The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-08-23
HOOVER BONES
OUT SPEECHES
WITHOUT AID
Writing Is Most Trying
Chore of President;
Pet Aversion.
BY LAWRENCE SULLIVAN.

WASHINGTON, Aug. % Al
Smith gets his writing inspiration
from looking at the polished tips of
his shoes and Mabel Walker Willie
brandt from personal files, but
President Herbert Hoover bones"
his out through writing, rewriting
and then revising.
Molding his thoughts to SEN
fences and paragraphs is his most
trying chore, but he declines to be
relieved Of the labor by his White
House assistants.
The executive Office budget pro-
vides for literary assistant, French
Strother, former newspaper man and
magazine editor, fills the berth
technically, but he has yet to write
a speech for President Hoover. He
has been given a wide range of
duties and still is consulted on ques-
tons requiring research.
The official public utterances of
the President, however, are written
by Hoover himself.
Written in LOnghand
Often the outline of a speech or
message is written in longhand in
the quiet Of the executive mansion
study at night, and then expanded
by dictation.
This first draft always is inter
lined with corrections and additions
in pencil and then allowed to cool"
b for at least twenty-four hours.
9y,fn -
passed to an assistant, or a cabinet
officer for a 'try-out" Then it is
handed to stenographer for final
transcription.
In the case Of the now famous
Memorial day address on naval
ornaments this final draft was re-
vised four times before the text went
to the government printing Office.
The Presidents address to the
diplomatic corps on the signing of
the general pact for the remuneration
OF war on July "a, likewise was re-
vised up to an hour of the scheduled
delivery time. The message to con-
gress last April partially was printed
in the government printing Office
and then revised from proof.
This laborious method of produc-
ing manuscript may account for the
Presidents aversion to speechmak-
ing, some of his friends declare.
During the presidential campaign,
Hoover made fewer addresses than
any Republican candidate in recent
years, and during twenty-five weeks
in the White House he has made but
three speeches and written three
state papers of considerable length.
Once Took Condition"
The Presidents aversion to liter
airy construction apparently is in
grained in his mental makeup, for
he was conditioned" in English up
on his entry at Leland-Stanford
thirty-eight years ago.
His biographers record that he
"flunked" English successfully as a
freshman, a sophomore, a junior,
and finally as senior.
1t also is related on the authority
of classmates that a graduating
thesis on paleonthology, which was
a most creditable piece of scientific
work, finally was approved by the
English department because of a
scholarly merit which outweighed
a total absence of commas and semi
colons.
Psychologists explain the Presi-
dents laborious method as natural
to "a visual thinker"
Such people think, not in words
and phrases. but in mental images
of physical things.
The translation to words is
process which requires mental con-
centration upon thousands of details
which word thinkers handle sub
consciously.
BIZ United Press
WASHINGTON, Aug. 23.-Mrs.
Mabel Walker Willebrandt burns the
midnight oil when she turns author.
The former assistant attorney
general sometimes works until 3 or
4 o'clock in the morning on her
magazine and newspaper articles.
Like former Governor Smith of
New York, Mrs. Willebrandt usual
ly dictates her stories. She frequent
ly scribbles an outline before she
starts debating, however. And she
always goes over them very care
fully after they are typed.
Most of the material used in her
newspaper series Mrs. Willebrandt
obtained from the files of the de-
partment Of justice and her own
personal files. though she carries
many details by memory.
Mrs. Willebrandt considers writ
Ing hard work" Writing always is