, the little girl says people would come to Iowa City and find it boring.  Maybe so, but it looked to me like there was a lot of life going on there.

The Iowa River runs through town and on beyond, and once we were out of the city, I stopped by the river to make some phone calls, trying to get reservations for camping and for doctor appointments.

Iowa has terrible roads.  I think they learned how to build roads from Nebraska.  Or maybe Ohio.

On NPR's Here & Now, I heard an interview with sociologist Arlie Hochschild about the research she did for her book Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right.  It sounds like a fascinating and much-needed look into the reason for attitudes that have left many people - both in the middle and on the left - scratching their heads trying to figure out the basis.  It may be something many of us need to take a look at.

I drove through Cedar Rapids, somewhat impeded by bridge construction over the Cedar River (duh).  The road closures kept me from even passing by both the African American Museum of Iowa (on one side of the river) and the National Czech and Slovak Museum (on the other side).  But we did pass the National Czech Cemetery.  I'd say it's pretty clear who settled this area.

From Cedar Rapids it was only another 30 miles or so to tonight's campground.  That was a weird place.  We were the only ones in the whole campground tonight, except the small group that patronized the bar at the next door golf club until it closed.

I tried almost every campsite in a vain attempt to locate one that was level.  I finally ended up settling for what they call a "buddy site" that they expect to be occupied by 2 campers who know each other.  The sign said I needed to pay for both sites when I paid for mine.  I wrote them a note explaining why I didn't.  They charged $12/night - well, that's what I paid since all I could get was an electrical plug-in, no water, no trash cans, no dump station, and of course no showers.  But it was quiet, and electricity was the main thing I wanted.